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's main worry was that Mr Snow had not been telling him the truth

about Clearwater and Cadillac. As a master of devious game-plans,

Steve foresaw a situation where he could be on board one of the

wheel-boats and unable to get off while they were calmly disembarking,

courtesy of Yama-Shita, from another. Leaving them heading for home

and laughing like coyotes while he was carried off in the opposite

direction.

It could be a neat way to get rid of him and would ensure that he

wasn't around to mess up their relationship any further. But with

Cadillac now aware of Clearwater's true feelings, what price that

relationship now? Mr Snow had hinted that the young wordsmith had been

less than overjoyed at what had taken place during his absence. It was

Cadillac's character which provided the answer to Steve's present

dilemma. The more he thought about Cadillac, the more convinced he

became that Mr Snow's report of what Yama-Shita had said was the

truth.

During the months of captivity, he had observed Cadillac's almost

obsessive preoccupation with status - what the Mutes called standing.

The young Mute was, in many ways, a mirror-image of himself. Both were

hungry for power, both had the same, deep-seated need to win

recognition, to be somebody. Hence Cadillac's vain hope - dashed by Mr

Snow - that he might have been marked out as the Talisman, a hope he

had revealed to Steve in one of their many discussions. In allowing

Cadillac to draw on his own accumulated store of knowledge Steve had,

quite unknowingly, given him the means to acquire the status he longed

for, had put him within reach of real power. But there was an

additional factor to consider. In cloning Steve's memory banks, the

young wordsmith had also acquired other mental processes that would

influence the way he used this new knowledge. There was a strong

possibility that Cadillac had become a split personality, able to think

like a Mute and a Tracker. Not just any Tracker. But like Steve.

Viewed from that angle, Cadillac's wish to stay with the Iron Masters

made sense. He was the first Mute to have taken to the air. He had

then built a craft capable of powered flight, albeit with borrowed

knowledge, had delivered it to the Iron Masters and had proceeded to

instruct them in the techniques of its design and construction and

perhaps, with their encouragement, had gone on to build other craft.

Going east would have opened up fresh horizons, offered new challenges

to his burgeoning intelligence. Cadillac had already alluded to the

feelings of alienation engendered by his childhood experiences. As a

straight, clear-skinned Mute he was already set apart from the rest of

the clan despite the respect accorded him as Mr Snow's chosen

successor.

Respect was not enough: Cadillac had to believe in his own worth, prove

it by his own yardstick. And now he had a golden opportunity.

Whatever he was doing had to be a lot better than the prospect of

coming back home to watch your neighbours pounding buffalo hide.

Yes... if he had been a Mute, that's just how he, Brickman, S.R would

have played it too.

In his last briefing, Karlstrom had indicated the area the Iron Masters

were thought to occupy, a section of the north-east coast running from

Connecticut down to Virginia and including the Allegheny mountain

ranges.

But that was all. Karlstrom had not supplied any further details apart

from suggesting that the Fire-Pits of Beth-Lem were probably located

in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, a NavRef point in the pre-Holocaust

state of Pennsylvania. This sole reference to the Iron Masters had

come at the end of the session which Karlstrom then brought to a close,

going straight into the 'goodbye and good luck' routine without giving

Steve an opportunity to ask any questions.

Steve was aware that it was standard Federation policy to disseminate

information only on a strict 'need-to-know' basis but he was puzzled by