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s.

Their minds cannot hold the past or the knowledge needed for the high

crafts but to some, whom we call wordsmiths, Mo-Town gave the power of

a hundred minds and a thousand tongues." Cadillac squared his

shoulders and lifted his chin proudly. 'I too have been given this

power. I know of the valiant deeds of the M'Calls, the history of the

Plainfolk from their beginnings, and the workings of the world. I have

learned these things from Mr Snow who speaks with the Sky Voices. You

say you have this Columbus - a thing made with the High Craft which

hold the past of your people ' 'Yes, computer archives,' interjected

Steve.

'The words have a dead sound,' said Cadillac. 'No matter.

If you remember nothing how can you be sure of what these - computer

archives - tell you?"

'That's easy,' replied Steve. 'Computers like Columbus don't forget,

and they don't make things up. A computer is a machine -' Steve

paused. 'You know what a machine is?"

Cadillac shook his head.

Steve searched their surroundings for something which might explain the

concept. He pointed at Cadillac's crossbow. 'You see that? That's a

machine. It throws bolts.

You could use your hand and arm to throw a bolt but the crossbow throws

it further and faster. That's why we build machines. To do things

better and faster than people can do them. Computers are machines that

think. Mechanical brains that store information. "Mechanical" means

machine-like. You feed in the facts and they remember them. They also

do all kinds of other things which you wouldn't understand."

'Perhaps it is not necessary to understand these things,' said

Cadillac.

Steve smiled. 'Are you kidding? When we started, the Amtrak

Federation was little more than a hole in the ground. Now, thanks to

the First Family and Columbus, we have twelve bases with more building,

linked by linear-drive monorails. We have two-way video, geo-thermal

power, hydroponic farms with automated weather systems, lasers, powered

flight, the technological know-how to do whatever we want and you

you're still in the stone age."

Cadillac smiled. 'And yet, in spite of these marvels, here you are."

It was the kind of observation Mr Snow would have made and it pleased

Cadillac immensely.

'A lucky shot,' said Steve.

'And the other cloud warriors that fell?"

'Freak weather plus a few bad breaks. None of that makes any

difference. It's time you faced up to the facts. No one can resist

the power of the Federation. You've seen what The Lady can do. We

have twenty wagon trains like that and we're building more all the

time. Ten years from now we'll have a hundred. In twenty, we'll have

way-stations from coast to coast. We'll be unstoppable. We are the

future. You are the past that's about to be swept away. You're living

in a make-believe world - Sky Voices, Mo-Town, Names of Power ...

you've all been swallowing too much Dream Cap. I don'iknow where Mr

Snow got his version of history from but, believe me, it didn't happen

like that."

'Are you not sand-burrowers?" countered Cadillac. 'Do you not live in

the Dark Cities beneath the Great Desert of the South?"

'They're not dark,' replied Steve. 'How many times do I have to tell

you?! We have electricity. Neon tubes. Long sticks that give off

light like the sun."

'They cannot banish the darkness in the mind,' said Cadillac. 'This is

what we mean when we speak of the Dark Cities. The truth stands in the

words of the Plainfolk. After the War of a Thousand Suns, Pent-Agon

and his servants you, the sand-burrowers - were buried beneath the

earth as punishment for your crimes against the world."

'We must have been let off for good behaviour,' said Steve lightly.

'It may not have come to your notice but the Federation has had

way-stations on the overground for nearly two hundred years. And the