第50节

way things are going, in another hundred, the whole of America will be

ours once again."

Cadillac shook his head. 'It will not happen. The Sky Voices have

spoken to Mr Snow. The iron snakes will be defeated. You will be

driven back into your burrows, and

your dark cities will be crushed beneath the desert."

'Really,' said Steve. 'And when is this supposed to 'happen?"

'When the Earth gives the sign,' replied Cadillac. 'The Plainfolk

shall be as a bright sword in the hand of Talisman, their Saviour."

Steve frowned. It was the second time this name had come into their

conversation. 'Talisman? Who's he?"

'The Thrice-Gifted One,' said Cadillac.

Steve's curiosity was aroused but his young benefactor ignored his

questions and left without offering any further explanation.

In the days that followed, Steve had a series of conversations with

Cadillac and Mr Snow. They questioned him endlessly about the

Federation, how it was organised, what it was like to live in an

underground city, what people did, what they wore and what they ate.

Steve, in turn, asked them about the history of the Plainfolk and how

the M'Calls had come to be regarded as one of, if not the greatest of

the She-Kargo warrior clans, along with more practical questions about

food supplies and how they survived the long months of winter; the

period the Mutes referred to as the White Death.

Sometimes, three or four, or as many as half-a-dozen Mutes, clan elders

or Bears and She-Wolves would gather round them and sit silently

listening to their conversation.

Now and then one of them would rise abruptly in mid-sentence to be

replaced by a new listener. Steve got the impression that their

audience did not fully understand what was being said; they were just

listening to the sound of his voice and that of the two wordsmiths;

letting the flow of conversation wash over them as one might sit

listening to the rippling murmur of a mountain stream.

Mr Snow was particularly interested in what the Federation termed its

'pacification programme' for the New Territories. Steve described in

detail how the early TrailBlazers had reconquered the overground above

the Inner and Outer States. The resistance offered by the Southern

Mutes had been sporadic. The clans that had fought had been wiped out;

those who had opted to surrender had been reduced to serfdom. The

majority of the surviving clans had been relocated in work-camps built

around the semi-subterranean way-stations; where this was impractical,

they had accepted to pay annual tribute in the form of work gangs, or

fixed quotas of metallic or chemical ores, timber, or other raw

materials. These were ferried by wagon train to overground sawmills,

smelting and processing plants crewed by Mutes with Tracker overseers

from the way-stations then hauled down to manufacturing plants within

the earthshield. Mining operations located near Tracker bases were

accessed directly from the underground levels by groups of Young

Pioneers as they had been in the past before the Break-Out; the

historic moment in 2464 when the Trackers opened up their first

permanent interface with the blue-sky world.

Steve also told Mr Snow about 'yearlings'. Following the Break-Out it

had been discovered that now and then, Mute females sometimes gave

birth to a 'straight' - a Mute child free from genetic malformation and

with a uniform skin colour. For some unexplained reason straight Mutes

were, without exception, males. Since any clan found harbouring an

undeclared straight faced immediate annihilation, all such children

were handed over to the Trackers at birth.

In return, the fortunate clan was released from its obligation to

supply its quota of ore, timber or work gangs for a period of twelve

months. Hence the name 'yearling'.

The new-born Mutes were taken to a special centre known as The Farm

where, as far as Steve knew, they were subjected to various tests in

connection with the Life Research Programme and then disposed of.

'Have you ever talked with any of our Southern brothers?" asked Mr

Snow.

Steve shook his head. 'You can't talk to them. It's hard enough

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