God knows what those pills were, thought Jake, but they were quick. In case some part of it was interrogated, the Unity tended to chop bits of itself off. That is, kill the individual concerned. But Adam had done it willingly, why? He’d left a note, but for Jake, not Silver. She just sat there, kneeling at Adam’s body. She’d muttered something about too many people, but beyond that she’d been silent.

Jake carefully broke the seal on the note.

Jake,

Forgive me for this, I know she won’t. There are a lot of things Silver hasn’t told you, and we I think you have a right to know.

Silver was once like you, a student. She did something to upset the Unity, I can’t remember what, and they went to have a look at her, posing as a lecturer, like Watson did.

But the lecturer was one of those capable of being split from the Unity, and he fell in love with the woman he’d been sent to kill. Somehow, they built this place, to be a hideout from the Unity’s hunters. They got married, and Jake, they had a child. A son named Samuel.

One day, Samuel and his father went out for some reason, and bumped into the Unity, it was a sheer coincidence, but Silver’s husband panicked, and ran out into a force-beam. He was disassembled instantly. Little Samuel ran out to see what had happened, but the Unity caught him and stole him away.

It took Silver a while to discover what had happened, but although she seems to believe that the Unity murdered her husband, she couldn’t move against the Unity while her son was a hostage. Until Watson told her they’d succeeded in bringing Samuel into the Unity, and in doing so wiped his personality.

That destroyed her will to live. You can see it in her eyes. If the Unity turned up tomorrow she wouldn’t bother to resist.

I think that’s why she took such an interest in me. She thought if I lived she could somehow make it right. But I can’t BEAR this. It’s like some beautiful nightmare, and you know it’s only a nightmare but you CAN’T wake up and you CAN’T hear anything but the empty echoes of your OWN thoughts and you know insanity is only ever half a breath away.

I am NOT her husband. I cannot cope alone. There’s nothing there, everything’s made of paper dolls. Only two eyes, two ears, no thought, no memory.

One day, she tried to explain to me about Noah, and about the religion of her parents. She tried to explain to me about damnation.

But I already knew.

Look after her for me.

For a while, there was complete stillness. Jake sat there and read, Silver sat there and stared, Adam lay there and cooled.

"Jake..."

"Silver?"

She looked up at him, and he flinched from her expression.

"Get your stuff together, we’re going to Du Cray."

"Profits are up. Everyone’s decided they’re not going to go sober."

"Any Sisters around? It’s important."

Berric was about to protest, but then he caught Silver’s eyes. "Fourth stretch. Six novices."

"Any others?"

"Two secondary Sisters, three tables across."

"Thank you."

A Messenger wandered through the tables. Silver gave it a kick that made it whimper. Normally such behaviour would have Berric coughing politely at your shoulder in an instant, but everyone was ignoring it. Silver stopped, sighed, than patted its head in apology. "Have you ever considered working for someone else?"

The Messenger looked at her. "What have you got?"

Jake blinked. "What do you want?"

"I want me and my pack to be free of the damned Harlequins. We were Hunters once, you know."

"Yes, yes, the indigenous lifeforms, the first discoverers of the Outside were eaten by you. We know."

"No, you don’t. Where do you suppose the first pioneers came from?"

"Nobody knows for sure."

"We do. It was Du Cray."

There was a loaded pause.

"The reason you’re the messengers is because you can get anywhere. Can you get us to Du Cray?"

"Yes. One thing is bear in mind, though. What is this dimension really built on?"

"Ur, some really esoteric laws of physics?"

"No."

© Naomi 'Ni' Claydon 2000. No copying without permission.