thought.
He deserves a shock. While we were stuck there staring at the stupid telly, all we could hear was the children. It was horrible, Mika. I’m so glad you’re back
.
So am I. And I’ll introduce you to Ellie when she wakes up
.
Good. Then I’ll have two of you. Twice as much
.
Three times, even. My sister’s quite a character. I think you’re going to like her
.
Mika pulled her close and breathed in her hair. If Awensmelled of butter cookies dipped in tea, Audrey smelled of flowers in the forest. It was good to have them both so close. Awen was so much more than a dog; Audrey was so much more than a partner in a Pod Fighter game.
After Gorman finished his breakfast, he considered his first lie of the morning. He usually sent the Northern Government a progress report at this time of day, but he didn’t want the other ministers to know the army had just climbed out of bed and, of their own free will, tried to run away. It made him look like an idiot.
He summoned views from the new Houses of Parliament in the Golden Turrets. It was almost nine o’clock, but the ministers’ offices were quiet. Nothing moved but the hands on the old-fashioned clocks on their walls.
I could get away with not telling anyone,
Gorman thought,
if I threaten the fortress staff so they don’t talk
.
For when this war was won, Mal Gorman didn’t want any old mansion on the other side of The Wall. He wanted the mansion of Raphael Mose, the leader of the World Conservation Club. It wasn’t the biggest or most expensive; it didn’t have ten swimming pools and hundreds of rooms like some of the others; but this was the mansion Mal Gorman wanted. And if the government found out he’d almost lost the army, he’d probably end up in some rotting shack next to a swamp. This did not appeal to him. So he swept the empty offices away and wrote his nine o’clock report without mentioning the children’s awakening.
When this was done, he spent a few happy minutes looking at curtain and carpet samples for Raphael Mose’smansion. Then he summoned his Chosen Ones for their meeting.
While he waited for them to arrive, he felt a bit excited and nervous, like a lion tamer with a new crop of lions. Ralph had replaced his breakfast with a bowl of Everlife pills. He crunched them and watched the door.
Men with guns arrived and formed a line against the wall. Mika and Ellie followed and stood before Gorman’s desk.
This was the first time he’d seen them together in the flesh. For a moment they looked like part of the office, as still as the carpet, walls, and paintings. And their eyes had changed: Their black corneas had a mercurial gleam. In the light cast from his window, they looked very odd indeed. He’d never seen Ellie so quiet before, and the dark scowl that used to be a feature of her face had vanished. Mika looked put together in his new white uniform. Gorman decided, on balance, that he was pleased with them.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning, sir,” Mika replied.
Audrey entered next. Mika’s gunner, and what a gunner! Probably the best in the whole army. She’d been born without eyes, but the borg eyes that replaced them were better than any human’s. Grass green and nuclear bright. Audrey was a radium fairy made by Irish and Russian blood and technology: weird, beautiful, and deadly. But she was also an optimistic child. She had none of Mika and Ellie’s languor. Gorman liked her.
Audrey took her place at Mika’s side and looked over her shoulder as the rest walked in.
Next entered Leo, the Lion Boy. He was born with askin-covered tail. His mix of Jamaican and Canadian bloods had bestowed on him gold skin, gold dreadlocks, and startling blue eyes. He walked toward Mal Gorman’s desk with a sinuous grace that communicated all his newly awoken power. He was a perfect mutant specimen, with incredible leadership potential.
Leo wore a gold ring on one finger. Gorman looked at this. Leo had been told to take it
He deserves a shock. While we were stuck there staring at the stupid telly, all we could hear was the children. It was horrible, Mika. I’m so glad you’re back
.
So am I. And I’ll introduce you to Ellie when she wakes up
.
Good. Then I’ll have two of you. Twice as much
.
Three times, even. My sister’s quite a character. I think you’re going to like her
.
Mika pulled her close and breathed in her hair. If Awensmelled of butter cookies dipped in tea, Audrey smelled of flowers in the forest. It was good to have them both so close. Awen was so much more than a dog; Audrey was so much more than a partner in a Pod Fighter game.
After Gorman finished his breakfast, he considered his first lie of the morning. He usually sent the Northern Government a progress report at this time of day, but he didn’t want the other ministers to know the army had just climbed out of bed and, of their own free will, tried to run away. It made him look like an idiot.
He summoned views from the new Houses of Parliament in the Golden Turrets. It was almost nine o’clock, but the ministers’ offices were quiet. Nothing moved but the hands on the old-fashioned clocks on their walls.
I could get away with not telling anyone,
Gorman thought,
if I threaten the fortress staff so they don’t talk
.
For when this war was won, Mal Gorman didn’t want any old mansion on the other side of The Wall. He wanted the mansion of Raphael Mose, the leader of the World Conservation Club. It wasn’t the biggest or most expensive; it didn’t have ten swimming pools and hundreds of rooms like some of the others; but this was the mansion Mal Gorman wanted. And if the government found out he’d almost lost the army, he’d probably end up in some rotting shack next to a swamp. This did not appeal to him. So he swept the empty offices away and wrote his nine o’clock report without mentioning the children’s awakening.
When this was done, he spent a few happy minutes looking at curtain and carpet samples for Raphael Mose’smansion. Then he summoned his Chosen Ones for their meeting.
While he waited for them to arrive, he felt a bit excited and nervous, like a lion tamer with a new crop of lions. Ralph had replaced his breakfast with a bowl of Everlife pills. He crunched them and watched the door.
Men with guns arrived and formed a line against the wall. Mika and Ellie followed and stood before Gorman’s desk.
This was the first time he’d seen them together in the flesh. For a moment they looked like part of the office, as still as the carpet, walls, and paintings. And their eyes had changed: Their black corneas had a mercurial gleam. In the light cast from his window, they looked very odd indeed. He’d never seen Ellie so quiet before, and the dark scowl that used to be a feature of her face had vanished. Mika looked put together in his new white uniform. Gorman decided, on balance, that he was pleased with them.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning, sir,” Mika replied.
Audrey entered next. Mika’s gunner, and what a gunner! Probably the best in the whole army. She’d been born without eyes, but the borg eyes that replaced them were better than any human’s. Grass green and nuclear bright. Audrey was a radium fairy made by Irish and Russian blood and technology: weird, beautiful, and deadly. But she was also an optimistic child. She had none of Mika and Ellie’s languor. Gorman liked her.
Audrey took her place at Mika’s side and looked over her shoulder as the rest walked in.
Next entered Leo, the Lion Boy. He was born with askin-covered tail. His mix of Jamaican and Canadian bloods had bestowed on him gold skin, gold dreadlocks, and startling blue eyes. He walked toward Mal Gorman’s desk with a sinuous grace that communicated all his newly awoken power. He was a perfect mutant specimen, with incredible leadership potential.
Leo wore a gold ring on one finger. Gorman looked at this. Leo had been told to take it
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