DEEP WATERS

CHAPTER 14 - Mutiny

“Here are the maps, Sergeant,” said Corporal Lavall. “Sergeant Kopec said the second years would be leaving at 0900 hours.”
“We’ll send ours off at 0800, then,” said Sergeant Olt. “Then I’ll have to leave them to you, Saul. I’ll be in this meeting with the colonels all day.”
“They all coming?”
“Most of them. Must be important. I’ll tell you all about it. By the way, they may want to inspect the recruits. If they do, I’ll bring them out while you’re de-briefing them after today’s exercise.”
“What! But this is a really difficult one!”
“I know,” smiled Sergeant Olt. “Would have to be today, wouldn’t it? But if it’s a shambles, don’t worry. They’ve all been there, themselves.”


By nine o’clock, the sun was already high, and the morning mist had cleared. It was going to be a beautiful day. Ace’s team were strolling along a narrow path high in the Southern Forest. Grasses, taller than they were, swayed on either side of them, and the air was full of the scent of clover and thyme.
“Oh, this is nice,” said Ace. “Nice sunshine, nice company - what more could you want?”
He ran his hand along the grass stalks, showering everyone with seeds.
“Nice company is right,” said Wayne. “I wasn’t half bored last night. You were all having a good laugh, and I was stuck with Olm and Beuk. Don’t know how I ever let the general talk me into this.”
“Cheer up,” said Ace, putting an arm round his shoulder. “I know it’s boring now, but it’ll be exciting once you’re really doing undercover work. And at least you don’t have to pretend when it’s just our team, on our own.”
“Don’t know how I’d manage if it weren’t for that,” said Wayne. “Pretending to be on their side’s easy enough, but pretending to hate you lot is awful.”
“Ignore him, Ace,” said Bella. “It’s only his natural cheerfulness coming out. He was as proud as a cat with two tails when he was chosen for this job.”
Wayne dived at her, grinning, but she fluttered up out of his reach.
“This is a very long path,” she said. “Where are we going?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” said Peter. “Is it just a map-reading thing? ’Cos if it is, it’s not very difficult.”
“Who knows?” said Ace, his eyes dancing. “Maybe something exciting’s going to happen.”
“What?” said Rose. “Not very difficult? Is that why you gave me the map?”
“Oh, don’t be offended, Rose,” said Ace. “You know you need the practice. Look, you’ve got it upside down again,” he added kindly.
“I want it upside down! We’re going south! So I want south at the top!”
“OK, OK,” said Ace. “If it makes you happy. What’s up, Clover? We going too slowly for you? We can go faster if you want.”
Clover glared at him.
“Just you shut up. You know very well I can hardly move. There’s a lot of very nice things about this place, but that gym isn’t one of them.”
“It does ache, to start with,” said Stella. “But it wears off, Clover, honestly, and then it starts getting fun.”
“Fun. Right,” said Clover gloomily. “At least Madge sympathised. She hated it too.”
“How is she?” said Will. “Did she have any news?”
“Crumbs, yes, I meant to tell you until this agony drove it out of my mind. Phil and Rob and Lily stopped off in Llangollen to see Heather. They’re on their way to somewhere unpronounceable to find Camellia.”
“Excellent,” said Ace. “And then it won’t be long until they’re here!”
“Six months to the day,” said Betch sadly. “It’s not that soon, Ace.”
Everyone knew what he meant.

“I used to think you were fussing about nothing,” said Fran. “I don’t any more. I’m really sorry they did that to you. But I hope your friends have got a bit of sense, Ace, or next year’s team will be unbelievable. I don’t really know how to describe Dale, except to say he’d make Kiefer look sensible.”
“He’s not that bad!” protested Betch. “Just because he accidentally burnt your house down!”
“Oh, come on, Betch, that was the same week he dropped a bucket of water out of a tree onto the senior fairy’s head!”
“He didn’t do it on purpose! Things like that just happen to him!”
“Sounds good,” laughed Ace. “What’s he look like?” he added, in a voice that was just a shade too casual.
“Oh, amazing,” grinned Betch. “Much better-looking than I am. Nice face, thick white hair, golden eyes.”
“Oh, fine,” said Ace. “That’s…absolutely fine.”
He started walking a bit faster, and hitting the grass stalks a bit harder.
“You rotten thing,” said Will.
When Ace heard that, he realised Betch had been winding him up, and spun round, ready to pounce. He’d get him for that. But before he could jump, Betch suddenly stopped laughing and stared ahead of him, a look of intense longing on his face. Ace turned again to see what he was looking at.
“It’s a tree, Betch,” he said. “You’ve seen one before.”
“Oh, wow,” said Betch. “That’s…that’s special.”
It was a silver birch, alone amid the firs and pines, and it was big; tall and spreading, its bark shining white in the bright sun, and its leaves flickering.
Betch walked straight towards it, and stood beneath it, staring upwards.
“Go on,” said Ace, understanding. “We’ll wait for you.”

Betch didn’t need telling twice. With one jump he was up in the branches. Clover sat down.
“Time for a rest. Good.”
Dan and Hogweed, way out in front, realised they’d stopped and wandered back to join them.
“There’s no rush,” Ace told them.
“How do you know?” said Dan. “It might be a race.”
“Don’t think so,” said Ace seriously. “No-one mentioned time, or speed. I don’t know what this is about, but it’s not that.”
“Ace,” hissed Betch, “come up here a minute, will you?”
In a flash, he landed beside him.
“Interesting,” said Ace. “Very interesting.”
From so high, they could see ripples moving through the long grass on either side of the path. It wasn’t the wind. The movement was wrong. Things were moving, alongside them.
“Don’t look too long,” Ace warned. “They might notice we’ve spotted them. Let’s go down.”
“We’re being tailed!” he told the others. “I knew something exciting was going to happen!”
His mind was whizzing through all the possibilities, but he didn’t look worried or concerned.
“Dan, you and Hogweed stay out in front,” he said thoughtfully, “but don’t get too far ahead. I’ll take the rear…come with me, will you, Betch?”
At Will, he just glanced, then looked meaningfully at Rose, and Will knew exactly what he wanted him to do. Keep an eye on Rose’s map-reading, unobtrusively. Whatever was going on, they didn’t want to complicate things by getting lost.


Back on camp, the conference room was filling up as the army’s most senior officers assembled. Many of them were colonels of regiments and squadrons, but not all. All six of the training sergeants were there; by tradition, they held low ranks, but no-one questioned their seniority. The Commander hadn’t arrived yet, and the noise was terrific as old friends greeted each other. General Herdalen was grabbed the moment he walked in the door.
“Gran! Come here!”
It was a massive Swedish elf with blond plaits, a knife in his belt, and filthy fingernails. General Herdalen was swamped in his hug of welcome, but he didn’t mind a bit. They’d been on the same team as recruits, these two, and Bjørk Kinnekulle was now colonel of Sweden 3, as well as senior colonel of the whole Third Regiment.
“What’s all this in aid of, Gran? We’d be coming in November, anyway. What’s the big rush? We’re not ready to move, are we?” he added more quietly.
“Not yet. But there’s a lot of news. Some bad, but not all. Come and sit with me, will you? Over here, at the side. There are some people’s faces I want to watch.”

Commander Biagioni came in, and perched on the edge of a table.
“Good morning, everyone,” she called, and they settled down to listen. “Why this extra meeting, that’s what you all want to know. Well, I want your advice. I’ve got a lot of decisions to make, and I’m not making them until I’ve heard some opinions. I will present you with certain facts, unconnected, though the answers may not be. I’m hoping for new ideas, and radical thinking. What I don’t want, is an argument about politics. Many of you wish for more contact with humans, and many of you wish for less. That is not a problem. But we do have problems to tackle. Arguing about the cause of those problems will not help. Certainly, the activities of Special Brigade will be mentioned. But focus on what the army is here to do, and how that may be maintained, please.”
She looked around, noting many different reactions, then began.

“One - we had 122 recruits this year. Only one has dropped out, but as you can imagine, that’s not going to replace the number who will wish to retire next year. Two - disappearances, of sprites who have spoken to humans, are escalating. The recent arrests in England have had no deterrent effect. But, it’s become more widely known what’s going on, and people are starting to search for missing friends themselves. Three - the presence among the first years of two elves who are members of a gang. I strongly suspect that this was intended to provoke us, specifically by over-reacting to the news they brought, this plan they call ‘rapid degeneration’. I trust there is no-one here, whatever his or her politics, who thinks well of that plan?”
She looked around again, and even Sergeant Grybow shook her head.
“Four - a way must be found to combat this plan before it starts. Oh yes, it must,” she said firmly, as she noticed a few sceptical looks. “We are here to uphold the law. And the law forbidding harm to any species is one of the most ancient. Now, before you comment on those things, I want you to listen to two reports. First, from Spain 2.”

Their colonel stood up and cleared his throat.
“Spain 2 have mutinied. I take full responsibility, of course…you’ve probably heard what happened in the spring, when a unit went home on leave and found their home destroyed. When the whole section next came together, this unit began to refuse to obey any order that would help humans. It spread through the whole section, and General Herdalen ordered them back to base. It helped a bit. But then, last week, we were ordered to tackle a goblin gang at the site of a new motorway. My section saw the destruction the humans had caused, and forgot themselves completely. Sided with the goblins, and helped them cause as much damage as possible.”
“That was a bit tactless,” said the colonel of EP. “Why weren’t Spain 1 sent instead?”
“It was a test,” said General Herdalen quietly. “They failed. Better to know, now.”
“Yes, they failed. When it was over - this madness - they had a choice. Stay, and take their punishment for disobeying orders, or just go. Two units came to their senses and surrendered to the police. The rest went. Some, I fear, are making their way to Poland.”
There was a sickened silence in the room.
“That’s terrible,” said an elderly fairy. “But you can understand how they felt. I know there’s no excuse for disobeying orders, but that order wasn’t needed in the first place. Those goblins weren’t hurting the humans themselves, were they? Or hurting other sprites?”
“General Herdalen will have had his reasons, Elsa,” said the Commander coolly, “which he does not need to explain to you. Now listen to the other report.”
Elsa Zepa, thought General Herdalen. That’s who you are. Interesting.

The colonel of the Romanian goblins lumbered to his feet.
“Things have been a bit quieter, lately, on our patch,” he rumbled. “Until the news came about the new law stopping Allies. This refugee camp was really angry. Decided to go to Poland and protest. You know, like humans do, shouting and waving banners. I took a few lads along to keep an eye on things, but they never broke any laws. I reckon Parliament never thought of that, that herding people into camps would just put a lot of angry people together, where they might get something going.”
He chuckled a bit to himself.
“Some Envoys came out and told them to go home, so they pushed them in the lake. One of them came bobbing up with a fish on his head. I thought it was very funny.”
Some sat stony-faced in disapproval, others were laughing out loud.
“I see what you mean!” whispered Bjørk to Gran.
“Not bad, is it,” Gran whispered back. “Civilians putting the blame where it ought to be - and doing something about it! Said it’d start in the east.”
The report had lightened the mood, and made everyone start thinking positively, just as the Commander had intended.

The first to speak was Cam Bruach, colonel of the 1st Squadron.
“Never enough people, have we,” she said. “Always a problem, and obviously getting worse. But I wonder if we’re using what we’ve got in the most effective way?”
“Don’t mind me,” said General Stalden. “The Commander wants to hear radical thinking.”
“Intelligence are highly-skilled, experienced fairies,” said Colonel Bruach, ”but to be honest, most of them are not as fast as they used to be. I’d pull them off the disappearances completely, to concentrate on this new threat. They could work out likely places for it to start - new housing estates, for example - and stake them out. They won’t be chasing about, they’ll be in position - ready.”
“Go on,” said General Stalden. “Who would you put onto the disappearances? We can’t ignore that problem.”
“No, but we know how they’re doing it now. If all the information we had could be put together, we’d know where to concentrate. Search and Rescue could patrol the railway lines in those areas.”

That provoked several comments.
“They’re too young!”
“There’s not enough of them!”
“No, that is a very interesting idea,” mused General Stalden. “Simply because they’re young and fast, they could do very well. But they’d need more people.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Sergeant Svir. “Larger numbers from the current recruits could be appointed to Search and Rescue. There are some exceptionally good flyers among them.”
“How do you feel about that?” the Commander asked the young colonel of Search and Rescue.
“We’d be thrilled to bits, ma’am, to be trusted with a job like that.”
“Excellent. We’ll do this. Thanks, Cam, for the idea. Dizzy, how’s it going with the data?”
“Very well,” said General Széchenyi. “The, er, Advanced Maths class have been helping me analyse it. We can start to provide leads, now; and maps, showing how known gang areas overlap with missing people’s homes.”
“Impressive,” said the colonel of Intelligence. “I could use some maps like that, if we’ve got to tackle something that hasn’t started yet. Could your youngsters help with that?”
“Yes, but it will take a little longer. Will you be pulling the whole squadron together?”
“Yes, we need to think this out carefully. We’ll be at the air-base in Stavang.”
“I’ll get the maps to you there, in a week or so.”

“But just exactly what do the police think they’re playing at?” demanded someone. “Why hasn’t anyone else been arrested? Why do these gangs get away with it all the time?”
The Commander sighed. It had all been going so well. But it was hopeless thinking no-one would mention this.
“What are you suggesting?” snarled General Saal. “You think the police don’t know their job? You don’t know how difficult it is!”
“But they’re hardly secretive! We know where they are! Why don’t you arrest some of them for minor offences, like you do to ordinary sprites? They can’t disappear people if they’re in prison, can they?”
“What, and upset their friends in Special Brigade?”
“Now just a minute!” said General Saal. “The police are a loyal army section!”
Snorts of derision sounded round the room.
“That’s enough!” said the Commander. “No-one doubts your loyalty, Inula, but it is obvious that people do not have the same confidence in all the units under your command. They must be encouraged to enforce the law without fear or favour.”
“A lot of them, on the ground…they don’t like humans,” sighed General Saal. “Got used to turning a blind eye…I can’t be everywhere.”
“I think we need to lay off a bit,” said General Herdalen. “If the police arrested every gang member, then what? Then Special Brigade would have to come out of the shadows. I don’t think that’s what we want.”
“Good point,” rumbled Bjørk. “Realistic.”

A cold voice rose above the murmur of agreement. Gran didn’t bother turning, he knew that voice too well. Colonel Pentreath of England 1.
“That organised gangs are causing trouble is beyond doubt,” he sneered. “But why this assumption that Special Brigade are behind it? They may have different priorities from us, but that is no reason to accuse them without proof.”
Sergeant Olt raised his voice.
“The fact that they are organised should be proof enough,” he said. “But if you want more, how about this? Those first years the Commander mentioned, come to us from a gang - they’ve been very cleverly transformed to look almost identical. Doesn’t that sound like Special Brigade to you?”
“I’d like to see it for myself.”
“Then you shall,” said the Commander. “What are they doing today, Luke?”
“Out on exercise, ma’am. So are the second years. The one with the map-reading and the ambush.”
Everyone started laughing. That had brought back a lot of memories. Even the Commander was smiling.
“Well, we must certainly hear how they got on with that,” she said. “And you can have a look at them at the same time. Try and get the Holland/Germany team near the front, will you, Luke? Now, we’ll stop for a drink and you can talk all this over, then we’ll see if we can make a few more decisions.”


The relaxed feeling of just being out for a walk together had gone. Some of them were nervous; it wasn’t pleasant to think there were people following you and you couldn’t see them.
“What if it’s Special Brigade?” said Wayne.
“Shouldn’t think so,” said Ace. “They wouldn’t want witnesses. Unless they’re planning to murder the whole team, of course,” he added cheerfully.
“That’s what worries me,” muttered Wayne.
“Did all the teams get a map?” said Will, over his shoulder.
“Yeah…but did they all get the same instructions?”
“Why don’t we just go for them, before they go for us?” said Peter.
“What, and spoil the fun?” said Ace. “Let’s hang on and see what they do.”
“Can’t we have a look who it is?” said Stella. “You know, just fly over and have a peep?”
“Now that isn’t a bad idea at all.”
Ace beamed at Stella and she felt really proud.
“Next time a path crosses this one, you and Rose fly up with the map, as if you were trying to work out where to go, but have a good look at the same time - without looking as if you are, of course.”
She and Rose did superbly well, but they didn’t see a thing.
“Either they’ve gone away, or they’re all keeping dead still,” said Rose.
“Never mind, you got us some useful information there - they can hear us. They knew what we were going to do, and kept still. Anyone else has a good idea, message it.”
That wasn’t the only information it gave to Ace.
They can all message, to pass that around on both side of the path, he thought. So they’re not first years. It’s the second years, it’s got to be.
The path would come out of the long grass soon, and head into thicker woodland, with only leaf-mould underfoot.
Come on, thought Ace. Make your move, or you’ll have no cover.

Sure enough, they did. Showers of well-aimed stones began falling around them, not hitting them but driving them closer together.
“Outflank them,” said Ace. “Fairies, fly straight up, out of range, then sort of swoop down behind them, on the west side, and drive them towards us.”
“Soar fifty, swerve wide east, land fast, steep angle,” shouted Clover, and the five fairies took off in a blur.
“Wow,” said Ace, then froze as he heard voices. He’d been planning to take half the elves to outflank them on the other side, but at that he changed his mind.
“Hold your ground,” he said.
Two elves and two fairies were being driven towards them. Everyone recognised them, they were on Cat’s team, their opposite numbers in the second year. Peter, Betch and Hogweed grabbed them as they came out onto the path, stumbling, being pelted from behind by Clover and the others.
“Ace, watch your back!” shouted Dan.
But it was too late.
Cat and the rest of his team stepped out behind them, stones ready in their hands. They were covered.

“I’d call that a draw,” said Cat. “Wouldn’t you? Let go of your prisoners, and we’ll let go of these stones.”
Ace nodded slowly at Betch and the others, and they let go.
“Very sensible,” said Cat, tossing his stone away.
Ace turned round to face him, but he didn’t say a word. All his team were alert, ready for orders. They were all sure Ace had some clever plan in mind.
“Our orders were to ambush you and take you back to camp,” said Cat. “What were yours?”
“To walk the route on that map,” said Ace. “No more, no less.”
They faced each other, quietly, calmly.
“Bit of a clash then, isn’t there? Do you want to fight? Or will you come with us?”
“ ’Course I want to fight,” said Ace. “I like fighting. But we’ll come with you.”
Cat just raised his eyebrows, and led them off. Ace’s team were all very quiet. Dan was disgusted, and even Hogweed was puzzled. Will came alongside Ace as Cat’s team marched them back to camp.
Look at their faces, Ace thought to Will. Disappointed. I don’t blame them.
They ought to have a bit more confidence than that, Will thought back. You’ve worked out what’s going on, haven’t you?
I think so. But I’m not sure I’m right, Will. If I’m not, we’re going to look really silly, giving in without a fight.
If you’ve spotted something, it’ll be right. But don’t tell me what it is. I’m still trying to work it out.


The young recruits were streaming back onto camp from every direction, and the corporals ushered them all together on the playing field.
“Line up in your teams, and be quick,” said Corporal Lavall. “Yes, I can see your head’s bleeding, Kiefer, but you won’t die if you wait a bit. The colonels are coming to inspect you all, and listen to your answers to my questions. Now don’t worry,” he added, as everyone started talking at once. “However nervous you are, you’re not as nervous as I am. Now stand up straight, and try to look intelligent.”
There was a ripple of laughter, then they all stood smartly as a crowd of senior officers came out of the conference room, and walked towards them, led by Commander Biagioni.
“Carry on please, Corporal,” she smiled.
“Team leaders come to the front, please.”

Oh no, thought Clover, that’s not fair. The only time he makes a mess of it, and he has to report back in front of this lot.
Corporal Lavall took the second years’ reports first. Of nine teams, six had succeeded in bringing their targets back to camp. Two had fought and lost, and Poland hadn’t even managed the ambush.
“Why was that?” asked Corporal Lavall.
“The first years weren’t on their route at all, Corporal,” their leader told him. “We couldn’t ambush them because we couldn’t find them.”
“Ah…then that’s hardly your fault. Wait a minute…they’re not here now, are they? Do you mean to say they’re still lost?”
“Leave it to me, Saul,” murmured Sergeant Olt. “I’ll organise a search party. Just wait till I get my hands on that twit Zoza! Probably in Balestrand by now.”
Some of the colonels were looking rather shocked. What was the army coming to, first years who couldn’t even read a map, and corporals who didn’t notice that a whole team was missing?

Corporal Lavall was looking very flustered, and no-one wanted to let him down. Ace was fervently hoping he hadn’t done something silly, as the corporal turned to the first years.
“Sizzle, why did your team fight?” he asked.
“They were trying to stop us!” said Sizzle indignantly. “But we won, and we finished our route,” she added triumphantly.
The Alpine second years looked miserable. They’d done a great ambush, but no-one was going to care about that. Not when they’d been beaten by one imp, one tiny elf and a crowd of fairies.
Corporal Lavall made no comment, he just passed on.
“Alnus, why didn’t your team fight?”
“Their ambush was so good, we were in no position to.”
This time, the second years were trying not to look too pleased with themselves. Then it was Ace’s turn. He swallowed hard as the corporal asked him why he hadn’t fought, and answered calmly.
“Because of what I heard in a lecture last week. Where two units find themselves in the same territory with conflicting orders, the orders of the senior unit take priority.”
So that’s it, thought Will. He doesn’t miss a thing. They look pretty impressed, over there. Look at them all, smiling…crumbs, some of them are clapping!

“Thank you,” said Corporal Lavall. “Return to your teams, please. Well, some very interesting results. This exercise is designed to see how you cope when you haven’t got the full picture. The second years knew what they had to do, but they didn’t know how you’d react. What I wanted there was a smooth ambush, leaving no opportunity for resistance. So well done to Spain, and to everyone else who managed without fighting. Now, the first years. You were given map-reading so easy it should have made you think something else was going to happen. So I was looking for alertness. Well done to the Alpine team, and Scandinavia, who spotted it in time to organise themselves. But, you should have realised you weren’t supposed to fight your own second years! However, that’s usually what happens. But this year, a team worked out why not. Very good listening, England, well done. I don’t know how long it is since anyone’s done that.”
I do, General Herdalen thought to Ace. 1970, it was.
Ace met his eyes across the crowd, and smiled.


The team were beside themselves. Most of them were feeling a bit guilty about thinking he’d made a mess of it, and that made their congratulations even warmer. As soon as Corporal Lavall dismissed them, everyone streamed off to the Concourse, and Cat’s team came over and joined them as they piled around a table.
“Thanks for letting our ambush work,” he said. “That was really nice of you.”
“No problem,” smiled Ace. “Got to stick together.”
“You let him?” said Dan.
“But how did you know it was Cat’s team?” asked Fran.
“Oh, I didn’t, at first. That’s why I started by trying to outflank them. But as soon as I heard an English accent, I knew it was you, and changed the plan. They wouldn’t have wanted us to fight you. Your part was the ambush, but our part wasn’t resisting it, it had to be something else.”
“You thought all that!” said Peter. “How fast was that!”
“About three seconds,” said Will, shuddering a bit.
“I still wasn’t sure about our part until you mentioned a clash,” said Ace. “Then it clicked. They wanted to see if we’d been listening.”
“Brilliant,” said Cat. “Some useful points there, too. Poland are in the lead, but they’re not uncatchable. You’ll have got plenty too - not that you need them!”
“What do you mean?” said Wayne. “No-one knows who’s in the lead!”
“Don’t you know?” gasped Cat. “You are, of course. I heard Sergeant Olt had to put another piece of paper on his wall, to fit all your points on.”
“Flipping heck,” said Ace. “If that’s true…that’s amazing.”

They looked around at the sound of clapping behind them. Zoza’s team had finally made it back to camp, and they got a sarcastic cheer.
“Poor old Poland,” said Ace. “They’re certainly not in the lead in the first year.”
“Cheer up, Ace,” said Rose. “What’s the matter? You should be feeling proud, everyone’s saying you’re the first one to suss that exercise for thirty years!”
“Well, no, I don’t feel proud, ’cos there’s something I missed, you see. Something I should have realised much sooner. I’m sorry, Rose - all of you fairies - I’m not fit to lead a mixed team.”
“Why on earth not?” said Clover. “Now I know what you were doing, I think you were brilliant!”
“No way,” said Ace. “The time I wasted, describing what I wanted you to do! When you’ve got all these special commands, so short and snappy!”
“Yes, we have,” said Clover. “But there’s no reason why you should know them!”
“I should have noticed sooner, and asked you to tell me them. It’s no good trying to cheer me up, Clover, it’s pathetic.”
“Rubbish!” said Clover. “I bet you’re the only elf who would even think of it. You serious? You want to know all the commands?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’ll be honoured. I just hope I can remember them all. I’m not totally convinced,” she said, glaring at the other fairies who were obviously splitting themselves trying not to laugh, “that Sergeant Svir would think you were asking the right person.”


Just then, a goblin from Supplies came onto the Concourse, rolling a barrel of beer.
“General Cherapont’s compliments,” he said. “Well done for impressing the colonels.”
All the elves cheered, and lots of them kept coming over to Ace and thanking him. He wished they wouldn’t; he didn’t think he’d done anything particularly clever, and he wanted to listen to what Clover was telling him. Then Will got up, and leaned on his shoulder, and murmured,
“Ace, I’ve got to go. General Széchenyi wants me.”
“Oh, that’s not fair, you’ll miss the beer!”
“I’ve had one…and it doesn’t matter. Beer’s good, but integrated circuits are better.”
“Weirdo,” said Ace, laughing. “See you later, Will.”


Will slipped away and crossed the camp to General Széchenyi’s office. The memories of that awful day he and Ace had spent in here were fading fast, it didn’t distress him any more. It was a long, low-roofed cabin, just like General Herdalen’s from the outside, though the inside was very different. Nothing was out of place. Neat files lined the walls, and there was no clutter on the desk.
“Good evening, ma’am…sir,” said Will.
“Hello, Will. This is Colonel Dünnwald, head of the Technical Section. Come from Germany for the meeting today. He’d be very interested to know how the computer works.”
“Mmm, sure,” said Will, pulling his screwdriver out of his pocket. “This is the interesting bit, the CPU - central processing unit.”
He lifted the lid off, and the colonel gasped as he peered inside.
“It’s basically very simple,” said Will. “Electrical pulses going on and off. The current flows through a coil, around an iron core - here, in the read-write head - and the pulses are just ones and zeroes - binary code. The coil magnetises the surface of the disc - here, this is called the hard drive - and the bit of information is stored as a band of magnetism.”
“The number of bits must be enormous then, to perform anything useful. They’re stored on these discs?”
“Yes, but there’s more memory than that, to store all the programming instructions as well as the data. There are microchips - integrated circuits - thousands of storage cells in each chip, arranged in groups called bytes. And each cell is connected to an address line and a data line, and the on-off pulses go along the data lines.”
“So the cells contain transistors, do they, to go on and off?”

“That’s right,” said Will. He was enjoying this. He didn’t often get to talk to people who knew what he was on about. “It took ages to make them. They have a p-type silicon base, to attract the electrons at a positive charge, and repel them at a negative charge.”
“And these pins connect the chip to the circuit board…I see. Did you memorise all this!”
“Oh, no,” laughed Will. “I had a circuit diagram…where did I leave it, ma’am?”
“I put it away safely…yes, here it is.”
The colonel pored over it with deep interest.
“So tiny…how do humans do it?” he asked in wonder.
“They use microscopes, I think,” said Will. “It is awesome though, isn’t it? I just made them at a comfortable size to handle, then shrunk them, of course.”
“I can see how it stores data, but how does it store the programs?”
“Logic gates,” said Will.

He was off again, explaining about instruction registers, and decoders, and accumulators, until General Széchenyi started yawning, went off to get a cup of tea, came back, and found they were still at it. Will was showing the colonel how he’d programmed the computer to spot patterns.
“You put as much information as you have in these boxes - they’re called fields - about known gangs, who’s in them, where they operate, and in these, all the data about a missing person, where they were last seen, who they know, everything you can find out. Then you tell the computer to run this program I wrote, to find any matches. See this one from Austria…she was last seen in Mayrhofen, so naturally they suspected an Austrian gang. But the computer picked up a link that she could have been taken anywhere on the Vienna line, and brought up that one of a gang in Northern Italy was originally from Linz. The suggestion went to the Intelligence Squadron, and they found her. That’s our only success so far, but the more data we get, the easier it will be.”
“Wonderful,” said the colonel. “It beggars belief that such a wonderful machine should be illegal.”

He looked at Will thoughtfully. Will had amazed him as much as the computer had.
“I’d like to have you in the Technical Section,” he said, “but you’d be wasted there, the way things are now. Making simple machinery, that everyone ought to know how to do for themselves. We should be working on big projects, and analysing all the latest inventions to see how they work.”
“Mobile phones,” said Will, “and lap-tops, and electronic games, and life-support machines.”
“Fibre optic cable,” said Colonel Dunnwald, dreamily.
“Mmm, yes,” said Will. “Mustn’t put Signals out of a job, though!”
“There is that,” laughed the colonel. “Ah, one day, one day. When we’re free.”
“Excuse me, sir…”
Will closed his eyes for a moment, thinking, then glanced at his watch in amazement.
“That was Ace. My twin. Saying why was I still nattering about integrated circuits at half-past three in the morning.”
“Is it? I hadn’t realised. I shouldn’t be keeping you up so late, you’re young, you need your sleep. It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Will. Is your twin interested in this stuff too?”
“Oh, yes…up to a point. Much more than average. But as much as this…no. You can’t pin a mind like that down to so much detail and concentration. He’s got his own skills…well, you saw him this afternoon, sir. The one who got it right. That says it all. That’s Ace for you.”
“Ah. Yes, I understand. Well, it’s no good looking too far ahead. There’s no future for any of us until we settle Parliament once and for all. But you’re the best of your generation, Will - the best there’s ever been.”


Will was very thoughtful as he walked back to the barracks. He could see so clearly what the colonel had been getting at. One day - a long way off, but one day it would come - he was going to have to choose between staying with Ace, and following his own path. He shuddered at the thought, and tried to push it away to the back of his mind.

He didn’t sleep well. When Ace pulled his hair to wake him up, he just groaned.
“What are we doing today?”
“Defying death, wiping the floor with Olm and Beuk, leaping off mountains…in other words, diving. Come on, Will, pretend you’re alive and get up.”
“They’re letting us do diving?”
“Yes, so long as we report to Major Gourdon at once if we feel the slightest bit funny afterwards - on pain of death.”
“Do you have to be so bouncy at six o’clock in the morning? Where’s my boots?”
“Here. Come on, a nice race round the assault course will wake you up.”
“I suppose. Have the others gone already?”
“Yes, but we’ll soon catch them up.”


It did help. They could all do the full circuit now, just, though they weren’t all very fast. Will wasn’t pushing for speed, he was working on accuracy, trying to eliminate all the tiny errors that slowed you down. Fran and Peter were there, too. Working out before breakfast was catching on, and it was easier to get up on summer mornings. The ones who’d been doing it right from the start had the edge, though, and Gran was inclined to show off a bit.
“You were giving it some, then,” said Will, as they went to the canteen.
“I wanted to beat Gran,” Ace explained. “Shut him up a bit. I don’t want Fran and the others getting discouraged by his swanking.”
“Thoughtful. You never stop thinking about the team, do you?”
“I wish Gran would think of his team more. Everyone’s persuaded more people to come training except him. You’d think he’d be keen to, seeing how he always wants to win.”
“He likes being the best, though, too,” said Will. “He wouldn’t like it if any of his own team could beat him.”
“Well, neither would I,” said Ace honestly, “but that’s not the way to do it. You just have to work harder, that’s all.”


Will was watching Gran as they jumped and scrambled up the mountain to meet Sergeant Olt. What must it be like, he wondered, always to be alone like that? His working partner was Droz, but he wasn’t even with him now, when they were going to have to dive together soon.
It beats me, thought Will. He’s a mystery, that one. You’d think he’d be glad of the chance to make friends after being lonely so long.
Then he started wondering just how lonely it would feel for a twin, to get sent to another country…for how long? Ugh, how could you stand it?
“Will! Where are you going?” called Ace. “We’re here!”
“Oh…oh yeah, right.”
Ace shot a thoughtful look at him, but he didn’t say anything.

As more and more of the elves arrived on the ledge, everyone was looking down, exclaiming over the drop. This was a different cliff, they hadn’t tried it before. Ace and Will hadn’t even been allowed to try diving at all since that first time. But the training was over now, this was the final test, before they moved on to something else.
Sergeant Olt explained what he wanted.
“Just want to see the best distance each pair can do. Don’t worry about what other pairs may or may not have done. Trust me to make allowances; some of you haven’t known each other all that long. And some of you have been split up from your real partners!”
The sergeant smiled at Betch as he said this, trying to cheer him up. Diving had depressed Betch more than anything. He liked Wayne, and worked well with him, but he knew he could have done so much better with Dale.
But the way Will’s thoughts had been going, the sergeant’s words rattled him, even though he knew they weren’t aimed at him. When their names were called out to dive, Ace could see straight away that he wasn’t really with it.
“Will! Are you concentrating?”
“Mmm, ’course I am,” said Will, and then Ace knew he wasn’t. Not at all. This was serious. He grabbed Will’s shoulders, turned him away from the edge to face him, and hit him on the head.
Everyone gasped, and Sergeant Olt frowned.
“Snap out of it, Will!” shouted Ace. “ ’Cos I’m not diving unless you do.”
“What? Oh! Oh, good grief. Sorry, Ace.”
“Just a moment,” said Sergeant Olt. He looked hard at Will. “Are you all right?”
“I am now. Sorry, Sergeant, I was miles away.”
“Very dangerous and stupid. Step back from the edge and approach your dive again.”
They stepped back, then turned and leaped in perfect unison, so fast everyone rushed to the edge to see how far they’d go. Down and down they went, faster and faster, right to the very bottom of the cliff, where they landed side by side.
“That’s better,” said Sergeant Olt, and sent the next pair.

Gran was feeling frustrated. It just wasn’t fair, twins had it so easy. When it was his turn, he thought to Droz,
We could get to the bottom if we concentrated. How about it?
Don’t be stupid, Droz thought back. Aim for the next ledge down. We might manage that neatly enough.
Gran didn’t answer. But as soon as they’d jumped, he thought again, trying to force Droz down with him.
Come on! Come on, we can do it!
But Droz knew they couldn’t, and tried to land where he’d said. But Gran was dragging at his mind. He missed the landing, and crashed against the rock, rolling over and over before he managed to stop himself. Gran landed further down, clumsily, but he wasn’t hurt. Before Sergeant Olt could say a word, Kes and Vin had jumped over again to go and help Droz. Everyone was relieved to see he could still walk, as they helped him back up the narrow path that led to the ledge. The sergeant took a good look at Droz’s cuts and scratches.
“They need a good wash. Nothing broken? Thank goodness for that. That wasn’t your fault. As for you two,” he glared at Kes and Vin, “another time, wait for orders! Now take Droz to the hospital.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” said Kes cheerfully, but they left quickly. They could read the signs. So could everyone else, keeping as quiet as they could. Sergeant Olt was very, very angry.
When Gran got back up, the sergeant snapped, “Pay attention!”
Everyone stopped staring at Gran, and looked at him.
“Once and for all, get it into your heads, stupid behaviour is dangerous. Will Moseley, take two hours hard labour for daydreaming. As for you, Gran Starheim, I’m appalled. Deliberately risking someone else’s life for your own pride! Report to the police. Two day’s detention.”

It wasn’t a good end to the morning. Everyone drifted off when they got back to camp. Ace and Will headed into the Southern Forest, to their favourite stream.
“Oh, what a morning!” sighed Ace, as they flopped down on the grass. “Sorry you got in trouble. I didn’t know what to do for the best.”
“Ach, that doesn’t matter. You did the right thing, we could have been killed.”
“You going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
“Sure. No secrets. I was going to tell you, there just hasn’t been a chance till now. I had such a good time last night, Ace. You know, that colonel really understood what I was talking about.”
“Who is he?”
“Head of the Technical Section. He said a lot of nice things to me. But he really frightened me. Do you get any choice, Ace, what unit you’re in? Or do you have to go where they send you?”
“Oh…oh, you’re right, this is heavy. They wouldn’t split us up, would they?”
“Not yet. He wasn’t thinking of soon. Said I’d be wasted there, the way things are now. But one day, Ace, one day - when we’re free again - they’re going to want me in that Section. And you’ll be swanning about leading England 1 by then, I shouldn’t wonder.”
Ace snorted with derision.
“I don’t think so. Not unless the war takes a very, very long time…but you’re sure he was thinking to the future, not to first appointments?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Then you need some optimism, here. First, it’s too far off to worry about. Second, we could both be killed in the war, and then it’s not a problem…”
“…you call that optimism?”
“You know what I mean. And third, by then we might feel differently. I know it’s hard to imagine, but we might; you know, both be so absorbed by our own proper work that we could actually handle it. I don’t think they’d push you into it before you were ready.”
“No, you might be right there. But we’d both have to feel ready.”
“Definitely. So if it comes to that, and we can’t, well, it’s easy. I’ll come too. They’d have me in the Technical Section, I can wire a plug, and make batteries and engines and things.”
“But that’d be such a waste! You should be leading operations, using all that whizzing and style!”
“It’s not any more of a waste than you not using your skills.”
“Maybe not. I don’t know. But like you said, it’s a long way off. No point worrying yet. It just rattled me, that’s all.”
“I’m not surprised. I feel rattled myself now.” Ace gave him an apologetic look. ”You had all this on your mind, and I hassled you out on the assault course. I should have noticed.”
“No…I should have said something. But it’s so hard to say, something’s wrong, I want to talk to you.”
“I know. Just coming out with words. I do understand. Better than I used to. But the more you do it, the easier it will get.”
He put his arm round Will as they got up to go to the target range, and Will did the same to him, leaning his head against Ace’s, confidingly.
“Right,” he said. “You know what, Ace? Yesterday, when you stunned everyone. I was so proud of you.”


When they reported to Lieutenant Smerek at ten o’clock, he shook his head.
“Sorry, Ace, you’ll have to push off. Sergeant Olt was here the other week, checking the book, and realised what you’d been doing. You’re not allowed to keep each other company.”
“Rats. Was he angry?”
“No…flabbergasted. Right, Will, firewood. Take a sack into the forest.”
“Could be worse. Which store am I filling?”
“Signals Unit.”
“Right. See you, Ace. Thanks for coming, anyway.”
Ace was looking over the lieutenant’s shoulder as he wrote Will’s name down.
“We still got the most? Let’s have a look.”
“No, you can’t have a look! I’m not sure, I think Kiefer Schwarzee might be catching you up.”
“Can’t have that!” said Ace, as the lieutenant flicked through the pages. “Clover! Did that say Clover? What’s she done? Oh, turn the page back, please!”
“No! Haven’t you got anything to do?”
“No,” said Ace. “Bet it was falling asleep in class, anyway. She kept pretty quiet about that. I don’t know, these fairies that make out they’re so well-behaved, when really they’re as bad as we are.”
“I wouldn’t go as far as that. One of you got detention today, didn’t he?”
“Yes…that wasn’t very nice. How did you know?”
“Someone mentioned it. I forget who.”
“Yeah, I suppose news like that spreads pretty quickly. I have got something to do, Lieutenant. See you soon!”
“That’ll be nice. So long as it’s not an official visit!”


What Ace had thought of, was trying to message Gran, to cheer him up. However badly he’d behaved, he’d be suffering now, and ignoring him wouldn’t help. He wasn’t sure he liked Gran, but he was sound for the cause, and beside that, Ace felt a bit responsible for him, because he suspected it was twins who’d made him like he was.
He got through all right, but he didn’t think he’d been much help. Gran had been a bit stiff, a bit cold.
Oh well, thought Ace, at least he’ll know someone cared how he was. That might cheer him up, when he’s stopped feeling angry.
He put it out of his mind, and decided to go off to the hut to practise his singing.

But in the gloomy, hot detention cell, Gran Starheim was standing, taut and furious.
How dare you, Ace Moseley, he thought. His mind went back to all the times he’d nearly, so nearly beaten Ace and Will. Frustration and jealousy were getting the better of him. How dare you try to be kind to me.


The colonels’ conference was over, but most of them had stayed on for full moon, and joined the throng streaming happily into the Eastern Forest to see the Tree. The sprites were back on camp now, enjoying the light night and listening to the trumpets. The loud brass music made very good cover for the conversation General Herdalen was having with some trusted friends, gathered around a table at the edge of the Concourse. General Széchenyi was there, and Colonel Dünnwald was beside her. Sergeant Kopec, Colonel Kinnekulle, Colonel Bruach of the 1st Squadron, and Colonel Ormul, the police goblin from Romania; all people who knew that war was coming, and were working to be ready for it. Only the Commander was missing; she was using all her wits and charm to keep anyone from joining them, so they could talk undisturbed. This was a highly unofficial meeting, but a very important one.

“But any section could go the way of Spain 2, given a sudden provocation like they had.”
“It was only one unit, and they influenced the whole section,” said General Herdalen. “It can work the other way too - one good unit can keep a whole section steady. But you’re right, it’s a worry.”
“We always knew we wouldn’t have the whole army,” said Bjørk Kinnekulle cheerfully. “There are some who love Parliament more than they love the army. And some who hate humans more than they love the army. But they won’t tip the balance. It’s the civilians who’ll tip the balance. This protest from Romania - that’s the stuff!”
“It was great,” chuckled Colonel Ormul. “But what’d be really good, would be making sure people got to hear about it. Then next time there might be two protests…then four…”
“Can’t we get the Messengers onto that? Spreading the story across the colonies?” said Colonel Dünnwald. “Oh…not with Colonel Zepa in charge. Just a thought.”
“Signals could,” said General Széchenyi. “Unofficially. If you had a word in the right ears. Pice Inari, Poppy Rhaeadr, for instance. Leave it to me. There are hundreds of colonies where retired army sprites live, and a lot of them will be personally known to people in Signals.”
“That’s very good,” said General Herdalen. “That reminds me, though; don’t forget to use code if you’re sending sensitive information through Signals. They’re not all sound.”

“I heard a whisper, from Poppy Rhaeadr,” said Colonel Bruach. “Very exciting, if it’s true. That Madge Arley had made new Allies. Is it true?”
“Yes,” said General Herdalen.”Yes, it’s true. You know Madge, she’s not one for unnecessary risks. But she said everything had come together, and she’d never felt so sure about anything. There are three new Allies in England, and one of them, a young man called David, has a very interesting plan. His idea is to use this new thing, the Internet, to get all the Allies in touch with each other. Just think what a help that would be! So get in touch with all your most trusted contacts, and let me have all the names and addresses you know, and I’ll see he gets them.”
“Things really are coming together,” said Sergeant Kopec. “Even Luke Olt’s noticed. Says he’s never had such recruits for arguing about politics.”
“That’s hardly surprising,” said General Herdalen,”when you think that there’s those two the Commander mentioned, come from a gang, and …” he paused dramatically, knowing this would cause a sensation, “five of the ones who signed the forms with Madge.”
“What?”
“They’re here?”
“Have you had any trouble?”
The questions came thick and fast.
“Yes, a bit of trouble, but all’s well. We’re keeping a close watch on them, as you can imagine. It’s the seventh one we’re a bit worried about. He’s the one who went undercover to get the Delamere gang. He’ll be here to join us next year, so you’ll have to keep an eye on him, Modrin,” he said to Sergeant Kopec. “Your turn for the first years again next year.”
“Right. What’s his name?”
“Phil…bother, I can’t remember his place-name. Never mind. Let me see if I can point the others out to you. Yes…see those two sitting near the band? Big goblin and a fairy who looks like an imp? That’s Hogweed and Dan. Then there’s Rose and Clover - in that crowd who are dancing - the two dressed in the latest human fashions. Clover signed, Rose didn’t - wasn’t needed. And the ringleaders - who I’m proud to call personal friends - Ace and Will Moseley.”
“Ah,” said Colonel Dünnwald, smiling.
“I’ll ask them to come over. I’d like you to meet them.”

In a few moments, Ace and Will arrived, strolling along in a carefree sort of way, and stopped by the general’s table as if by chance.
“Very impressive,” grinned General Herdalen.
He introduced them all, then said,
“Ace, what’s Phil’s place-name?”
“Royden.”
“Oh, yes. Thanks. Just wanted Sergeant Kopec to know about Phil. But remember, any of you can trust anyone round this table, as much as you trust me.”
Ace’s face lit up, and he smiled his most beautiful smile. The general was trusting them to know who were the most senior people in the cause.
“Thank you, sir. It’s an honour to meet you all.”
“Grybow!” hissed General Széchenyi.
“Of course we’ll fill your jugs, sir,” said Ace, quick as a flash. “Pass me that other one, Will.”
Calmly they gathered the jugs and walked off, as Sergeant Grybow walked past suspiciously.
“Well!” said Bjørk, when she’d gone, “that was fast thinking! He’s the one who got that trick exercise right, too, isn’t he? The one no-one’s sussed since you, Gran?”
“That’s him.”
“Well, well. Things are looking up.”