‘We get Stuff Central to do a custom job from our specifications.’
‘How do we get those?’
‘The old man can get them, can’t you, old man?’
The Wanderer didn’t answer. The Minstrel Boy moved closer to him.
‘You can, can’t you, old man?’
The Wanderer looked at the ground. He hesitated and then spoke reluctantly.
‘I can do it. I can form a mind link with Ho, and all the information can be fed out of my brain into the request console of the stuff receiver. Once the data’s in the pattern bank we can have as many replicas of Jeb Stuart Ho as we want. Only they’ll be programmed to do exactly what they’re told.’
A look of relief came over Billy’s face.
‘We’re out of trouble then?’
The Wanderer nodded wearily.
‘Yeah, we’re out of trouble.’
‘What’s wrong?’
The Minstrel Boy grinned nastily.
‘The old man’s not too keen on the mind link bit.’
The Wanderer growled at him.
‘Just get off my back, will you. I said I’d do it.
The Minstrel Boy didn’t stop.
‘The mind link doesn’t go away once it’s started. If Jeb Stuart Ho dies, the Wanderer will experience it too. It could hurt.’
The Wanderer grunted.
‘It will hurt.’
A.A. Catto interrupted any further discussion.
‘What are you all talking about?’
The Minstrel Boy turned to face her.
‘We’ve come up with the answer. We’ll need to use the stuff receiver. Have your men found it yet?’
‘They’ve located it.’
‘We might as well get on with it, then.’
A.A. Catto became suspicious.
‘Are you sure this isn’t some kind of trick?’
‘Of course it ain’t no trick.’
‘How can I be sure of that?’
The Minstrel Boy began to get exasperated.
‘You can’t be sure. You’ll have to trust us. It’s our lives that are on the line. You think we’re going to deliberately fuck up?’
‘I still don’t like it.’
‘You got a better idea?’
A.A. Catto’s face flushed dangerously.
‘Your manners aren’t all they could be.’
The Minstrel Boy had the sense to backpedal.
‘Okay, I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.’
A.A. Catto thought for a moment. She directed her attention to Billy.
‘Have you still got your gun?’
Billy looked round nervously.
‘Yeah … I’ve got it.’
‘Give it to me.’
Billy hesitated. A.A. Catto held out her hand.
‘Give it to me.’
Reluctantly Billy handed it over. A.A. Catto checked that it was loaded, and then pointed it at the four of them.
‘I’ll take you to the receiver room and you can start work. I’ll be watching you all the time. If I see anything I don’t like, I’ll shoot. You understand?’
The Minstrel Boy nodded.
‘We understand.’
A.A. Catto descended from the late Joachim’s throne and led them through a small door at the side of the hall. It was like stepping into another age. The room was filled with gleaming technology. The Minstrel Boy gazed round with what almost amounted to awe.
‘Goddamn! Civilization. I thought I’d never see it again.’
The Wanderer went sullenly to the control console.
‘Let’s get to it.’
The Minstrel Boy immediately assumed control. He took off his coat and tossed it in a corner.
‘First thing we got to do is deactivate the globes,’
The Wanderer sat down in the chair in front of he console. He searched the board for the unit that controlled the globes.
‘Got it.’
‘Can you ground them?’
‘I think so.’
The Wanderer punched a sequence of buttons. A number of coloured lights went out.
‘The globes are dead.’
A.A. Catto stood in the doorway, covering them with the gun. The Minstrel Boy moved up beside the Wanderer, partly to get a better view and partly to put as much of the old man as he could between himself and A.A. Catto. When it came to his own safety, the Minstrel Boy had no scruples.
‘The next thing we have to do is to order up a direct data helmet.’
The Wanderer inspected the board.
‘That won’t be so easy. There’s a selector block hooked into this rig.’
‘Can you switch it off?’
The Wanderer shook his head.
‘Negative. There’s a lock on it.’
‘I’ll have to short it out.’
The Minstrel Boy pulled out one of his knives, and squatted on the floor. He prised open one of the inspection panels in the front of the console. He was just about to put his hand inside when A.A. Catto took a step forward.
‘What are you doing?’
The Minstrel Boy found himself looking down the barrel of her gun. He straightened up.
‘There’s a block on the controls that stops anyone ordering things that didn’t fit in with Joachim’s and Alamada’s ideas of the simple life. If we want anything but nuts, berries and new horsemen, I have to fix some kind of bypass. Okay? Can I go on with what I’m doing?’
A.A. Catto still looked doubtful.
‘Are you sure you know what you are doing?’
The Minstrel Boy became impatient.
‘Listen, lady, I’ve been hot-wiring receivers since I was a little kid. Just let me get on with it.’
A. A, Catto backed away, and the Minstrel Boy crawled half inside the console. After a couple of minutes he emerged grinning.
‘That should do it. Order up that helmet.’
The Wanderer stabbed at the buttons. Rows of lights flickered into life. There was a faint hum from the cage that actually received the ordered goods. After about a minute, the cage flickered briefly with cold light and a white plastic hemisphere appeared. A number of coiled leads were attached to it, and an instruction booklet lay beside it on the floor of the cage. Billy reached in and lifted it out. A.A. Catto looked at the helmet questioningly.
‘What is that thing?’
‘It’s a direct data helmet. It’s a device that enables the old man to relay the specifications on Ho without having to verbalize them and then translate them into a selection sequence.’
He fitted the helmet on to the Wanderer’s head, although he left the leads unattached and dangling. He slapped the old man on the shoulder.
‘Okay buddy. Find our man.’
The Wanderer sighed and shut his eyes. The Minstrel Boy motioned to Billy and Reave.
‘You two better hold his arms down on the chair. He’s liable to thrash about a bit while he’s making contact.’
Billy and Reave did as they were instructed. The Wanderer began to twitch slightly, and sweat stood out on his forehead. The twitching gradually built up until his body was racked by violent convulsive jerks. Billy and Reave had to use all their strength to hold him down. Suddenly his muscles seemed to lock in one huge spasm. His back arched and sweat poured down his face. Then it passed. The Wanderer collapsed back in the chair. His mouth opened and closed. He licked his lips.
‘I’ve got him.’
His voice was a strained croak. The Minstrel Boy grabbed the ends of the helmet leads and banged them into input sockets on the control board.
‘Feed the data, old man.’
The lights on the console began to blink rapidly.
The Minstrel Boy picked up his coat.
‘We should have something down the beam quite soon.’
Billy and Reave stepped away from the Wanderer. He was quite passive now. Billy glanced at the Minstrel Boy.
‘Won’t Ho notice the mind link?’
The Minstrel Boy shook his head.
‘He’ll probably feel a bit strange, but the odds are that he won’t realize what’s happening.’
‘How long do we have to wait before the first of the replicas comes through?’