Too frightened to budge.
‘Let me try,’ she said to McManus.
‘If you wish.’
‘SAMUEL!’ she called out. ‘It’s OK! They’re not going to hurt any of you! Do as he said … all of you! Just like I did … slowly, with your hands nice and high!’
Silence. Not a murmur. She was about to cup her mouth and try again, but then the first pale figure slowly emerged, blinking, into the sunlight.
Samuel. He was doing as she’d instructed: his thin, child’s arms raised above his oversized head. Twenty yards away, she could see he was trembling. The ape emerged behind, towering above him, huge muscular arms raised.
‘No shoot!’ it cried in a deep voice.
Sal nodded encouragement. ‘That’s right! No one’s going to shoot you. Come on!’
The others began to emerge one by one. ‘That’s it … come on. It’s OK!’
Captain McManus studied the creatures as they stepped into the daylight. ‘By the shape of the heads I’d say these are mostly Watson-Rutherford Class Eugenics. Manufactured fifteen … some of them twenty years ago,’ he mused. ‘Hmmm, all old stock, very poor condition looking at them, largely malnourished.’
He ordered some of his men over to herd the group together.
Liam stepped beside Sal. He put an arm round her shoulders and hugged her. ‘It’s a relief to see you again,’ he whispered, squeezing her tight. ‘I let you down, Sal. God, I’m so sorry! When I came round … I was … you were already gone —’
She put a hand to his mouth. ‘I’m OK. Honest.’
‘But if —’
‘We’re both fine, Liam,’ she smiled. ‘Hungry … very hungry, but fine.’
‘Closer together, Corporal!’ barked McManus. ‘Don’t want any of these devils sneaking off!’
‘Mr Lincoln? You’re not hurt?’ asked Liam.
‘As this young lady said … we are both fine, Mr O’Connor. But I could eat a whole barn full of horses!’
‘Liam?’ She stepped back. ‘Heard anything yet from Maddy?’
He shook his head and lowered his voice. ‘Nothing.’
McManus was busy issuing orders and appraising the condition of the eugenics. ‘Not a thing,’ he replied. ‘She must have problems of her own to deal with.’
‘And those of you wearing clothes,’ called out McManus, ‘let’s have those removed, if you please … you’re not human!’
Sal turned to look up at Bob and smiled. ‘Good to see you too, coconut head.’
‘I am glad you are both unharmed,’ he replied.
She punched his flank gently. ‘You know, one or two of these genics have got even bigger muscles than you!’
He scowled. ‘Muscle-tissue density, not size, is the determining factor.’
She tipped her head back at the creatures. ‘Seen the big one back there? Hmm? Jealous?’
He looked puzzled. ‘That is not a human emotion I have managed to generate files on yet.’
‘Not jealous? Yeah right.’ She turned round to point out the ape and stopped dead. ‘Hold on! Hey! … What’s going on?’
The others turned to see Captain McManus unbuckling the flap of his gun holster. The creatures were huddled tightly together in the middle of the avenue, their items of clothing — hats, scarves, aprons — discarded on the ground. The soldiers had formed a loose circle round them, a cautious dozen yards between them and the eugenics, carbines raised to their shoulders and aimed.
‘Excuse me!’ called out Sal. ‘What’re you doing?’
McManus ignored her. ‘Mark your targets, men!’
‘Jay-zus!’ Liam jogged over towards him. Sal followed. ‘Captain McManus! What? Hoy! Stop! You’re not planning on shooting them, are you?’
He turned to Liam. ‘What? Yes, of course we are.’
Sal saw Samuel at the front of the huddle, his eyes picking her out. His ragged lips moved. A whispered unheard question.
Sal? You told us …?
‘Clearly they’re not a danger to anyone now!’ said Liam. ‘Can you not see? They have no weapons! Look at them … they’re —’
‘They are faulty, Mr O’Connor. Faulty eugenic units. Which makes them unreliable. As I said, unpredictable.’
Sal looked at him. ‘Faulty?’
‘Quite faulty, yes.’ He nodded casually. ‘They can’t be reconditioned. Quite honestly they’re in an appalling condition anyway. And we certainly can’t leave these things running around on the loose.’ He turned back to his men. ‘Make ready!’
‘Stop!’ she shrieked. ‘Please! Stop!’ She grasped his gun hand.
‘Excuse me! Would you mind letting go?’
‘Look! Captain,’ said Liam, ‘I don’t think this is right either! You can’t just shoot them like this!’
Lincoln had joined them now. ‘My friends are quite correct, sir! These poor wretches should not be treated in this way!’
McManus looked at them all. Bewildered by their concern. ‘You do understand these are not —’ he looked at the shivering huddle of ash-white eugenics — ‘that these are not … people? Good grief, they’re not even animals. They’re eugenic products! Blood and bone factory machines … that really is all they are.’
‘No!’ cried Sal. ‘Jahulla! No! They’re more than that! They … they … they’re just like us! They’re intelligent! They can talk and —’
‘Of course they can talk. Some of them were designed that way. Good God, some of the smartest ones can almost be convincing. But listen, young lady,’ he said softly, almost sympathetically, ‘don’t ever make the mistake of thinking one of these things can be your friend.’
He twisted his hand out of her grasp. ‘Understand, they are products. That’s all! Machines. More importantly, they are broken machines … and that makes them unreliable. Unpredictable.’ He raised his gun. ‘Dangerous.’
‘Please!’ cried Sal. ‘Stop!’ She saw Samuel … his scrawny arms folded in front of his face. McManus fingered the safety catch on his sidearm and filled his lungs with a breath.
‘TAKE AIM!’
The ape standing behind Samuel quickly moved a thick arm down and wrapped it round Samuel’s small torso protectively, as if the bulk of his muscle was going to be enough to shield him.
‘FIRE!’
CHAPTER 60. 2001, New York
Colonel Wainwright regarded his men gathered together in the rough ground between their main command bunker and the trench facing out across the East River. Just short of three hundred men left in his regiment. The last time the 38th Virginia had been at a full strength of six hundred was many decades ago, long before his time.
It seemed the Southern command was adopting the Northern habit of letting regiments run down and then completely disbanding them when their troop’s number hit a critical minimum. He shook his head. Foolish … a regiment’s fighting spirit lay in its history. The 38th had been raised back in 1861, had been commanded by General Lee, had fought under Pickett and charged the Union troops at Gettysburg. They’d taken Cemetery Ridge and sent Meade’s men packing. That kind of a legacy bonded men, made them commit that little bit more to the esprit de corps.
They stood watching him now. Uncertain faces. He knew rumours were already spreading among the men. They knew something serious had happened in the command bunker earlier today. They knew a dozen British soldiers had been arrested, disarmed and locked up. Tongues were wagging with the increasingly persistent rumours that something big was imminent. The news the British officer had brought that a new offensive was about to be launched was hardly a big surprise to Wainwright. He, along with every Joe Huckabee in the trenches, knew the British had been pulling in units from all over the empire. Talk of that and other half-truths, Chinese-whispered rumours, had managed to filter their way along the entire length of the Sheridan line.