Part 33 (1/2)

'Then, Terence Arthur Mulligan, I am arresting you on the charge of abducting an officer of the law.

You have no need to say anything, but anything you do say will be taken down and may be used in evidence.'

'We're on the road to h.e.l.l,' said Terence Arthur Mulligan. 'And b.o.l.l.o.c.ks to you, by the way.

b.o.l.l.o.c.ks was back at the control desk, fiddling with the computer. Happily he hadn't been shot at all. The bullet had only wounded Cornelius. In the hair.

'It's all rather complicated,' the tall boy told Anna, as he helped her over the pile of bodies. 'I don't think I have time to explain right now.'

'You have another plan, don't you?'

'Well, it's b.o.l.l.o.c.ks's actually.'

'That doesn't surprise me. It was the last time.'

'That's not what I meant.' Cornelius turned away.

'Allow me to explain,' said Tuppe. 'p.i.s.s off,' said Anna.

'Give us a French kiss,' said Tuppe. And Anna hit him with the spanner.

'Turn this cab around.'

'No way, copper.'

'You're nicked, Mulligan.'

'And you're in the deep brown stuff.'

'Right,' said b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. 'What order do these notes go in, Cornelius?'

'Actually, I'm not altogether sure. But Tuppe knows. What order do the notes go in, Tuppe? Tuppe?'

But Tuppe didn't answer. The blow from Anna's spanner had sent him to join the sleepers on the floor.

'Tuppe. wake up,' said Cornelius. 'This is no time to take a nap.

Anna made an innocent face. 'Could you tell me exactly what the latest plan might be?' she asked b.o.l.l.o.c.ks.

'Sure,' said b.o.l.l.o.c.ks, smiling upon the beautiful young woman. 'You must be Anna. Cornelius told me all about you.

'Come on, Tuppe,' went Cornelius. 'Wakey, wakey.'

'Well,' said b.o.l.l.o.c.ks to Anna, 'quite a bit's hap-pened since you last saw Cornelius. He met up with his dad, Hugo Rune. But this Rune, it seems, is a total nutter, bent on some kind of world domination of his own. He's just kidnapped the Queen and he intends to lay the blame on the beingsinside the Zones; lead in the army, with the whole world watching, and wipe the lot of them out.'

'I seem to recall that Cornelius had a not too dissimilar plan. Although his didn't include the Queen.'

'Yeah, well, you see Cornelius has had second thoughts. He's reasoned that if the whole world suddenly discovered that it had been tricked and manipulated all throughout history by these beings, fingers would be pointed, blames exchanged, society would break right down.

'This also crossed my mind. Although I was too polite to mention it at the time.'

'Right. So anyway. Cornelius has come up with an ingenious plan: open up the portal on Star Hill and lead a twenty-three-thousand-strong peace con-voy into the Zones, overwhelm the beings by sheer weight of numbers and demand that they cease their activities.'

'Tuppe's spark out,' said Cornelius. 'He's got a big b.u.mp on his head.'

'Perhaps he tripped.' Anna tucked the spanner into the back pocket of her jeans.

'You'll have to punch the notes in yourself then, Cornelius.'

The tall boy made a dubious face. 'I'll do my best. But I'm really not sure.'

b.o.l.l.o.c.ks gave up his chair and continued his conversation with Anna. 'Cornelius reasoned that the beings in the Zones will surrender. Just like any other beings, they'll do anything to rid themselves of travellers.'

'Did I say that?' Cornelius asked. 'I don't remember saying that.'

'I'm sure you did. Now get on with those notes.'

'Quite so.' Cornelius did a sort of dip dip sky blue, who's it not you.

'And,' said b.o.l.l.o.c.ks, 'the beauty of the plan is that the world will know nothing about it. n.o.body is going to believe a traveller telling him that he's been to the Middle Earth, or Fairyland, or whatever. And the travellers don't tell people anything anyway. It's quite an inspired plan.'

'I see,' said Anna.

'How are you doing?' b.o.l.l.o.c.ks asked Cornelius.

'I think I'm almost done. Yes, I'm sure I'm done.' Cornelius crossed his fingers.

'Right.' b.o.l.l.o.c.ks leaned over the computer con-sole. 'We log it in here.' He pressed a b.u.t.ton. 'See that, it goes up on the screen. s.h.i.+va's sheep, those are very strange frequencies.'

'They are?'

'They are. Now all you have to do is press that b.u.t.ton and the sequence will play directly through e speaker system.'

'This b.u.t.ton?'

'That b.u.t.ton.' b.o.l.l.o.c.ks indicated a big b.u.t.ton. It as blood red. The way some of them are.

Cornelius considered the blood-red b.u.t.ton. Right,' said he, 'well somehow I have to get up on he stage and tell the travellers I know of a land of and honey.'

b.o.l.l.o.c.ks nodded thoughtfully. 'Say, perhaps, that you were able to fight your way through all those hired heavies and do that, I wonder how the travellers would react.'

'Probably stone him to death,' said Anna. 'I know I would.'

'I'll think of something.' Cornelius batted down his hair. 'I am the Stuff of Epics. Keep your ears open, b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. I'll get up there and make my speech. And when you hear me say, ”Behold the wonder”, then you press the blood-red b.u.t.ton.' The tall boy turned to take his leave. 'And look after Tuppe,' he said.

'Just one small thing', said Anna, 'before you climb over the bodies.'

'Oh yes?' Cornelius turned back.