“Thomas Shanks?” said the man in the expensive business suit.

Shanks was sitting up in his hospital bed, trying to recreate the sketch of the piece of electrical equipment he'd discovered on the back of a letter from a colleague. The sketch that might have been an early idea for a high frequency alternator that the Radiants seemed so afraid of. The original had been destroyed during the attack on Adams Valley, but the scientist was pretty sure he remembered how it went. There were only one or two details he was unsure of, and so he'd drawn several variants of the design, all of which were being sent to electrical engineers up and down the country, in the hope that one of them would be able to recreate the machine that Maxine Hester had built. The machine that the Radiants seemed willing to go to any lengths to prevent ever being built.

He put the pencil and paper aside as the man in the expensive suit stood in the doorway. “Yes,” he said. “Are you a doctor? How's Andrea?”

“I'm not a doctor,” the man replied. He closed the door to the small room, then reached into an inside pocket and produced a tin badge. “Morris Tyrell, Ministry of Intelligence. I'd like to speak to you for a while.”

“Andrea’s the head scientist, I'm just her assistant. She's the one you want.”

“No, you're the one I want.” He sat down on the small chair that stood beside his bed and picked up the circuit diagram he'd been working on. “This is the thing that might save us?” he asked.

“We think so, yes. If someone can finish it.”

“I'm told that you and Andrea McCrea are the best in the world. What are the chances, really, that some common engineer who only knows how to lay copper wires will be able to recreate Maxine Hester’s genius?”

“Small, maybe, but if there’s any chance at all we have to take it.”

“Yes, of course.” He laid the diagram aside on the small bedside table, next to a vase containing a few shrivelled cut flowers placed there by some caring relative for the previous occupant of the room. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

Shanks looked down ruefully at the bandages covering his arms. “It looks worse than it is. The doctors say I'll heal. I'll have a few scars to remind me of what happened, but they expect to be able to discharge me in a few days.”

“Yes, I know. I've spoken to them. You blew up a Radiant by running at it with a hot electric candle, igniting the hydrogen leaking from the bullet holes in its buoyancy sacks. Pretty gutsy. You saved Andrea McCrea. She's still in a coma, but the doctors say she has an excellent chance of coming out of it soon. You're a hero, Mister Shanks.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“A modest hero. An enigmatic hero as well, it seems.” He reached into an inside pocket and produced a small envelope from which he pulled a folded sheet of paper. He opened it and read from it. “Thomas Shanks, raised from a cat by parents Samuel Shanks and Martha Shanks who live in Hapsgood, Westsylvia. Declared human on the 23rd April 729 by the town wizard Simeon Aldercott. Attended Hapsgood primary school and secondary school, then enrolled in Dulchester Technical Academy in spring 740. Graduated with a degree in science and engineering five years later and took a position as assistant to Andrea McCrea a year after that.” He folded the sheet of paper again and put it back in the envelope. “That's it. That's all we know about you. We sent a man to Hapsgood to try to find out more. He discovered that Simeon Aldercott had never heard of you. What's more, no-one in the town had any memory of anyone called Samuel Shanks or Martha Shanks, and nobody with your name ever attended either the primary school or the secondary school. They do have a record of you attending Dulchester, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned it’s as if you just appeared out of nowhere the day before. As if you just fell out of the sky, a full human.”

A resigned look came over Shanks's face. “You say you've spoken to the doctors. I expect you waved that badge of them, threatened them with treason charges unless they cooperated and they told you everything they found while treating me. Right?”

“We're not monsters, Mister Shanks. Everything we do is for the good of the Kingdom, for the people of the Kingdom. Yes, the doctors told me about your peculiar ‘abnormalities’. They don't attach any particular significance to them, they just think you're an aberration such as crops up now and then, but I've been fully briefed on what Brigadier Weyland James discovered in Mekrol, and the details of your peculiar anatomy match very closely with something he discovered down there.”

He reached out to Shanks’s hospital gown. Shanks reached out a hand to stop him, then sighed with resignation and opened the gown himself. Morris Tyrell stared in astonishment at his nipples, his navel and his genitals. “Mister Shanks,” he said softly, “You are a member of the Hetin folk.”

“So far as I know, that’s not a crime,” replied Shanks, covering himself again.

“True,” replied the intelligence officer. “However, forging a document of declaration is a crime. I assume you've voted in local affairs, taken out a mortgage on a house, taken out loans from a bank? All illegal without a valid declaration.”

“Is that why you're here? To prosecute me for a few minor misdemeanours?”

“No, I'm not here to prosecute you for anything. I just came to satisfy my curiosity. Mine and the King's. It was he who asked me to come when he discovered your little secret.”

“How did he find out?”

“That's not important. What I'd like to know first is, how many more of you are there, living in secret among us?”

“So far as I know, I’m the only one. Maybe there are others, but if so I have no idea who they are or where they are. Maybe I really am the very last. The very last of my kind in the whole world.”

“Oh I don't think so. I think there are lots more of you. A whole community. Not all in one place. Scattered all over the country, maybe all over the continent, but keeping in touch. Do you know why I think this?” Shanks shook his head. “Because you risked exposure to enrol in a technical college and get a high visibility job working for one of the country's top scientists. Why would you do that? Why take such a risk? I imagine that most of you live in isolated places, out in the middle of nowhere where you rarely meet normal people...”

“We're the normal people!” interrupted Shanks in sudden fury. He immediately looked afraid and shrank down into his hospital bed as if Morris Tyrell might order his arrest for his outburst.

The intelligence officer just looked interested, though. “We're,” he said. “Plural. So there are more of you. I understand your reaction. You are the native inhabitants of this world. The rest of us are descended from globs, brought to this world by the creatures that destroyed your civilisation. You must see us as invaders, like the Carrowmen who are even now trying to invade our country. I'm afraid you and your people have no choice but to accept the situation, though. We are here and we are going to stay. I can see no reason why your people can't live in peace with us, though, so long as those of you living in Helberion are loyal to the King.”

“We are neither loyal nor disloyal. As you yourself said, most of us keep to ourselves. We deliberately avoid getting involved in important matters. To survive, we hide. We avoid getting noticed. We are farmers, homesteaders, hermits. I suspect that most of them have no idea what country they’re living in or what the name of their King is.”

“Except for you. You got involved in affairs in a big way, you got noticed. And there was another, wasn't there? Hetin bones were found in the ruins of the RedHill fire. One of Maxine Hester's assistants was Hetin, wasn't he?”

“She,” corrected Shanks. “Sophie Bellhine.”

Morris Tyrell's eyes widened in surprise. “indeed. So why did you do it? Why take the risk?”

“You've clearly been thinking about this. You tell me.”

The intelligence officer stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. “The Radiants need us,” he said at last. “They need us for adoption, to be new Radiants, so even if they succeed in destroying our civilisation they're still going to have to look after us, see that we’re healthy and so on. We may all end up living in cages, but they’ll want a good, healthy population of humans to draw upon whenever they want to make new Radiants. You, on the other hand...”

Shanks nodded. “They have no use for us at all. We cannot be adopted, we can never be Radiants. We’re still a threat, though. We may want revenge for what they did to our civilisation, so they hunt us. They kill every one of us they come across. They won't be happy until we're completely extinct.”

“Which is why you joined Andrea McCrea's staff. You and, what did you say her name was? Sophie?”

“Sophie Bellhine. Yes. We are teetering on the brink of extinction, Mister Tyrell. Once, there were many more of us. Thousands. We had our own communities consisting entirely of true humans, none of you glob replicas allowed. We multiplied in our own way...”

“Yes I'd like to ask you about that later. Sorry for the interruption. Please carry on.”

Shanks looked at the small window as if gathering his thoughts. “Radiants came sometimes, looking for people to adopt. We drove them away. Back then, they usually went away if you put up too much resistance, but I suppose they eventually noticed that there were towns, on the fringes of your kingdoms, from which they'd never acquired an adoptee. When that happened, they would come in force, take people whether they wanted to be taken or not, and when it was confirmed that they'd found a community of true humans they would attack and try to kill everyone. Sometimes we would have some warning, enough time for us to scatter, take what we could and disappear into the countryside. Other times they'd have us surrounded before we knew what was happening. Then they would move in systematically, a contracting circle that killed everyone. Men, women, children.”

“And by children, you aren't referring to adopted animals, are you?”

“No. We can adopt animals, but we try not to because they grow to become glob humans, like you, and then we're forced to kill them before they become self aware.”

“Before they became people, you mean.”

“Yes. And so our numbers fell. Eventually we decided that having our own communities just wasn't possible. We would have to live among you, pretend to be like you. It was dangerous, though. We could never allow ourselves to be seen naked. You people think nothing about stripping off on a hot sunny day to go swimming. Why would you? You're all the same. Men, women, physically identical. You can actually choose whether you want to be a man or a woman, and you can change your minds at any time. Just grow your hair longer, wear dresses, change your name to Sally or something... Us, though, we had to keep our clothes on whenever we were among you. It meant we couldn’t participate in certain social gatherings, saunas and so forth. We had to remain aloof, isolated, friendless, because there was rarely more than one family of true humans in each town. You have no idea how lonely we are. How desperately lonely.”

Morris Tyrell waited in silence. He could tell that the true human, as he styled himself, had more to say, so he waited for him to say it. Sure enough, a moment later, Shanks continued. “Then there was the problem of children,” he said.

“You somehow produce people who are already human,” said the intelligence officer. “Small humans, who grow until they reach full size.”

Shanks nodded. “A couple who want to have a child have to leave their town. They have to live in isolation, far out in the wilderness, until the child is large enough to pass for one of you. Fifteen years, longer. Any passing glob human is a threat until then, because a child can’t understand why the very sight of him would be disaster for the whole family. The parents have to keep watch over him or her every minute of every day, ready to bundle him away out of sight if anyone comes passing. A hunter out looking for game, an outlaw trying to escape from the law. A lawman out looking for the outlaw. Then the other parent, the one not with his hand over the child's mouth in the basement, has to use the cover story they've arranged to explain why he or she is out there, all alone. If a couple has more than one child, they just have to trust that they've taught the elder children enough self discipline to be silent on their own.

“It’s always a great relief when the children are old enough that the family can return to a large community of your people, but before long the children will be wanting children of their own and so the process repeats.”

“I assume it takes two of you to make a child,” said Morris Tyrell. “One of each gender.” Shanks nodded. “So you need to keep in touch with other true humans, as you call yourselves, so that when your male child feels the need for a female true human to procreate with, he’ll know where to find one.”

“Yes. We have a system of signs that we leave for each other. Do not ask me for these signs! I will die before I reveal them!”

“I won't ask. I'm guessing that you also have gathering places, places where you can go to find other true humans. You don't have to answer that. I am not your enemy, Mister Shanks. I'm not here to betray you to the Radiants. It's true that they don't want us extinct, but I'm very fond of the civilisation we've created and I don't intend to let the Radiants destroy it. The Radiants are our common enemy, and I think we have a much better chance of defeating them if we join forces.”

“I don't think there's much we can do to help you.”

“You may have more to offer than you think. Back at Adams Valley, the Radiant cursed the soldiers that were attacking it. You and Andrea McCrea were both close enough to be affected. She escaped because she was unconscious, but you weren't. You avoided being cursed back to your animal form because you never had an animal form. The most terrifying weapon they possess has no effect on you.”

“There are too few of us to be your cannon fodder.”

“I would never ask you to do that, but there may be other ways you can help us. You are descended from the Hetin folk, who had science and technology far beyond anything we possess. Do you possess any Hetin devices that we can use against the Radiants?”

“Not any more. We did once, long ago, at least according to the stories we pass down from generation to generation. Once, the stories say, not long after the fall of their civilisation, we had huge storehouse of their devices, most of which no longer worked but which we preserved anyway in the hope that we might be able to copy them one day. We also had books, whole libraries full of books. We hid them in natural caves, or in underground chambers we built for the purpose, far away from their cities, where we thought they'd be safe.”

“But they weren't?”

“The Radiants discovered them, one after the other, and destroyed their contents. Back then, they weren't as desperate as we are today. They remembered the power of their mighty civilisation and they were confident that they'd find a way to defeat the Radiants, and the glob humans that were rapidly swarming across the land. They would defeat them and reclaim the world. Rebuild their civilisation. It might take a generation or two, but it was inevitable. It was simply inconceivable that they wouldn’t be victorious, eventually. So true humans captured by the Radiants would betray their fellows, or betray their stockpiles of books and relics, in return for the sparing of their lives, confident that it wouldn't affect their eventual victory. Other stockpiles were inundated by the oceans as sea levels rose. Most of the cities of our ancestors were near the coast, and so were our stockpiles. When the waves came close to them they would try to relocate them, but that ran the risk of discovery. Many stockpiles were lost in that way.

“They did have one weapon that was effective against the Radiants. It wasn't intended to be a weapon, we have no idea what its original purpose was, but whenever we activated one every Radiant within twenty miles would go into convulsions, as if it was in great agony, and would flee the area as fast as it could.”

Morris Tyrell leaned forward eagerly in his seat. “Tell me about this device!” he said.

“They called it a radio. It was a small device, small enough to fit in your hand. There were knobs you could turn and lights that lit up. It used electricity, that’s the only thing we know about it now. It had a battery inside it that had to be recharged every now and then. We don't know how the ancients recharged it, but as the generations passed and their devices stopped working one by one our ancestors recharged it with a battery similar to the ones we use now. The secret to creating those batteries was one of the few bits of knowledge we didn’t lose, even though we had no use for them after the last radios finally stopped working. We actually helped your scientists create those batteries, by the way. Some of us hired ourselves on as assistants and gave them hints, so that they thought they’d invented them themselves.” He chuckled humourlessly. “We might have given them a lot more if we hadn't lost the Golden Book. We might have had telegraph machines and steam engines and electric candles a hundred years ago!”

“What's the Golden Book?”

“About a century after the fall of our civilisation, some foresighted individual whose name has been forgotten decided to try to preserve what was left of our ancient knowledge. He inscribed it all on sheets of 18 carat gold, which wouldn’t rust or corrode and was hard enough to resist the bangs and dents of the centuries. Mathematical equations, chemical formulae, principles of physics and engineering, astronomical knowledge, even surgical techniques. It was called the Golden Book and it was our greatest treasure for many generations. We revered it almost as though it were a religious artefact. Copies were made, on vellum or inscribed on sheets of iron, but they rotted or rusted or were lost. Only the original, the Golden Book itself, lasted for any real length of time.”

“What happened to it?”

“No-one knows. This was nearly three thousand years ago, remember. One story tells that it was stolen by thieves and melted down for the gold, another that it was hidden by the last caretaker as Radiants closed in to take it and that he died before he could tell anyone where he'd put it. Many of our people have gone looking for it since then, without success. If we could find it, it would change everything! The book was of no use to a bunch of starving refugees hiding in caves, but now that your people have rediscovered some of the principles of science you could make great use of its knowledge.”

“Would it have said how to build these radios you spoke of?”

“Oh yes! And the high frequency alternator, which I now think must have been an essential part of the radio.” He sighed wistfully. “Ah well. The book's gone and that’s that. No point wishing for what’s gone.”

“So when you heard that our scientists were beginning to rediscover the principles of science, you decided to join up, to help them.”

Shanks nodded. “Scientific knowledge is our birthright! We've had people going to your technical colleges for years now, to learn the things we should have known already if we hadn't forgotten it. If we could rediscover the radio in particular then we would be the ones hunting! The Radiants would have to run and hide from us! All we knew about it was that it used electricity, so Sophie and I decided to get hired as assistants to your electrical scientists, to help them with their research. We had no way of knowing which of them was on the right track, so Sophie arranged to get taken on by Maxine Hester and I joined up with Andrea McCrea. And here we are. That's it, I've now told you everything.”

“This wiring diagram here, the one she sent you on the back of a letter. That wasn’t an accident, was it? The two of you compared notes, kept each other in touch with what the other's master was doing, the progress she was making.”

Shanks nodded again. “And then I forgot she'd sent it! But we were making great progress with the generator, we thought we were on the brink of a breakthrough. So I forgot to keep track of what Maxine Hester was doing and put all my efforts into helping Andrea. My fault! If I'd paid proper attention to that letter when it first arrived, we might have the alternator by now.”

“How close are you, do you think?”

“No way of knowing. I’m pretty sure that the spark’s the key, though. That's the big thing about Maxine Hester’s device that’s different from what we were doing. If we concentrate on the spark, concentrate on making it as bright as possible, of getting the current to alternate as fast as possible, maybe that’s the key. We just have to get our hands on the right equipment and start putting it together in as many different ways as we can think of until we hit the right combination.”

“Did the radio have a spark?”

“None of the old stories mention a spark, no, but it may have operated on a completely different principle. There must be a connection, though. Why else would the Radiants be so determined to stop us?”

Morris Tyrell nodded. “There’s an entire Carrow army trying to fight their way here, under the instruction of the Radiants, we presume. We're slowing them down but we can't stop them. They've also been sending in assassins, including wizard assassins. Fortunately we've managed to get them all so far. It's clearly far too dangerous for the two of you to stay here any longer, though, so we're going to move you out. We're going to take you further east, where you can get to work and finish this miraculous device.”

“I thought we'd be going to Erestin. That was the point in our being so close to the border, wasn't it? If danger threatens, we just hop over the border into a neutral country.”

“There are no neutral countries any more. The Radiants can get you just as easily in Erestin as they can here. Easier, because the Erestinese don't believe the danger is real yet. King Leothan’s been talking to every country east of Kelvon trying to warn them of the Radiant threat, but they all think he's just trying to recruit allies against Carrow. So, you and Andrea McCrea will be staying in this country, whichever part of it remains unconquered the longest, where we'll do our very best to protect you while you work your magic. A lot of men will die in the attempt. I hope you're worth it.”

“We can build the thing. It's just a matter of time.”

“Time is not something we’ve got a lot of, so gather what you need. We still have the list of equipment the King asked for, we'll make sure you get it even if we have to steal it from Tyron’s treasure vaults. We leave first thing in the...”

There was a knock on the door, which opened to reveal another expensively suited man. He beckoned to Morris Tyrell, who left the room behind him and closed the door. Twenty seconds later, Morris Tyrell came back in. “Change of plans,” he said. “We're leaving now. Right away. Do you need help getting dressed?”

“Why? What's going on?”

“We've just had word that there’s a huge force of Radiants on their way here. Over a hundred. They'll be here by morning.”