The three policemen seemed content to allow Andrew to do most of the driving. They were too busy unpacking the equipment they'd brought with them from the bus and carrying it up to the childrens' bedroom which they had taken over for their own use. Now and then one of them would enter the cockpit to keep him company and take over the driving when he wanted to get something to eat or answer a call of nature, but whatever they were doing in the upper level took most of their time and Andrew was content to leave them to it.

     At around noon, though, Kartoshka entered the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot's chair beside him. "A satellite passed overhead a few minutes ago," he said. "They were able to get an image of our quarry."

     He called it up onto one of the monitor screens. Fox's rover had been circled in red but the highlighting wasn't necessary. The image was a temperature map and the rover was a bright, vivid yellow amongst the various shades of blue. It was the radiator fins on the top of the rover, Andrew knew. The fins that ensured that waste heat was only emitted upwards, and not down or sideways where it would have caused the nitrogen ice to sublime explosively under the rover, surrounding it in a perpetual cloud that would have cut visibility to zero as the nitrogen froze again almost immediately and fell back to the ground in a glittering shower of ice crystals.

     "He's less than an hour ahead of us now," the Constable added with satisfaction. "Cheval's delighted. He's still heading due east. No clue what his destination is, if he has one."

     "You have your own communications equipment," said Andrew in surprise. "You've been talking to New London."

     "The package we brought over from the bus contained enough equipment to turn your childrens' bedroom into a command and control suite including an encrypted communications link with New London that Fox can't eavesdrop on. You drive the rover, but Cheval's running the whole show from up there." He glanced upwards at the ceiling. "I'm afraid you're banned from the room." He smiled ruefully. "He considers you too much of a security risk."

     "You told him what we talked about yesterday?" said Andrew, his eyes widening in alarm.

     "Of course not, but you made no secret of your true feelings back at the dig site. Cheval's been interviewing the other families to find out what he can about you."

     "I would never help Fox escape. I have my doubts about The Return, it's true, but I would never be so arrogant as to think that my opinion outweighs that of nearly a hundred thousand other people."

     "I believe you, and I think Cheval's willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but I'd be careful what you said around him if I were you. No frank conversations like the one you and I had yesterday."

     "It's come to something when a man can't speak his mind any more."

     "Andy, I agree, but that's where we are I'm afraid." He pointed at the image on the monitor screen. "And that's where Fox is. Or at least, where he was half an hour ago."

     "So we should catch him pretty soon now," said Andrew. "Sometime in the next hour or so."

     "Unless he has some nasty surprises in store for us."

     Andrew looked across at him apprehensively. "You think he might lay an ambush for us?"

     "Cheval wants to be prepared for any eventuality. Fox's theft of the dysprosium is the most sensational crime since The Freeze. I mean, there have been rapes, murders, that sort of thing. Awful, of course, but this is in a league of its own. The whole city's sitting up and watching avidly. The news channel barely talks about anything else since this all started."

     "I know," Andrew replied. "I've seen the news broadcasts."

     Kartoshka nodded. "So catching Fox and recovering the dysprosium would be a major feather in his cap. He doesn't want to take any chances of Fox getting away so he's preparing for any eventuality, even Fox laying in ambush with a rocket launcher while the rover goes on without him."

      "How could Fox have hidden a rocket launcher at the dig site? Besides, the rover's equipped with infra red cameras and the rocket launcher, or any weapon, has to be kept warm to keep it operational. It would shine out like a big neon light. We'd see him a mile away."

     Kartoshka grinned. "You're right, I was being facetious. I just meant that Cheval's trying to think of anything that might let Fox get away. That's why he's treating you with suspicion. It's not that he thinks you're a real security threat. He's just being ultra careful."

     "I understand," said Andrew. "Thanks for trying to sugar coat it for me."

     "No worries. Want something to drink? Nice cup of tea?"

     "I'd love one."

     "One cup of tea coming up."

     The Constable left the cockpit and returned a few moments later with a steaming cup that he placed in the cup holder beside Andrew's chair. Andrew thanked him and Kartoshka returned to help the other two policemen with whatever they were doing. Andrew took a sip of the hot, refreshing liquid, then returned his attention to the way ahead and the tracks left by Fox's rover, still heading steadily east ahead of them.

☆☆☆

     Andrew slowly became aware of a hand violently shaking his shoulder, but it seemed vague and distant as if it were happening to someone else. Someone a thousand klicks away. Someone was shouting his name but it didn't seen important. What mattered was that he stay where he was, in a warm, cosy place where everything was perfect.

     A hand slapped his face and Andrew was suddenly awake. "What...?" he gasped, staring in shock at Cheval who was standing in the cockpit, in front of his chair. His hand was raised, ready to deliver another slap, but he dropped it when he saw that it wasn't necessary.

     "Why did you do it?" the Constable demanded. "You're a remainer! A bloody remainer! I knew it!"

     It took an effort for Andrew to comprehend his words. His head was fuggy. His brain didn't seem to be working properly. "What are you talking about?" he managed to say. "What's going on?"

     He became aware that Kartoshka was in the co-pilot's chair and that he was turning the rover around in a tight circle. "He's going to pretend that he just fell asleep," he said, glancing across at Andrew angrily. "He thinks we're fools."

     "I did just fall asleep," said Andrew, struggling to form the words. He forced the fog out of his head and tried to rouse himself back to full consciousness. What was wrong with him? It had never been this hard to think before. Never so difficult to form coherent sentences. Was he ill?

     "Get him out of here," said Cheval bitterly. "Lock him in his room."

     "The rooms don't have locks," Windsor replied, his voice coming from behind Andrew.

     "Then put a lock on it! Weld a bar across the door! Just make sure he can't get out to cause more mischief."

     "Wait, wait," said Andrew, waving a hand to ward the other men away. He was beginning to feel more awake. Whatever it was that had happened to him was beginning to losing its grip. "Someone tell me what happened."

     "We are turning the rover around," said Windsor. "Going back to find the place where we lost Fox's tracks."

     Andrew sat up in alarm. "I just fell asleep!" he protested. "Besides, the rover can follow Fox's tracks automatically. It doesn't need me to..."

     "You turned off the tracking system," said Cheval, almost spitting the words. "We've just been driving blindly east for God knows how long. Maybe as long as six hours. Somewhere along the way we drifted away from Fox's path. He could be anywhere. North of us, south of us..."

     "I didn't turn it off!" insisted Andrew. "I wouldn't do that. Not on purpose. Maybe I did it in my sleep..."

     Cheval spat in disgust. "Get him out of here," he told Windsor. "Lock him in his room."

     "You'd better come," said Windsor, pulling at Andrew's arm. Before he shoots you or something."

     Andrew began to say that the Sergeant didn't have a gun, but then he saw that he did. They were all wearing pistols, holstered around their waists, and Cheval looked to be in the mood to use it. He rose to his feet in sudden fear. "We can pick up his trail easily enough," he said, feeling a terrible need to calm the anger of the men around him. "It may only be a few klicks back."

     "Or it may be a hundred klicks back," said Kartoshka, his eyes on the instruments in front of him. "We may have lost half a day."

     "When we were so close to catching him," said Cheval acidly. He turned to Windsor. "Why is this man still in my cockpit?"

     Windsor pulled Andrew towards the door. Andrew tried to follow but a new wave of dizziness swept over him. This wasn't normal, he thought as he clutched at the back of the seat to keep his balance. He'd never felt like this before. "I was drugged," he suddenly realised. "Someone drugged me." He turned to Kartoshka. "The tea you brought me. It was you!"

     "We'll get it all sorted out when this is all over," said Windsor, still pulling at his arm.

     "No!" said Andrew, though. "He's a remainer! He'll sabotage the rover!"

     Cheval pulled his gun and aimed it at Andrew. "Get out of here right now or I will shoot you," he said.

     Andrew saw there was no point trying to protest his innocence at the moment. Maybe he'd have more luck when everyone had calmed down a little. He allowed himself to be led away, therefore, back to the ladder to the upper level. He climbed it, and Windsor climbed after him. He made his way meekly to his room and stood just inside the doorway while the Constable closed it after him. "Don't come out," he told him. "I really think he might shoot you if he sees you out and about. The safest place for you is in here."

      "Someone drugged me," Andrew repeated. "Either Kartoshka, or someone else put something in the tea while he wasn't looking."

     "So you think I'm the remainer?"

     "I know it's not me. I didn't do it."

     "Just stay in your room."

     He closed the door, and Andrew sat on the edge of his bed, his head whirling with fear and confusion.

☆☆☆

     Shortly afterwards, Kartoshka came to his room. He was carrying a length of thin rope in his hand. "I didn't drug you," he said.

     "Someone did," Andrew replied. "I've never felt so drowsy and... And foggy headed before. I'm still not quite right. There's still some of it in my system. I want someone to take a sample of my blood. We can get it analysed when we get back to the city."

     "Cheval's ordered me to restrain you," Kartoshka replied, though, showing him the rope. "Better let me do it. We'll get it sorted out, I promise. For now, though, the priority is to keep Cheval from shooting you. He wants to know you're not running around causing mischief."

     "You're not tying me up!"

     Kartoshka had pulled his own weapon, though, and was aiming it at him. "Down on the floor," he said. "Face down. Hands behind your back."

     "Or you'll shoot me?"

     "In the leg, if I have to. Now get on the floor."

     Andrew saw that he had no choice so he did as he was told. Kartoshka crossed his wrists, wrapped the rope several times around them and pulled it tight. He knotted it, then tied his ankles as well, pulling his feet up behind his back. The rope was painfully tight and the position it held him in was uncomfortable. Andrew knew that it would only become more and more uncomfortable as the hours went past. He almost wept in humiliation and fear.

     "You know I didn't do it," he said as the Constable turned to go. "It was you who drugged me, wasn't it?"

     To his shock and horror, Kartoshka grinned. He came closer and leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Who's going to believe you?" he said in a low, quiet voice. Then he patted him on the shoulder and left the room, closing the door behind him.