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 our 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 where our cities had been, 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, my ancestors 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 them, but as the generations passed and their recharging devices stopped working, our ancestors learned how to power them with batteries 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.”

     “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 doing the 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.”