on the screen.
“Half an hour?” Even Cossi couldn't hide her shock.
“Let's move into the crowd. No one will approach us if they have to break cover to do it.” Dray strode forward, and Cossi jogged to come abreast with him, the six other officers taking up the rear, shockguns ready.
They didn't need to go far to get into the thick of the protesters. A few tried to shove and push, but Dray wasn't in any mood to be diplomatic. After the second person crumpled and crawled away, no one tried to touch him or Cossi again.
The threat to blast the massive statue of Karn, which loomed over the square, palms cupped to receive the blessing of the wind, seemed to have electrified the Tecran.
Shock and outrage were the dominant reactions.
While Dray had understood from his research before he arrived in Fa'allen that the Tecran saw Karn as the embodiment of their transition to an advanced sentience, he hadn't understood until now the significance it had as a symbol to them.
Bane obviously did. He had been birthed here, in as much as a thinking system could be born.
“You will destroy our legacy?” A woman planted herself in front of them.
Dray looked at her in silence.
She pointed upward. “Call your mad kol off.”
“Bane doesn't answer to me. And he no longer answers to your own military leaders, either.” Dray made sure to raise his voice so everyone around them could hear.
“He does answer to you. He came along as your insurance that you'd get your way.”
“Our way is your way, too.” Dray reminded her. “It was an agreement your own leaders drafted.”
“Under threat of war!” Someone in the crowd shouted.
“A war you started, but then realized you couldn't win,” Cossi said. She turned slowly, looking everyone in front of them in the eye before moving on.
“What part of the agreement covered having our most treasured monument destroyed?” The woman asked, and for the first time, Dray saw the fear and desperation in her eyes.
“It didn't. I have asked Bane not to do it, but you think about why he's chosen it as the target if Lucy isn't found.”
“Because it will hurt us the most,” the woman said.
“Because it will hurt you the most,” Dray agreed, “and because it symbolizes your ascension to advanced sentience, and yet, you have chosen not to respect Lucy's advanced sentience.”
Cossi gaped at him, as if she hadn't expected such an insight to come from him.
The woman stared. “Either we respect her or he disrespects our view of ourselves?”
Dray shrugged. Said nothing.
“But what if no one knows where she is?” The woman looked around at the Tecran who surrounded her. “Does anyone know?”
There was silence.
“We have so little time. Let's start looking.”
Shockgun fire suddenly jumped through the crowd, touched Dray lightly on the chest, and was extinguished by his protective suit.
He lifted his own weapon, searching for the source, and saw four protesters who'd been in the path of the shot had been hit.
“Take cover.” He shouted over the screams and cries.
“Don't pretend you're not behind this,” a man shouted from behind a wall of panicked people. “Stop the UC and this madness stops.”
Dray swung around, looking for the Tecran who was shouting, because he had a strong suspicion he was part of Ulima's military team, and then the first object hit his shoulder.
He looked down at it as it dropped to the ground.
A boot.
“Time to find cover ourselves,” Cossi said, as she took a step back, shockgun lifted.
Dray considered it, taking in the crowds around them.
But he didn't have time to retreat.
He straightened, stood his ground, and shot over the heads of the protesters.
Some ducked, others ran, another missile, a bottle, flew through the air but landed in the open space his warning shots had created in front of him.
Bane had it right. Time to raze a few things to the ground.
Chapter 39
Lucy ran up three twists of the spiral, and then had to stop, breathing heavily.
She could hear shouting from below as she gasped for air, and then the sound of boots on the stairs. Silius had just worked out how to get over the barrier.
She looked up, gauging how far she had to go, and realized she wasn't fit enough to do it.
Except, she didn't have to run.
She pulled out the pen and leaned out over the handrail, pointing it upward without making any attempt to aim. The tip flew up and she had a split second to notice the magnet had attached to the