he must be, to face us like this. I see no realistic course by which he might see morning. Does he know that, do you suppose? I have forgotten how men like him think.
—You were never a man like him, Creedmoor.
The Doctor spat. His wild hair shivered as in a cold wind. “Unbuckle your gun-belt, damn you!”
“I’d rather not. You’d no longer fear me, then, and our balance would be disrupted. May I ask how you knew I was here? You were awaiting me. I did not expect that. I was very quiet.”
“Do you think we fought the Line all those years without learning from them? Without taking from them?”
“Ah.”
“I personally participated in the destruction of three Engines.”
“Very well done!”
“We took what we could from their wreckage. We studied their secrets. There’s a machine they had that listens for your kind. Sniffs for your scent. We were warned of your coming.”
“Yes, yes, I know it. A black box, ’bout so high, yes, all manner of brass trumpets and breathing tubes and wire drumheads? A needle that scratches? When we talk to our weapons, our masters, their voices rise up out of a dark Lodge. Or perhaps they descend from darkness, wreathed in fire like shooting stars. Either way, there’s a tearing of the fabric, a bruising of the skin of the world, a derangement in the ether—those boxes shudder at it. To within a range of about half a mile, these days, though yours is an old model, of course. There are ways of hiding from them, but I never thought to meet one here! Oh, and to think I’d begun to dream that that voice was only in my own poor head, was only the voice of my own worse nature. Thank you, Doctor, for reminding me of the way things truly are. If it’s a madness, at least I am not alone. I’ve enjoyed talking to you, Doctor. Tell me, where were you wounded?”
“Unbuckle your gun-belt, sir. You are caught in a trap. You won’t let him die. Your masters won’t permit it. They have no loyalty to you, Creedmoor.”
“And you? Are you loyal? Would you kill your General, Doctor?”
“Sacrifices must be made. If I must kill him, I will, and he’ll live on in our cause.”
“How zealous. How unkind. How inhumane. Think of this, Doctor. Perhaps my masters don’t want the General for themselves—perhaps they only want to keep him from the Line. He holds the key to ending the Great War. Have you heard? Do you know that? Well, why would my masters want war to end? They thrive on blood and fire and the bitterness of defeat. You and I want peace because we are reasonable men, but they are neither of those things. Perhaps they’d be just as happy if he died. In which case, you have nothing with which to threaten me, and you and your men are dead, Doctor, marked for certain death. I am not threatening you; I am exploring the possibilities, to pass the time. What do you think?”
“Unbuckle your gun-belt and get on your knees.”
“No.”
Lowry adopted a reasonable tone.
“One last time, Hayworth. Where are they keeping the General?”
The prisoner trembled and turned away. Subaltern Mill reached out to slap him, but Lowry waved him away.
“Where, Hayworth? We want to take him alive. Do you understand? We want to minimize casualties.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what you mean. The General’s dead, he died—”
“Hayworth. We will take your town. That’s just going to happen, see? We can’t leave you bastards out here scheming against us. We know you have the General and the Agent, and we will take them. But if you tell us where they are, we can do this clean.”
Hayworth bit his bloodied lip and said nothing.
“What do they teach these boys?” Lowry said. “What do they teach them?” He shoved Hayworth back to his knees and walked away, beckoning Mill after him.
“All right, Mill. Give the orders. Move up. We lay siege.”
The Linesmen formed three columns, roughly fifty men each. Ahead of them, they wheeled their cannon and motor guns, like ants carrying leaves. They came out of the oaks and across the fields toward New Design’s moat, and its walls, where Lowry now fully and calmly expected to die.
“I wanted to do this clean. I did. Have the amplifier brought to me, please, Mr. Mill.”
Mr. Hulgins led Liv out to the yard, where he stood by her side in awkward silence.
They watched torches and candles and