Rhapsody in Black by Brian Stableford Page B

that’s what you want.’
    â€˜Will you act as our spokesman?’
    â€˜Sure, if that’s what you want. But what do you intend to do? Do you know what this fabulous treasure is, or where it is?’
    â€˜I know where,’ he said, ‘but I don’t know why.’
    Somebody in the group which accompanied Bayon muttered something. I didn’t catch what he said, but I gathered that he wasn’t in favour of Bayon telling me what he knew.
    â€˜Get out,’ said Bayon, over his shoulder. ‘All of you. There’s no need for you all to stay. You’ve heard what he has to tell.’
    â€˜You think there’s a real chance you can get us out of here?’ said Tob.
    â€˜If the council is willing to let us go back to our ships, and lets you come with us, I can certainly carry you to Attalus. Provided that my owner agrees. Even if he doesn’t, Sampson would probably carry you.’
    â€˜Out,’ said Bayon, waving his hand to dismiss Tob and the others.
    â€˜Wait a minute,’ I said, feeling that I was now on an adequate footing to ask favours. ‘Before we go any further, have you got any food? I haven’t eaten in days.’
    â€˜Get him some soup, Tob,’ said Bayon.
    â€˜Soup?’ I queried.
    â€˜Watered-down muck from the converters,’ he said. ‘We have to steal it, usually. Anyone in the towns caught supplying us is liable to be sent to join us. A very Exclusive Reward for helping their old friends. But it’s easy to steal. The Churchmen ignore us totally, and everyone else is supposed to do the same. The men at the converters get blamed if anything is missing from the supply, but at the same time they’re not supposed to recognise our existence in order to stop us taking the stuff. They compromise to various extents, and we generally don’t find it difficult to come by enough to keep us alive.’
    Tob reappeared, with a bowl full of semi-dissolved gruel. It was only lukewarm, but it was something which I could use to fill the hole in my stomach, aid I spooned it down rapidly.
    In the meantime, Bayon told me what he knew.
    â€˜They found a sealed cave,’ he said. ‘Broke into it by accident while they were hacking away at the rockface down in the mines. They were petrified at first in case it was another warren, and the interconnection was going to play all hell with the airflow. But they were lucky—this time—and it was only a chamber. Part of this warren, I think, but probably waterlocked. The grotto was full of shiny stuff, like this cave. There was no fuss at all for two weeks or more. Then, all of a sudden, every member of the council was accusing every other member of all kinds of crimes. I don’t know the details, because we get the news late down here, and it’s always vague. But there’s something in that cave worth a great deal off this world.
    â€˜We tried to get into the cave, today, to get a look, but we were too late. Two weeks ago we could have walked in and everybody who was around would have been looking the other way. Today, there were men with guns at the grotto who decided to relieve the boredom by shooting up a little air. The air they chose just happened to be occupied by us non-existent persons. I don’t know how they’d have got around the problem of disposing of non-existent bodies, but they weren’t playing games. They chased us up to the town, and we split up there. It was easy to lose them once we were out of the tunnel.’
    â€˜You didn’t get to see inside the cave, I suppose?’
    â€˜No. I don’t know what’s in there. But it probably wouldn’t be obvious anyway. They didn’t find it for some time.’
    â€˜They weren’t looking for it.’
    â€˜Even so, it can’t be very big.’
    â€˜What do you think it could be?’
    He spread his arms wide in a gesture of frustration. ‘How could I know?