tapped out a series of dots and dashes on the spool of paper. "You wouldn't believe it

ated the message and wrote it down on a message slip. "This des-pic-a

r for foreign affairs. "When Nilon really gets going he can rant and rage all da

report the entire conversation to the Emperor, but that's a small price to pay." He thought for a moment. "Send back

e Empire's capital would then send the message to his opposite number in Charnox, Carrow's capital city, where King Nilon was still dictating his reply to Leothan's las

and dashes on the paper seemed magical to him, as if the telegraph operator were some ancient, grey bearded wizard summoning arcane, blasphemous powers with demonic assistance. And this was just one of the palace's telegraph offices, he reminded himself, his hea

and what concessions we were willing to make to get it. We would have just hoped that he wasn't executed the moment he crossed the border, and even if he wasn't, it would have taken weeks for any kind of

ng long enough to liste

ng from the machine, which the operator's assistant was still dutifully translating even as his superior continued to tap o

he lessons of statecraft well. "When the day comes," she murmured. "H

prison camps for themselves, while our army will be back to full strength in just a few weeks. His army is still twice the size of ours, but it's scattered all across the country defending their borders against all the other coun

said Ardria, beam

tarted. He has thousands of farmers breaking their backs to just barely make enough money to pay their taxes. Many of t

Minister for Intelligence. "Training them is an

and those five years will have gone and we'll be facing inv

g soldiers too?" a

ll employment. We can't pull people away from their jobs without hurting the economy." He looked

ties in your barbarous attacks." He laughed aloud. "He can whistle for it! Send this. We wish to resume full diplomatic and trading links with your country

n't it?" said Ardria. "If King Nil

t his own people. Thousands of people would cross the border into Helberion to get away from it. The last thing we need is a massive influx of h

hat li

that way. We just have to persuade Nilon that Helberion is of more u

you as a nor-mal, ci-vi-lised coun-try? You are..."There was a pause while he waited for the machine to

Daerden. "He's just too mad. Maybe tomorrow, when he's had a chance

What to ask for, what to offer in return. Suggest an exchange of ambassadors. Not Lon-Fidel

rely on

ey all smiled happily as the two royals passed them by. Leothan was amazed by how much the atmosphere in the palace had changed since they'd received the glorious news from Kapperwell. Even though the vast majority of the servants, even the high ranking ones, had not known about the military operation in eastern Carrow, they'd been able

ies were still in full swing, he'd heard, and the sounds of joy and celebration reached all the way across the elegantly maintained grounds to the palace itself. The atmosphere had been transformed, a

the greatest threat to his Kingdom. The smile wavered on his face as he remembered the greater danger that the Brigadier had made him aware of and, seeing it, the maid waiting in the doorway felt her own joy waveri

e has reminded me of the debt we owe go the men of science who have given us this and the other miracles we enjoy in our modern world," he said. "I have decided that we must recognise these people, and make the greater public awa

minds and tell him when they thought he was wrong. Darnell had never been the kind to be insincere, though, and the King decided after a moment that he'd said what he'd said be

m," he said. "The greatest, er, twenty, let's say, a

stants

breakthroughs as their masters. I want experts in electricity, chemistry, mecha

y, Sire? M

Tell them to be here, in the palace, seven day

s in the Hetin folk? Is t

ronomy and mathematics as well, as well as any other obscure sciences I may have left out. People may be suspicious if we don't

l they all be re

fty or sixty gold medals with some kind of suit

was weeks away, there was no need to hurry. He would see to

he telegraph machine. Before her, it was little more than a parlour trick. She turned

have to inform you tha

een his sister, the way t

ng in which she and her staff worked was d

Princess in wonder. "You didn't know until this mo

o know everything important that happens, so that I can present that information to the Ki

the Kingdom! I was going to put her in charge of, never mind." He paused, looking though

Sire. You nee

e working on

Sire. I can find

e sinister. Whatever she was working on, make sure that the next greatest scientist in that field is present for the award ceremony. You may as well know now, Darnell. This award ceremony is just a

☆

ed rainwater into the floor. He picked up his white lab coat and put it on. "I love the lab! Every day a new corpse to cut up, more blood and guts to d

mantha Tucker, also putting on a lab coat. "I

I can't seem to summon the energy to look for anoth

find the energy. You are a fully qualified doctor, after all. Yo

es of half raised goats and diagnosing stomach

at him. "I knew yo

bludgeoned to death and not trampled by a stampeding herd of hamsters as the defendant claims. Hangman, do your duty!" He went over to the chief clerk's desk and picked up the admission forms. "So, what do we have toda

ust gave him a pitying look. "And a... Hey! We've got aristocracy here today! Sebastian Allenn, third duke of K

ed a parcel sitting beside the table and picked it up. Ther

ady bagsied it! You c

er and used it to open the parcel. Inside was a mass of loose sawdust. She reached in, trying to spill as little as

ast have a poisoning? How much would you have to hate someone, to not just kill them, but kill them in such a way that they don't revert? No chance that any part of them will eve

ed up in the cloth. A piece of charred bone. She turned it over in her hands

wn the case notes and walked across, took the bone from her. He removed his spectacles to examine it more

Jorn Tellern, the fire chief, wants me to take a look at it. He thought it might be a teachi

l, Then? A teaching h

periments on electricity, inventing stuff. Elec

ey have a teac

ested in more than one branch of science. He may be right, that would be a perfe

her fragments of skeleton spread out on the table. Most of them were too badly charred by the fire to make anything of them, b

sistant. Took us just a couple of hours to confirm that the skeletons were over three thousand years old. They were all like this, though. Much more mineralised than mod

it was just barely holding together. "There's a groove here, worn into t

ing years ago, took it off when his part

s a man

ental records. The skull broke up when they picked it up but the

oove persist in such he

all we know, it might be permanent, although we do know the Hetin folk were able to r

?" said Sim

we hit the ground would bend our bones out of shape. We'd be crippled for several days until they returned to their normal shapes. The bones of a Hetin man, though, would be shattered. He'd be crippled for several weeks until they healed. Several of t

of a tree when I was still being raised. I was a cat, before, and love

nger than us, though. If you were having an arm wrestling contest with

the Hetin folk, why would our bones be different? Their bones should be just the same as ours! Could t

hey should be most densely concentrated near the surface of the bones, but the minerals

heir bones diff

ess mineralised bones are an example of this. They wanted their bones to bend instead of break when they fell out of windows. Or maybe it was to help the raising of adopted children. Mineralised bones would have

eleton. "So one of the scientists was interested in human anatomy

f says this skeleton was found in the d

truck him. "How badly w

he outer walls. Everything el

nt floor. Above or below the dormitory. It fell

tful, though. "There's just one thing, though. Some of the bones appear to have burst outwards, as if ther

ame clear. "If they did modify themselves, three thousand years ago, maybe there were some who didn't want to be modified. Religious reasons, perhaps, or maybe they just d

ing else to change my mind, but my report will probably say that it's a three thousand year old Hetin skeleton that one of the scientists was studying. I'll say that I can't acc

to soak into

an official report. I'll stick to what we know is true an

gloves. Then he went to the cold room in whic