city, with lots of nooks and crannies for us to hide in, you could search for years and never find us.'
'Makes sense,' Delaney said. 'Only what guarantee do I have that you'll let me live once I've taken you wherever you want to go?'
'None,' said the Lilliputian. 'You've only got two options. Refuse to help us and we'll kill you, take our chances trying to work your disc ourselves and use your body as an escape vehicle. Or co-operate and we might let you go. It's up to you.'
'That doesn't leave me much choice, does it?' said Delaney.
'We weren't given much choice ourselves,' said the Lilliputian.
'All right, you win,' Delaney said, stalling for time. 'Cut me loose.'
'Not just yet,' the Lilliputian said. He raised two fingers to his mouth and gave two shrill, piercingly high- pitched whistles.
There was a bustle of activity on either side of Finn and the next thing he knew, little wooden rung ladders crudely lashed together from twigs were put up against his sides and a score of grubby little miniature jungle commandos with tiny rifles slung across their shoulders started to climb the ladders up to his chest. They swarmed across him and crawled into his
trouser pockets and down inside his shirt. They fastened ropes to his belt and lowered themselves down inside his trouser legs. Finn struggled hard to suppress his instinct to shudder. It felt like rats going down his clothes.
'All right,' said the little lieutenant after his men had 'boarded' Finn. 'We're going to cut you loose now. But I'm warning you… don't make any sudden movements.
In fact, don't move at all unless I tell you, otherwise my men will open fire. '
Finn felt as if his skin were crawling. He suppressed. another shudder, swallowed hard and nodded. 'Right, you got it.'
The Lilliputian nodded to the two men who stood on either side of him on Finn's chest and they brought up their rifles and fired, using the beams to slice the little ropes holding Finn down. Delaney could see that the laser rifles they were using were, in fact roughly modified surgical scalpels. He didn't even want to think about what they could do if the Lilliputians down inside his clothes cut loose.
After a few moments, they were done and Finn lay motion-less as they climbed into his breast pockets. Then their leader moved up across his neck and climbed down inside his collar, at the shoulder. He un-holstered his pistol and held it up against Finn's ear.
'All right, very slowly now sit up.'
Finn did as he was told.
The Lilliputian commander straddled his shoulder with his legs down inside his shirt, hanging onto his collar with one hand and holding the pistol ready with the other.
'Okay, so far so good. Now very slowly, Stand up.' Finn stood awkwardly.
'Tell those little bastards to stop squirming around,' he said.
'They'll stop. They're just as nervous as you are, believe me. Remember, you don't want o make them too nervous, right?'
'Right,' said Finn, gulping as he felt a tiny gun barrel poke his groin. 'Okay, you're calling the shots. Where do you want to go?'
'Program your disc for New York City, the month of September, 19-'
'Finn!'
'Lucas!'
Lucas Priest had suddenly appeared standing across the clearing from him.
'Who the hell is that?' the Lilliputian leader said in
Delaney's ear.
'Friend of mine,' Delaney said, under his breath.
'Tell him to stay where he is!'
'Finn, for God's sake, where the hell have you-'
'Stay where you are!' Delaney shouted as Lucas started to come toward him.
'What..' Lucas stopped where he was. 'Finn, what is it?'
'Just don't move!'
Lucas frowned. 'All right, I won't move.' He shut his eyes and fought back a wave of vertigo. 'Finn, what's the matter?'
'I've got Lilliputians down my pants.'
''You've got what?'
'Lilliputians,' said Delaney. 'They're all over me. In my pockets. Inside my clothes. And they've got lasers.'
Lucas looked closer and saw that Delaney's clothes did, indeed, look a little lumpy.
And some of the lumps seemed to be moving. He couldn't help himself. He started chuckling.
''What the hells so goddamned funny?' said Delaney. Lucas burst out laughing.
'Stop that!' shouted Delaney.
'Don't shout!' said the Lilliputian. ''You want to burst my eardrums?'
Lucas found it impossible to keep a straight face.
'Clock out, damn you!' shouted the Lilliputian.
''I don't think so,' Finn said.
'You don't think what?' said Lucas.
'I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the little pipsqueak sitting on my shoulder-Ow!'
The Lilliputian had slugged him in the ear with his tiny pistol.
''Now!' he said. 'Clock out now or you're dead!'
'You kill me now and none of you will ever make it out of this clearing,' said Delaney. 'The situation’s changed, my little friend. Right now, I'm the only thing keeping you and your men alive. Kill me and you've all had it. My buddy there will bum you the minute my body hits the ground. You'd better give it up.'
'Surrender?' said the Lilliputian commander. 'And wind up being dissected in one of your research labs? Not on your life. So long as we've got you, your friend won't dare to make a move.'
'Looks like it's a stand-off then,' Finn said.
'I don't think so,' said the Lilliputian, He stuck two fingers in his mouth and gave a long, piercing, high-pitched whistle.
Finn felt movement inside his trouser legs. Several of the Lilliputians hiding there had let go of the ropes and dropped down onto his boots. Lucas stared wide eyed as several Lilliputians came bounding out from the bottoms of Finn's trousers, tiny laser rifles aimed straight at him.
'That was not a good move,' said Finn. Lucas disappeared.
The Lilliput commandos on the ground glanced around, confused, then suddenly, one by one, they were snatched up into the air, crying out briefly before they vanished from sight, their tiny rifles falling to the ground.
'What the-where did they go?' their commander said. 'What-ahhh!'
Lucas suddenly materialised at Finn's side, and with a deft motion, he plucked the Lilliputian leader out from under Finn's shirt collar. His other arm was held tightly across his body, holding squirming Lilliputians trapped between his forearm and his chest.
'Now then,' said Lucas, holding the struggling Lilliputian leader up between his thumb and forefinger, 'I suggest you drop your weapon and order the rest of your people to evacuate Captain Delaney's clothes and fall in right down there, or I'll drop these men to the ground and stomp on them. And that goes for you, too. '
'Never mind us!' shouted the commander to his other men. 'We've had it! Shoot!
Shoot! Save yourselves!'
Finn had a bad moment, but the scorching fire never came. Instead, the men inside his breast pockets threw out some rope and rappelled down the length of his body to the ground. The others came out of his trouser pockets and the inside of his shirt, sliding down tiny ropes to the ground as Finn stood there, feeling like the north face of the Eiger.
'Nobody's ever going to believe this,' he said, shaking his head as the Lilliputians dropped their weapons in a
