years.'
Richards wondered what that meant in Real terms. All the old Reality Realms had a system of time dilation that enabled users to live out years over the course of a few weekends. He doubted this motley pseudo-Realm ran to the strictures of the Real or the old Realms. He had no idea how long he'd been in there — could have been seconds, could have been weeks. By the looks of the place, he doubted whoever had made it had fully integrated all its time zones. Qifang had said that k52 had been manipulating the time flow of the place, but he reckoned now that it was a side-effect of the place's unorthodox construction. It was, in all probability, temporally as well as spatially instable.
'Then, exactly six years ago, the secret within this cage became enraged. All through the night it roared, then it escaped, a roaring column of pure night, bursting through the deck of our city with much loss of life. But worse was to come, for days later the Great Terror began.'
'You had the Terror in this cage,' said Richards.
'Yes. The Great Terror — Lord Penumbra was in that cage.'
Richards looked at the sphere. He leaned upon the railing surrounding it and tapped upon it with the fingers of his left hand. 'Tell me, the Queen, the other Queen, Isabella. Did she disappear around this time?'
The Queen was quiet for a moment, and put his hand to his chin in contemplation. 'Yes. The news came later. We thought Penumbra had killed her.'
'Don't count on that,' said Richards.
'What do you mean?' said Bear.
'It means I'm thinking.'
'Do tell,' said Tarquin.
Richards shook his head. 'No. I'm not one hundred per cent sure yet, but I will be. Once I've seen Hog, I'll know.'
'You seek that secret, the way to his lair?' said the Queen.
'Yes,' said Richards.
'A foolish request, but very well. If there is one place that will endure to the end of this affair, it is the black Anvil of Lord Hog. Come with me.'
Richards followed the Queen as the others waited nervously for him. He led the AI to a small cage, a box with airholes punched into it. The Queen gestured towards it. Richards hesitated. 'Open it,' said the Queen. So Richards did.
The door squeaked on unused hinges. He flinched. Nothing happened.
'Closer,' said the Queen. 'Put your face to the door.'
'Oh, OK,' said Richards. He moved toward the door, pushing his hat back onto his head so the brim was out of the way and his nose was in the rank air of the box.
Something moved at the back.
'Do not pull away!' commanded the Queen. 'Let it come to you.'
Richards held his breath. A shape rushed out of the dark. Oily feathers flapped in his face and he felt something sting and enter his mind.
Knowledge. Secrets. The right pylon to approach, the right black box to board, the right stairs to climb.
The right question to ask.
The right thing to tell.
He fell to his knees and vomited on the floor, the liquid slipping through the grate to the ground far below.
'You OK?' asked Bear.
'No,' said Richards, wiping his mouth. 'Not really. But I do know the way.'
On cue, the city lurched to one side, then the other. The giant cage of the Great Secret clanged on the decking. Metallic tolls of bells and other cages rang across the city, causing the secrets to chitter angrily and bang upon the floors of their cells. When the last of these had faded, the city was moving forward at speed, the ground rushing along beneath them.
'Do not be alarmed,' said the Queen. 'You have set Secret in motion. Our bronze giants carry us forth.' The Queen looked sad, but resolute. 'Those of you who wish to leave may do so. Hog is a creature of despicable evil, yet a creature who knows the fates of all.'
'We all go to seek the advice of Lord Hog,' said Piccolo resolutely.
'The Great Bear's hairy knackers we are!' said Bear.
'Vot about the other varriors you have called, my majesty?' asked Freudo. 'Ve should vait for them.'
The Queen smiled fondly at his companion. 'About that, you need not trouble yourself, Herr Doktor. There are no others.' He looked at them all solemnly. 'Between oblivion and life for all that remains in this sphere, dear Freudo, stand only we unfortunate few.'
They made their way down to the Flan, and the Queen had lackeys re-equip the band, giving them fresh shot and powder for their guns.
'A small secret of yours arrived a while back. You enjoy the fighting, and you enjoy your gun,' said the Queen to Richards as a servant presented the AI with a box of ammunition.
'No, I hate fighting,' said Richards.
'If you say,' said the Queen. A mirthful twinkle, for a moment, sparked in his eye. 'Do not be ashamed, for there are worse things in life than to fight for a just cause.
'And now, my bold adventurers, you must be away.' He smiled sadly. 'I suppose, if you are successful, then one will know, for one's punishment will be unending. Ah! Such irony! But imprisonment is preferable to death, so you go with my blessings.'
The Flan 's clamshell doors began to shut. 'Remember! Do not trust Hog, yet do not fear him either. We know that there is only one thing in all the world he does not know, and he covets this information above all else. It is what he has been searching for his entire long existence. And you, Richards. You can tell him what it is.'
'Eh?' said Tarquin. 'How come?'
'The box, Tarquin, it held more than the way in. Look, I promise I'll explain everything later, OK? I can't say right now because then it won't be a secret, will it, and he'll know.'
'Oh,' said Tarquin, 'I see.' He reconsidered. 'Actually, I don't see.'
'You'll just have to wait.'
Piccolo twirled a bow. 'Thank you, O Queen! And farewell!'
'Your majesty,' said Tarquin. 'It has been a great honour.'
'See you around,' said Bear.
The doors shut with a clang.
'You're such a suck-up,' said Bear.
'Am not,' said Tarquin. 'One must simply show due deference.'
'Ponce.'
They stood on the earth by the edge of the world by a guillotine stroke through Reality 37; on one side, emerald grass dancing in a breeze; on the other, the long night of the Terror.
Away from the edge of the world, the Kylie and Flan sat on the grass.
Pylon 8,888,888 soared into the air on the very edge of the dark. Of all things in the world, it was only the pylons that seemed impervious to the void left by the Great Terror, provided, as Bear and Richards had seen, the line stayed whole. A defiant slash of rope stretched away from the edge of the land into eternity.
'Lots of eights,' said Richards. 'Lucky for some.' He glanced behind him where, in the distance, he could see the city being comported away like a giant's funeral bed. Right now, he almost envied the Queen his fate.
'Hmmm,' said Bear. 'I'm not so sure this is a good idea, sunshine.'
'I don't think we've much choice, old bean,' said Tarquin.
'No,' said Richards. 'Now. We need a cable car.'
'And how are we supposed to get onto it? That pylon's at least a thousand feet tall,' said Bear. 'And how do we know there's one coming? They might all have been destroyed.'
'The cars belong to an older and darker power than Penumbra,' said Tarquin. 'There is always another one. Always.'
'Like Satan's bus service,' muttered Richards.
