'They crashed it, didn't they.'

'Nozzer's a good driver!'

'Yeah? Good at going fast?'

There was a crowd standing around at the trafficlights further down the road. As they ran, anotherambulance overtook them and rocked to a halt. Thecrowd parted. Johnny caught a glimpse of - well, nota car, but maybe what a car would look like after tryingto be in the same place as a liquid-cement truck. It had riddenup the pavement and lay on its side. Its load was fastbecoming the biggest brick in the world.

In the distance there was the scream of a fire engine,getting nearer.

He grabbed Bigmac's arm, pulling him around.'I don't think you want to go any closer,' he said.Bigmac shook himself free, just as the police managedto lever the crumpled door open.

Bigmac stared.

Then he turned, tottered over to a low garden wallby the roadside, and was sick.

When Johnny reached him his whole body was shak-ing, with cold and terror.

'Bugger you, I could have been in that, you-'Bigmac was sick again, all down the front of ArnoldSchwarzenegger. Johnny took his coat off and put itover the other boy's shivering shoulders.

'they kept goin' on at me, I told them, I said-'

'Yeah. Yeah, that's right,' said Johnny, lookingaround. 'Look, you just sit here ... there's a phone,You just sit there, all right? You just-''Don't go away?

'What? Oh. Yes. Right. Come on then'

Click!

'Hello, this'

'Yo-less? It's Johnny.'

'Yes?'

'Your mum in the hospital tonight?'

'No, she's on days this week. Why?'

'Can you get her to bring her car down toWitheridge Road?'

'What's up? You sound as if you've been'

'Look, shut up! Get her to do it, right? Please! It'sBigmac!'

'What's up with him?''Yo-less! This is important! This is really important!'

'You know how she goes on when I-'less I'

'Oh, all right. Hey, is that a siren?'

'We're in a phone box. You'd better get her to bringa blanket or something. And hurry up, it's dead smellyin here.'

'That was a siren, wasn't it?'

'Yes.'

He put the phone down.

Bigmac wasn't being sick any more. He hadn't gotanything to be sick with. He was just leaning againstthe door, shaking.

'She'll be along right away,' said Johnny, as cheer-fully as he could manage. 'She's a ward sister. Sheknows all about this stuff.'

Outside, one of the ambulances drove away. Firemenwere all over the wreck. Some of them were gettingequipment off the engine.

Bigmac stared at the scene.

'They're probably fine,' lied Johnny. 'It's amazinghow people can'

'Johnny?'

'What?'

'No-one's fine who looked like that,' said Bigmac, ina flat voice. 'There was blood all over.'

'Well '

'My brother'll kill me when he finds out. He said ifI have the cops round again he'll throw me out of thewindow. He'll kill me if he finds out.'

'He won't, then. You didn't do anything. We werejust hanging out and you felt ill. That's all.'

'He'll kill me!'

'What for? No-one knows anything except me, andI don't know anything. I promise.'

It was gone eight when Johnny got home. He left hiscoat in the shed until he could sneak it in and spongeit off, and said he'd been round at Yo-less's, which wastrue, and was a pretty good way of avoiding questions,because his parents approved of Yo-less on racialgrounds. To object to him being round at Yo-less'swould be like objecting to Yo-less. Yo-less was deadhandy.

Anyway, it wasn't as if anyone had cooked anydinner. Mrs Yo-less had made him a hot chocolatewhen he was there, but he hadn't accepted a meal,because that suggested you didn't have them all thatoften at home and you didn't do that. She'd put Bigmacto bed. Bigmac with his skinhead haircut.

He microwaved himself something called a Pour-OnGenuine Creole Lasagne, which said it served four por-tions. It did if you were dwarfs:

The phone went as he was carrying it upstairs. It wasWobbler.

'Yo-less just rang me.

'Right.'

'Why didn't you get them to put him in anambulance?'.

'Who with?'

There was a moment of silence from Wobbler as heworked this out. Then he said, 'Yuk.'

'Right.'

'Anyway, people'd ask questions. Bigmac's been inenough trouble as it is, what with his brother and onething and another.'

'Right.'

'Wow!'

'Got to go now, Wobbler. Got to eat my dinnerbefore it congeals.'

He put the phone down on the tray, and looked atit. There was something else he was going to do. Whatwas it? Something, anyway.

The lasagne looked real. It looked as though someonehad already eaten it once.

The Captain looked up.

Most of her officers were standing in front of her.Except for the Gunnery Officer, who was lookingsmug, they all wore rather embarrassed expressions.

'Yes?' said the Captain.

To her surprise, it wasn't the Gunnery Officer whospoke. It was the Navigation Officer, a small andinoffensive ScreeWee who suffered from prematurelyshedding scales.

'Um,' she said.

'Yes?' said the Captain again.

'Um. We - that is, all of us-' said the NavigationOfficer, looking as if she wished she was somewhereelse, '-we feel that, uh, the present course is, uh, anunwise one. With respect,' she added.

'In what way?' said the Captain. She could see theGunnery Officer grinning behind the little ScreeWee.No-one could grin like a ScreeWee - their mouths werebuilt for it.

'We, uh - that is, all of us - we are still beingattacked. And that last attack was a terrible one.'

The Chosen One stopped it, at the cost of his ownlife,' said the Captain.

'Um. He will return;' said the Navigation Officer.'Um. Twenty of our people will not.'

The Captain wasn't really looking at her. She wasstaring at the Gunnery Officer, whose grin was nowwide enough to hold a set of billiard balls and probablythe cue too.

He's been talking to them, she told herself. Every-one's on edge, no-one can think straight, and he'stalking to them. I should have had him shot. Theywouldn't have liked it, but I could probably haveshouted them down.

'So what is it you are suggesting?' she said.

'Um. We - that is, all of us,' said the little ScreeWee,with an imploring glance at the Gunnery Officer, 'wefeel we should turn and-'

'Fight?' said the Captain. 'Make a last stand?'

'Um. Yes. That's right.'

'And that's the feeling of all of you?'

The officers nodded, one after another.

'Um. Sorry. ma'am,' said the Navigation Officer.

'The others stood and fought,' said the Captain.'The.. . Space Invaders. And the others. We've all seenthe wrecks. All they knew was how to attack. Theystood and fought, and fought and died.''We are dying too, um,' said the Navigation Officer.'I know. I am sorry,' said the Captain. 'But many are

living. And every minute takes us further from danger.We are so near the Border! If we stop ... you know

what will happen. Game space will move. The Borderwill retreat. The humans will find us. And then theywill-'

Die,' said the Gunnery Officer. 'And we shall win.We shall give the humans the mother of all battles.''Ah, yes,' said the Captain. 'Mother and grand-mother of battles. Battles that breed more battles.'

'And this is your leader speaking,' sneered the Gun-nery Officer. 'The leader of the fleet. It is pathetic.Cowardly.'

'When we are home-' the Captain began.'Home? This is our home! We have no other! Allthis talk of the Border, and a planet of our ownHave any of us seen it? No! It's a legend. Wishfulthinking. A dream. We lie to ourselves. We make upstories. The Chosen One. The Hero with a ThousandExtra Lives! It's all dreams! We live and breed and dieon our ships. That is our destiny. There is no choice!'