‘Don’t worry. I’ll deploy some grade three comrades to the quayside to pin them down. We have several allocated for it. They won’t get into the centre of the city today.’

Slvasta knew they had contingencies for everything – well, every screw-up they could think of. So stick with the plan and trust your people. ‘Okay.’

He made it into the huge amphitheatre, where several hundred councillors were taking their seats. But it was by no means a full session. The disapproval of the crowd outside was penetrating the thick walls, contributing to the worried and sombre mood gripping the tiers of desks. Nobody knew what to make of the city’s economy crashing.

Down on the floor of the amphitheatre, Slvasta saw Crispen, Trevene’s lieutenant, in a huddle with the First Speaker, who still hadn’t taken his polished throne on the podium. The two of them were having an intense discussion. The First Speaker glanced up at Slvasta, then hurriedly away.

‘Congratulations,’ someone said.

Slvasta turned round to the tier of desks behind his. Newbon, the councillor for Wurzen, inclined his head. ‘That was a nice chunk of theatre outside. Well played.’

‘Thank you.’

‘What comes next?’

‘I meant what I said. I will give those people a voice in here. They can be denied no longer.’

‘Quite right. Though I’m curious that they have an opinion on bridges being blown up.’

‘Suppressed anger finds many outlets.’

‘You really do have integrity, don’t you?’

‘I try.’

Newbon pressed his lips together and ’pathed privately, ‘Be careful. There are powerful people watching you today.’

‘Thank you,’ Slvasta said quietly. He took his seat, with Yannrith sitting behind him.

It wasn’t just the emotions of the crowd outside which could be felt in the chamber; their chanting too was audible, faint but ever present as a disconcerting tremble in the air.

‘Sheriffs are moving into First Night Square,’ Yannrith murmured.

Slvasta opened his shell to receive various giftings, and watched through another’s eyes as long carts filled with squads of sheriffs began to arrive at the back of the National Council building. On the other side of the Colbal, the Meor regiment was marching down to the jetty where the ferries Alfreed and Lanuux were berthed, waiting for them. ‘Uracus,’ he muttered. ‘There must be over a thousand of them. Their full strength.’

‘They can’t cover the whole city,’ Bethaneve ’pathed privately. ‘There are trouble spots erupting everywhere. People are angry and afraid. We were . . . more successful than we expected.’

The First Speaker took to his throne on the podium and held up the gavel of silence. ‘I call this honourable assembly to order. You have been summoned to debate the unprecedented acts of sabotage perpetrated against the main railway lines vital to this city, and how we are to advise the Captain to respond. I call upon the representative for Feltham, who sits upon the Captain’s security committee, to give us an account of the night’s events.’

‘There’s still nothing from our Southern City Line teams,’ Bethaneve ’pathed as the councillor walked down to the podium. ‘I’m worried.’

‘They must have been arrested.’

‘There’s nothing from any sheriff informant about that. They’ve vanished. There were twenty people and a lot of explosives on those carts. How can they just vanish?’

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted.

‘Our agents confirm the bridges are still up, and now heavily guarded.’

‘Uracus! Should we send more teams, take out bridges further down the line?’

‘I talked that through with Coulan. We can’t see the point, not now. Trade is completely paralysed, everything is shutting down. We’ve got the anarchy we wanted.’

‘Okay. I’m about to make my stand.’

The Feltham representative was finishing his account. It was clear that he knew only the barest details, just which bridges were down, and how it was triggering great economic hardship to everyone, not only the merchants. ‘So I would ask my honourable colleagues to unequivocally condemn those who perpetrated this appalling crime against all of us. The sheriffs and other government forces should have full authority to search out and apprehend these terrorists, and sentence them to take immediate Guidance. Let them swiftly discover for themselves if the Heart will accept them, or if they are bound for Uracus.’

‘They’ve done it,’ Javier private ’pathed as the Feltham representative walked up the aisle to his desk. ‘The Captain signed a suspension order. It’s starting to arrive in government offices. Trevene’s people are already in sheriff stations, telling them who to arrest.’

‘Do we have names?’ Slvasta asked as he dropped the red ball into his desk cup.

‘Union officials and Democratic Unity officers. They’re coming for us.’

‘Make sure that goes out across the network. Tell every cell member.’

‘We’re on it.’

‘I call the representative for Yeats to address Council,’ the First Speaker announced.

Slvasta stood up at the same time as the Yeats councillor started walking down the aisle. Councillors behind their desks looked quite shocked.

‘Captain Slvasta,’ the First Speaker exclaimed loudly, ‘you have not been called.’

‘Nor am I likely to be,’ Slvasta declared. ‘For I know who is responsible.’

Outside, the crowd in First Night Square was cheering.

The representative from Yeats had stopped halfway down the aisle, looking uncertainly at the First Speaker. ‘I yield the floor to the representative from Langley,’ he said.

Slvasta ignored him and walked over to the First Speaker’s podium. Every councillor was silent, leaving the muffled cheers and chanting of the crowd as the only sound in the cavernous amphitheatre.

Slvasta paused, and slowly looked round the tiers of desks, his uncompromising stare demanding the attention of everyone in the amphitheatre. ‘I lost my arm in defence of this world. It is a small price to pay for ensuring another nest of Fallers was thwarted. But as to why I lost it? That is down to a multitude of compromises made by my regiment – compromises to the front-line budget necessary so barracks officers could live a comfortable life. Compromises which continue to this day. Compromises supported by the Treasury, desperate to maintain the status quo. Hundreds of people in New Angeles lost their lives – no, that is how the gazettes report it. Hundreds of people in New Angeles were eaten alive by a nest. Why? Because the Captain’s uncle was a corrupt, debauched bastard who cared only for his own welfare, and that of his family cronies.’

Cries of protest rose from the desks, ’pathed calls of shame swatted against his shell. Slvasta remained resolute, buoyed by the swell of approval from the massed minds outside.

‘Alfreed and Lanuux just started across the river,’ Bethaneve reported. ‘I’ve got some armed comrades in place on the quayside, but I don’t know how long they can delay the Meor.’

‘Almost done,’ Slvasta ’pathed back to her. He caught sight of Yannrith, who had risen from his seat. He nodded at Slvasta.

‘The water utilities debacle?’ Slvasta declared angrily. ‘Not a product of sabotage, as conveniently declared by this very assembly. No. It was caused by greed, by the privileged caring only for themselves. And now, now we are summoned here to make grand empty statements denouncing the destruction of the rail bridges. Well. I. Will. Not. This desperate act was inevitable. This act is a direct result of the oppression, both political and economic, imposed by our government. You crush hope. Yes, you! You destroy opportunity. You eradicate dignity. You do all that so you may maintain your filthy bigoted anti-democratic society. You leave the rest of us no choice. We are not allowed to protest. Any complaint sees you marked down for life as a troublemaker by that tyrannical murderer Trevene. Those explosions today, they are the true voice of the people. And they are loud voices – voices you will not be allowed to ignore, voices you cannot smother, not this time. This is the day the disenfranchised, the weak and the persecuted find their will and say: No more. You will listen to us! You ask who is responsible for blowing up the bridges, for hurting the government in the only place it values – its wealth, the method by which it maintains control? I tell you: it is you. You: the rich, degenerate, privileged filth. And for that, for your eternal crime against this beautiful world of ours: I denounce you. I will have no part of this assembly, which I declare unlawful.’