‘Game’s up,’ the big man announced. ‘Great North-Western have just announced their main line service is suspended for today, and possibly tomorrow as well. Every stall is hanging on to what it’s got now.’

‘What happened?’

‘There’s something wrong with the bridge over the Josi. That’s about four hundred miles north of Varlan. It’s a big river, merges with the Colbal just outside the city.’

‘There must be other bridges,’ Slvasta said.

‘Not for the main line. There are plenty of branch lines out in the counties. So I suppose they can divert trains round onto the south-west main line, but nothing like the regular traffic. This is really going to bugger things up for a day or two.’ He looked round the store, which had a dozen carcasses hanging up. ‘We should have enough for today and some of tomorrow’s orders. After that . . .’

They set to with cleavers, preparing the orders. A lot of people started to arrive in the Wellfield as the news of the trains spread across the waking city. Surprisingly, Coughlin was one of them, turning up a little after six.

‘I haven’t let anyone down in a century,’ the old man said, looking round the market in distress. ‘Time was when we’d always keep four days’ worth of meat in the store, but the damn accountants put a stop to that. Dead money, they said. It should be in the bank accruing interest. Damn them all to Uracus.’

‘We can supply our regulars tomorrow,’ Javier said.

‘Yes, yes, you did well there, my boy,’ Coughlin said. ‘But now we have to take care of the days after that. I want you to accompany me. We’ll take a local train to Chelverton; it’s only about an hour outside Varlan on the local line, which – thank Giu – is still running. There’s an abattoir there we buy from.’

‘I remember the invoices, sir,’ Javier said.

‘Yes, indeed. They’re expensive, but beggars can’t be choosers. We’ll go there and buy a week’s worth of carcasses. It can be delivered by cart if that’s what has to be done, and Uracus damn the cost. If we sell it at a loss, so be it. But I will not allow my good name to be tarnished by this wretched railway. My reputation is all I have left.’

‘I understand.’

‘And you, er . . .’

‘Slvasta, sir.’

‘Slvasta, yes, yes, of course. Are you capable of looking after the stall until I get back?’

‘I can do that, sir, don’t you worry.’

‘Good man. Thank you. Come now, Javier, we’ll get over to the bank first, and take out some sovereigns, eh? People will always take good hard coins over a cheque any day of the week.’

‘That they do, sir,’ Javier winked at Slvasta as he untied his apron.

*

In the middle of the afternoon, Great North-Western announced it would take a day to bring in replacement track to repair the warped rails on the Josi bridge, then a further day or possibly two to get the trains back on schedule.

‘It’s caused chaos,’ Bethaneve said that evening. As always, after they’d had their supper, they sat and discussed strategy.

‘Chaos, yes,’ Coulan said. ‘But no hardship outside the merchant classes. Who cares about those Fallerloving bastards?’

‘There’s a knock-on effect,’ she said earnestly. ‘If the merchant’s business suffers, you can bet he’ll pass the pain down to his workforce.’

‘And customers,’ Slvasta pointed out.

‘But one of the main train lines goes down for a couple of days, and . . .’ She nodded her head in admiration. ‘It causes a lot more financial damage than knocking out the water.’

‘There are four main trans-continental lines into Varlan,’ Javier said. ‘They all have bridges, a lot of bridges. Bridges can fail.’

‘You’re saying we should sabotage the rail lines?’ Slvasta asked.

‘Uracus, yes! It would be much more effective.’

‘But obvious,’ Coulan said. ‘We could hardly blame the woe that brings on the Captain. It would be us hurting people.’

‘Only if we do it continually,’ Bethaneve said. ‘We could maybe shut down the rail lines as the final twist of the knife.’

‘Makes sense,’ Slvasta conceded.

‘I’ll get some level elevens to look at possible bridges,’ she said. ‘There are enough of them.’

‘Level eleven,’ Javier mused. ‘Recruitment is going well, then? How many do we have?’

‘We’re recruiting for level fifteen now,’ she said. ‘But I’m not using a pyramid structure any more.’ Her mind showed them a complex geometric structure mimicking some kind of crystal. ‘The inter-cell connectivity is difficult to crack, and I’ve started arranging loops which we can initiate but then they just feed back on the cell we imparted that initial instruction to, so there’s no way the Captain’s police can ever intercept us.’

Slvasta tried to get his head around the concept of passing instructions round the cells with loops and cut-offs, and realized he was never going to be the mathematician Bethaneve was. Giu, but I’m lucky to have her.

‘Good,’ Javier grunted. ‘But, back to the merchant classes. How is making their lives more difficult going to benefit the cause?’

‘Hurting them financially weakens them and reduces their power over the workers they exploit. The point is that individual ownership of the method of production – or its distribution – is stealing from those who work to produce goods,’ Bethaneve said. ‘It results in an uneven distribution of wealth, which ultimately ends up in the unfair society we have today.’

Slvasta and Javier exchanged a glance. There was no arguing with her when she was in this frame of mind. ‘Where do you get this stuff from?’ Slvasta asked.

Bethaneve raised an eyebrow. ‘Books. I read books. I can read, you know.’

‘Oh. Yes, of course. Sorry. I should maybe start reading some of those myself.’

‘Coulan tracked down some useful ones for me.’

‘I found some very old political texts in the university library when I was working as an archivist there,’ Coulan said. ‘I can probably get you some of them.’

‘You used to work as an archivist?’ Slvasta asked. Now he thought about it, he knew very little of Coulan’s background. Just about all he did know was that the man worked for the Ministry of Industry, regulating chemical companies.

‘While I was a student, yes. They say the vaults under the university library are almost as big as those under the palace where the Captain’s ship is entombed. There are thousands of books and journals in there, and most of them are falling to pieces they’re so old. Looking after them helped bring a few coins in during the holidays.’

Which must have been when he and Bethaneve were together, Slvasta realized – so don’t go there.

‘That could be very useful,’ Javier said. ‘We need to offer people a practical alternative to the government we have now, not just tear it all down. That would give us legitimacy.’

‘Form an opposition party, you mean?’ Coulan asked. ‘Risky.’

‘As opposed to what we’re doing now?’ Slvasta said.

‘People have to know there is something concrete to challenge the Captain,’ Javier said, ‘something that they can rely on and trust. Not Citizens’ Dawn, that’s never going to stand against the Captain, it’s just an extension of the aristos’ power. It’s got to be a new political party, one that supports the poor and the workers.’

‘Aren’t we a bit early for that?’ Slvasta said.

‘Not for the groundwork,’ Bethaneve said. ‘If we’re legitimately established before the Captain’s police realize we’re a problem, it’ll be a lot harder for them to dislodge us.’

‘Start small?’ Coulan suggested.

‘A borough council,’ Slvasta said.

‘That could work. Borough councils are almost powerless. Nobody cares about them. But it would give us a solid foundation to build on.’

‘One problem,’ Javier said. ‘We need to win an election.’

‘Preparation solves that one,’ Coulan said. ‘Never fight a battle until after you’ve won it. We have to be sure that if our party stands, then all the candidates will get elected.’