The Future People

run away from any large armed force he might encounter. Kenneth continued on, though he appeared ready to keel over himself.

  Unquill had by now lost track of how long he'd been walking, or how often he'd seen another person look at the girl upon his shoulders, then the badge on his chest, before looking away.

  The crowd thinned out by the time he reached the 90000 block. Unquill sat down in a row of black metal chairs, huffing out his breath. Savannah climbed down off his shoulders. When Kenneth sat down next to him, he fell asleep at once.

  Staring straight ahead, Unquill saw a display which said in red letters, "91024 Departure."

  He knew the skycraft would wait twenty-four hours from the time he registered his departure at the service desk.

  He could afford to wait a moment to catch his breath.

  TEN

  SAVANNAH HAD ALMOST fallen asleep riding on Unquill's shoulders. She thought she might have been able to if his every step didn't jostle her body.

  By the time she sat down next to Unquill, a soreness developed along the inside of her thighs. Her feet and back ached. She stretched her arms above her head.

  A giant of a man passed by, so large that Savannah felt fear grip her stomach with a claw of iron. The man wore impossibly large boots, a sweater with sleeves that only came down to the middle of his forearms and a pair of denim jeans that left nothing to the imagination. His legs, bare below the knee, bore so much hair that Savannah might have called it fur. Like Unquill, the man had grown his hair out so that it fell past his shoulders, down the middle of his back. He possessed a head the size of an automobile tire with shoulders so broad that Savannah could have sat on either one of them. His hands hung by his side, each as large as a spade.

  Even in passing, Savannah heard the sound of his loud breathing. She stared at the man's back while he walked away from her. He glanced back, his large eyes widening for a moment. He had not seen her in passing. Now, glancing over his shoulder, he marveled at her small size while she, never having seen anyone she could call a giant before arriving in the future, marveled at him in return.

  She watched the passers-by while she waited for Unquill. She saw what she judged to be teenagers, five and six feet tall each, thin and gangly with arms and legs too long for their bodies. An old man, who to Savannah appeared to be a smaller giant, walked with the aid of a metal appendage attached to the small of his back, shaped like the number seven. The metal rod served as a third leg for the man, one which met the ground from behind. The rod rose and fell with the motion of his right leg, which he favored. The man cast a glace full of aspersion at Savannah. She looked away.

  Just then, an alarm sounded, piercing the air with a tone that suggested mortal danger.

  Savannah plugged her ears with her fingers, yet still she could hear it.

  The announcement over the loudspeaker came through so clearly that she might as well have not tried to impair her hearing at all. "All citizens are requested and directed to locate and detain citizen Unquill Hester of the Temporal Constabulary. Repeating. All citizens are requested and directed to locate and detain citizen Unquill Hester of the Temporal Constabulary. This is a priority one alert."

  The alarm continued.

  Kenneth said something Savannah couldn't hear.

  Unquill grabbed both of them by the arm, bringing them up.

  Everyone in the area looked around. The alert hadn't provided any information as to what Unquill looked like.

  Savannah didn't know if he was a household name for his work or not. The alarm continued for another ten seconds, then ceased. The people around them went about their business as normal. Anyone who saw Unquill didn't know his name.

  Unquill said, "Why would they...?"

  Savannah knew the answer.

  She suspected that Unquill knew the answer too.

  Instead of pointing out what they both thought, she said instead, "Let's board the thing-a-ma-jig and meet this council, okay?"

  Unquill said, "Yes, let's meet the council. I'll be able to clear up everything."

  As they walked towards through the archway that led to their departure, the display overhead turned from red to yellow.

  Instead of "91024 Departure," it now read "Flight On Hold."

  Before Savannah had made five steps into the departure tunnel, a loud, earsplitting whistle sounded from behind her, alongside a command in a language she did not understand.

  Savannah turned to see large men in black uniforms standing at the threshold of the tunnel. Each wore a helmet with a visor covering the face. Two red stripes slashed diagonally down the torso of each uniform. The man blowing the whistle did so with his helmet off. He had cut his hair into a short buzzcut of brown fuzz. He had a hard jaw together with an expression like rock.

  He called out, "Citizen Hester! Surrender at once. No further notices will be given."

  Kenneth asked, "Who are they?"

  "They're the Black Brigade," responded Unquill, his voice a bit unsteady. "They're like police. Well, not exactly like police. They don't hurt people without a reason. But-"

  "Never mind that," Savannah said. "We have to get going."

  Unquill protested, "But, if I leave now, I will become an outlaw."

  "That doesn't matter," Savannah said. "Just go to the council and explain the situation. I'm sure they'll listen."

  Unquill looked down to the tunnel to where the entrance to the skycraft lay, then back at the men in black waiting for him. He wrung his hands, then said to them, "I reserve my right to a hearing before the Council of Thirds. This is my destination. Would you like to accompany me?"

  The man without a helmet called back, "Citizen Hester, you have been deemed by Council Leader Dillon to be an enemy of humanity. Your rights are null and void. You do not have the right to a hearing or trial. You will be detained for the remainder of your life. This is the judgment of the Council of Thirds."

  Savannah tugged at Unquill's arm.

  "Never mind, just run!"

  Savannah ran first.

  Unquill and Kenneth followed quickly behind.

  They ran into the skycraft, the uniformed men close behind them. Someone pounded on the door of the skycraft with a melon-sized fist. A resounding thud echoed through the craft.

  "Oh dear, oh dear," Unquill said, bringing up the control screen. "I have to override this-ah, there it is."

  A warning flashed on the screen.

  Unquill seemed not to notice.

  The skycraft started moving.

  As it did so, the men of the Black Brigade aimed palmed-sized weapons at the craft.

  Bursts of blue energy followed.

  The craft shook.

  The firing continued even while Unquill, frantic at the controls, mumbled something about shielding.

  Savannah wasn't sure if she should strap herself in or not. She closed her eyes, hoping beyond hope that none of the shots would puncture the craft's hull.

  ELEVEN

  NONE DID.

  The firing stopped.

  Kenneth, with a headache from having his sleep interrupted, saw the men fade into the distance as the skycraft proceeded along. Before long, he could only see the massive station behind them and the criss-cross network of beams all around. He yawned. He wanted to go back to sleep.

  Before he did, however, he asked Unquill a question. "Why are they after you?"

  "They think I'm Hinjo."

  Kenneth shrugged. "But you're not, right? At least, not yet. They can't put you in prison for something you haven't done yet."

  "They can," Unquill said. He stepped back from the controls. "I used an override to change this craft's status from holding to active. That is in violation of our agreement with the Soonseen. Even they think I'm Hinjo, so it doesn't matter. Oh dear, I'm a criminal now."

  "Why is the Council of Thirds against you?"

  "They must have better evidence than a photographic resemblance. There are sealed records about Hinjo, of course. I don't know what they saw. This will
be a long trip with a short ending."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The Black Brigade will be waiting for us when we depart. They may not even believe that you are citizens from the time stream. Since I have defied them, my word is worth less than nothing now."

  "Then we'll just bust through them," Kenneth said, smacking his fist and his palm together. "The Council can't be far from the departure area, can it?"

  "No, not very far," Unquill said. "But they won't meet with us even if we do manage to get past the Brigade. They will simply lock their doors against us."

  Savannah spoke up. She said, "Then how do we determine if you're really Hinjo or not?"

  "We can't," Unquill said. "They've already decided. Enemies of humanity are those who pose a great enough risk to the whole of the human race that they must be apprehended at once, regardless of what they may or may not have done. I can't believe that I-that I am one of them. The last enemy of humanity was apprehended seventy-seven years ago. The next one should have been apprehended five days from now."

  Kenneth felt a chill run down his spine.

  He grasped at once what Unquill seemed to miss.

  "Do you suppose that, this person who gets arrested in five days, do you suppose that's you, Unquill?"

  Unquill's eyes widened. "I had never thought about it," he spluttered. "But-but information on enemies of humanity are always sealed to members of the Constabulary who are not preparing for long-term missions. It could be me.

  "But that would mean-how do I avoid getting caught for five days?"

  No one had an answer for that question.