“All rights, lads, round one to us.” But his voice was strained and breathless. “Remember what I said: don’t lose your nerve.” His face suddenly became grey and he took a step backwards and sat down heavily.
Niall asked: “Are you all right?”
Doggins nodded. “I’m fine. Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”
Niall asked incredulously: “You’re going out there?”
“Of course. We can’t stay here all day.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The beaky nose gave the sallow face a corpse-like appearance.
For the next five minutes no one spoke. They were all watching the door, their weapons at the ready, and Niall was struck by the fact that no one looked tense or anxious. In this situation of extreme danger, there was no room for doubts or misgivings.
They were startled into alertness by a creaking sound; it was unmistakably the gate in the area railings. A moment later, they heard the noise of feet descending the steps. No one moved. There was a knock on the door, and a voice called:
“May I come in?”
Niall said: “It’s Kazak.”
Doggins called: “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
Doggins called to Ulic, who dragged aside the armchair and opened the door. Outside, it was daylight. Kazak bowed and smiled as he came into the room.
“I am King Kazak.” He regarded Niall with a kind of ironical affection. “Yes, I thought I’d find you here.” Doggins had risen to his feet. “And you must be Mr Doggins. May I sit down?”
Someone hastened to push forward a chair. It was plain that Kazak’s dignity, and his obvious lack of fear, had made an immediate impression on the young men. He sat down carefully and deliberately. Doggins also sat. Kazak said:
“I am here as an emissary of the spiders. I’ve come to bring you their offer. They have asked me to say that you are all free to go.”
His words caused astonishment. Doggins said incredulously: “You mean we can go back home?”
“That is correct, but on one condition — that you hand over all your weapons.”
Doggins shook his head vigorously: “Never.”
Kazak seemed mildly surprised. “May I ask why?”
Doggins grinned. “Because I don’t trust them. We’d never get out of this place alive.”
Kazak shook his head. “You are mistaken.” He said it with total conviction, and Niall could see that he was sincere. “If you handed over your weapons, the spiders would come to an agreement with the bombardier beetles. Once that had happened, it would be a question of keeping their word. Your safety would be guaranteed. They have no wish to go to war.”
Niall said: “If we handed over our weapons, they wouldn’t need to go to war. They could destroy us whenever they liked.”
Kazak nodded. “Possibly. But I am quite certain that they would keep their promise.”
Doggins asked: “How can you be certain?”
“Because I am certain that the spiders want peace.”
Doggins shook his head. “I’m afraid the answer has to be no.”
It was obvious that Kazak was not surprised by this reply. He considered it carefully for a moment, frowning at the floor.
He asked finally. “So you intend to destroy the spiders?”
“No. We want peace.”
“They have offered you peace.”
“But on their terms. They might change their minds when we’ve surrendered.”
“I believe you are wrong.” Again, Niall could see that he was sincere. “But in any case, let me try another suggestion. Suppose we could reach an agreement to destroy these weapons, so that neither side possessed them. Would you agree to that?”
Doggins thought about this for a long time, then shook his head, as Niall had known he would. “No.”
“May I ask why not?”
“Because while we have these things we have bargaining power. They cost the lives of three of our men. Why should we throw that away?”
“They have also cost the lives of seven spiders.” Niall was surprised that he knew the precise number. “Why not let one debt wipe out another?”
Doggins said patiently: “For a very simple reason. At the moment, you’re a slave and I’m a slave. With these things, we needn’t be slaves any more.”
“I do not feel myself to be a slave.” The contraction of Kazak’s forehead showed that the notion offended him.
Doggins shook his head stubbornly: “Yet you are, just as I’m a slave of the beetles.”
Kazak’s neck flushed. “Are the spiders any worse than the beetles?”
“Much worse.” It was Niall whoanswered. “When I first came to the spider city, I talked to your nephew Massig. He is quite convinced that he has nothing to fear from the spiders. He thinks he’ll spend the next twenty years of his life working for them, then be allowed to retire to the great happy place. Even the slaves believe they’re perfectly safe. When I first came to the slave quarter, I saw a child throw something at a spider in its web. I expected to see him killed instantly. Instead, the spider rolled him over on the ground and everybody thought it was a marvellous joke. It wasn’t until last night that I realised what’s really happening. The slaves are kept on the move all the time — they’re not even allowed to sleep in the same place for two nights running. So when a slave gets eaten, nobody notices. Massig knew all about the slaves being eaten, but it didn’t worry him because he was quite sure he was safe.”
Kazak listened politely, but the tightness of his lips betrayed his impatience. “All that I know.”
“Yet you still trust the spiders?”
Kazak shrugged. “For the moment, I have no alternative. They are the masters. What message do you wish me to take back to them — that you wish to be the masters?”
Doggins said: “Not masters. Just equals.”
Kazak nodded thoughtfully: “Perhaps even that could be arranged.”
Doggins smiled broadly. “If you can do that, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
Kazak stood up. “Let me go and see what can be done.” He moved towards the door, and Ulic and Milo pushed the chair aside. At the door, Kazak turned to face them again.
“Would you be willing to give up even one of your weapons? Merely as a token of good faith?”
Doggins patted the Reaper. “Not one of these, I’m afraid. They could blast us all out of this place before we could bat an eyelid.”
“Have you nothing you could offer me as a bargaining counter? Something I could show them as a symbol of your good faith?”
Doggins took the blaster from his pocket.
“How about this?”
“Very well.” Kazak took it from him by the barrel and dropped it into the pocket of his toga. “I will return in a few minutes.”
When the door had closed behind him, Niall asked: “Was that a good idea?”
Doggins shrugged, smiling. “I don’t see why not. Those things are peashooters compared to these. Anyway, it’s running out of power. I noticed that when I used it to blast the lock. It won’t last much longer.”
The youth called Kosmin asked: “May I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
Kosmin said awkwardly: “I’m not questioning your judgement, but would it be such a bad idea to accept their offer?”
Milo said: “I was going to ask the same thing.”
Kosmin said: “Suppose we agreed to destroy the Reapers, and they reached a diplomatic agreement with the beetles — wouldn’t that be good for everyone?”
Another said: “While we’ve got these weapons, they won’t stop trying to destroy us.”
Doggins nodded. “That’s true, Hastur. But while we have these weapons, we have the power to destroy them. As soon as we hand them over — or allowed them to be destroyed — we are at their mercy.”
Milo said: “But do you think we can get out of here alive unless we make some concessions?”
Doggins said: “Yes, I do. For two reasons. The first is that we’re stronger than they are. The second is that they know it. That’s why they sent Kazak to bargain with us. We’d be stupid to throw away that advantage.”
Niall said: “They could have had another reason.”
Doggins looked at him curiously. “Such as?”
“To gain time.”
Before Doggins could reply, there was a knock on the door and Kazak’s voice called: “May I come in?”
Milo pushed the chair aside, and Kazak came past him. This time he stood near the door. Niall thought he showed signs of uneasiness. He cleared his throat and began:
“First of all, the spiders have begged me to try again. They emphasise that they only wish for peace. They would even be willing for you to return to the city of the beetles with your weapons, providing you will promise to destroy them when you are there.” He went on quickly as Doggins started to speak. “You see, they don’t seem to trust human beings. I don’t mean they doubt your word. But they don’t believe there can be any permanent peace while you are armed with Reapers. They believe that men have a curiously criminal or destructive streak, and that sooner or later, the weapons would be turned against the spiders. As a human being, I must confess that I’m inclined to agree. Aren’t you?” He looked around at all of them as he spoke, and Niall could see that most of the young men were nodding. Kazak undoubtedly had a way with words.