"Sincro: wyxchari" "But I tell you..." "I must get back to Research Centre." "You will come with me." "It was you!" "Or... someone like you." "Patience, Mister Kent, patience." "Astrid should have been in contact by now." "Oh, perhaps her plan to infiltrate into Salamander's organisation has failed." "Ah, no, otherwise Benik's little visit here wouldn't have been so moderate." "He wouldn't have stopped at breaking up the crockery." "Can't you contact her?" "If I knew where she was." "Oh no, I know she's in the Central European Zone, but that's a big place." "No, we'll just have to sweat it out and wait." "But your friend Benik did indicate we weren't entirely welcome here, you know." "Yes, it's not safe, ah, and taking you from place to place isn't easy." "And I mean, you're er, not exactly inconspicuous, are you?" "Ah, thank you." "Well, I suggest we give her another hour, and then if she doesn't contact us by then, we'll move out and find out what has happened." "Astrid, you're back." "Switch to scramble." "Scramble?" "Are we being monitored?" "Right." "Switching now." "Has Leader Salamander's ship arrived at the terminal?" "I think it's due now, sir." "Good." "Contact the guard." "And I want the girl Astrid Ferrier traced, she's Giles Kent's assistant." "I'll have an identiprint sent down immediately." "She's somewhere in this zone." "Yes sir." "Tell the captain to inform me the moment he's found her, and to hurry." "Sir." "Denes dead?" "Yes, shot in the back." "Well, it looks as if our friend Salamander's had a field day, doesn't it?" "I'm afraid I haven't done very well." "Don't worry." "It's not your fault." "Look, stay put and we'll join you." "Oh!" "You!" "What are you doing here?" "No, don't be foolish." "What are you doing here?" "I can't talk, you're choking me." "One move, just one move..." "You think Salamander sent me here?" "Well, didn't he?" "No it was my own idea." "I came here to see Giles Kent." "Why?" "I have some information for him." "Why should you want to help him?" "Because I hate Salamander probably even more than you do." "I can help you to destroy him." "I want to be there to see his face when he dies." "Come on, come on." "About time too." "Is the captain there?" "Yes sir." "Here sir." "The girl Astrid Ferrier, she was in the Central European Zone." "Was she?" "Well she's here now." "Have you found her?" "I think so." "One of my men saw someone answering her description going into Giles Kent's office earlier." "Was she alone?" "Yes, sir." "But shortly after someone else followed her in." "Well who, man, who?" "Leader Salamander's food taster sir, Fariah." "Fariah?" "Right, I want the place surrounded, and I'll join you there." "Get a move on!" "Yes sir." "Fa-ri-ah..." "But what are they going to do to Jamie and Victoria?" "I don't know." "Hold them in the Central European zone until Salamander has time to deal with them." "No." "You're wrong." "Salamander doesn't care for loose ends." "He brought them back with him." "What, to his headquarters, the Research Centre?" "Yes." "He's going to try to get information from them." "How far will he go to get it?" "Very far." "Oh, that's very comforting." "I tell you I know Salamander." "Yes, I..." "I'm not quite clear about your part in all this." "You work for Salamander, suddenly you fall over yourselves to betray him." "I came here for that purpose, yes." "Why?" "Because I have every reason to hate Salamander." "He blackmailed me into being his personal servant." "I even had to smile when he told me to." "What sort of blackmail?" "What had you done?" "Does it really matter?" "Oh, no no no of course not my dear." "Well nobody's perfect, Kent." "But I..." "I still can't help wondering why why I hadn't tried to expose Salamander?" "Well you were in a unique position to do so." "Because without any proof I'd be wasting my time." "Proof!" "Proof!" "Proof!" "It always comes back to the same thing." "No one has any evidence against Salamander!" "We have some." "Not enough!" "It's not enough!" "Salamander covers up too well." "I have what you want." "But I thought that you said..." "No." "Not about me." "Fedorin." "Fedorin?" "A public embezzler who commits suicide?" "Salamander engineered nearly every one of those swindles, and I can prove it." "How?" "Fedorin's file." "But that's wonderful!" "Let me see." "I'll give it to you back." "Thank you." "Oh." "Yes." "Report your position, A-three." "Keep well back sir." "Is the building surrounded?" "A-three's in position, Captain." "Just closing up the gaps." "Well you haven't brought me here on a fool's errand, I hope?" "Still inside sir." "Where's Kent's office?" "Up on the second floor." "Hmm, right." "We'll move in." "Just a moment, sir." "What about the roof?" "No reply yet, Captain." "Position A-five, position..." "Come on, come on..." "But I'm afraid this... this still isn't evidence, it's... it's not real evidence." "You mean even this doesn't convince you about Salamander?" "Oh, I'm not saying that." "Well then you'll do it?" "You'll impersonate him?" "And of course when they see you with me they're bound to think you're Salamander." "But I..." "I still don't know if I can carry it off." "It's the only way to get your friends released." "Yesss..." "Of course, there are..." "Oh I see, yes of course, there are conditions, aren't there?" "You help me, I defeat Salamander?" "Now look, you're giving me the biggest opportunity I'll ever have of ridding the world of this monster." "Either I can convince you one way, or I'll have to do it another." "What you really want me to do is to kill him, isn't it?" "What else do you do when someone is evil?" "Private justice, eh?" "Oh no, no." "I'll expose him, ruin him, have him arrested, but I won't be his executioner." "No one has that right." "Sometimes it's necessary." "No." "Yes, Doctor yes!" "When the inducement is strong enough, and in your case yes, do you still want your friends out of danger?" "You can't bargain with people's lives like that!" "I can." "Either you get rid of Salamander, or we won't lift a finger to help your friends." "Mister Kent, look." "I'd make up my mind quickly if I were you." "Why?" "Have a look out of the window." "Well, what is it?" "A-five reporting in, Captain." "Every man's in position now." "Right, we'll move in." "Tell all men to shoot on sight." "I can't accept responsibility like that, sir." "You won't have any responsibility unless you do as I say." "These people are terrorists." "Give the order!" "All 'A' positions, shoot on sight." "Forward!" "No doubt of it, they're security men." "And they're closing in." "Well isn't there another way out of here?" "The usual ways will be blocked." "The fire escape." "Up there, look!" "One down there, too." "What do we do now?" "Over here, quick!" "Well what's that?" "Through here, the ventilator shaft." "Giles, let's go." "Wait." "The files." "Come on, quick." "But where did it go?" "It doesn't matter, come on." "It's locked." "Wait!" "Why don't you just let us in, it'll save so much unpleasantness." "Now look just relax and you won't feel a thing." "Now you, Doctor, next." "Kent!" "Open the door." "Oh what about you?" "Oh no, you're too important." "You go, and Giles." "I'll follow." "All right." "Very well you leave me no alternative." "Break it down." "Get back!" "Get away from that door!" "Can't you hear me in there?" "Why don't you come out?" "I can hear you." "How long do you think you can hold out against us?" "Standing by?" "A-five." "Progress?" "Well?" "He's outside the window now, sir." "He's through, Sergeant, smash that lock." "Well?" "Well?" "Empty." "The air ducts." "They've disappeared from the air conditioning plant." "Is there a manhole that could let them out to the street?" "I don't know, sir." "Well find out!" "On the double!" "Attention all 'A' positions." "Cover street." "Send to the air conditioning plant." "Tell your men to shoot to kill!" "Shoot to kill, repeat shoot to kill." "Stop!" "What do you think you're doing?" "We had orders to kill." "Do you always obey orders?" "I'm sorry, Captain." "Oh, never mind." "Go and search for the others." "I'm sorry." "You should have stopped." "Did you get the others?" "Not yet, sir." "Now listen to me." "It was you, Astrid Ferrier, Giles Kent and another." "Who was the other man?" "You'll know soon... soon enough." "I want to know now." "Sir..." "Shut up!" "Well?" "You can't threaten me now, Benik." "I can only die once." "And someone's beaten you to it." "Who was the other man?" "Sir?" "She's dead." "Good." "Fedorin's file." "Thank you." "What you mean is you failed." "I always said something should be done about Kent." "You always say." "You say things, but you don't think." "You exceeded your authority, Benik." "A woman's been killed." "Resisting arrest." "Maybe." "But you can't just take the law into your own hands." "Giles Kent hadn't broken any rules that I know of." "For sure he'd show himself one day, he was simply building up his resistance group." "Resistance group!" "The man's a traitor." "These people are rebels." "Bruce, you must find this man who impersonated me." "The dangers are obvious." "He could walk in anywhere at any time pretending to be me and ruin everything." "You can leave that to me." "How so?" "Benik, come with me and I'll go over the security arrangements with you now." "Do as you're told!" "I think you'll find this interesting." "What?" "The girl Fariah had this?" "What can I say?" "Yes sir?" "The records room is out of bounds." "I am not to be disturbed." "See that the security locks are engaged." "Very well, sir." "For how long, sir?" "For as long as I say so." "Yes sir." "Are you telling me that no one, no one at all can see Salamander?" "No one, sir." "Can you communicate with him on closed circuit?" "I'll try, sir." "He's turned off the master switch." "Sorry, sir." "Get on with the security details." "What's the matter now?" "It seems that Salamander's locked himself away and can't be got at." "So?" "Well, suppose the place caught fire?" "It won't." "Don't be foolish!" "Look, I can only tell you that when Salamander works in records, as he does from time to time, no one is allowed in." "I can understand if it were a... er... a..." "laboratory or... a... research room of some sort, but a... a records room?" "What sort of records have you got in there anyway?" "What did you want to see him about?" "Never mind." "I just don't like mysteries." "Salamander's far too important to lock himself away like this, anything might happen, a world emergency." "Suppose I had to order you to let me in there?" "It wouldn't do any good." "When the locks are switched over they can only be opened from the inside." "I have returned." "Take radiation precautions." "I will make a report about the surface." "He's back!" "He's managed to get back again." "Let's hope he's got some good news this time." "Do you think Salamander's found some more food, Swann?" "I hope so, otherwise we're finished." "Where's that stock list?" "Here." "Thank you." "Are you going to ask him?" "You bet I am." "He'll take me too." "Colin, I couldn't sleep a wink last night thinking about you making the trip." "None of the others have come back." "Don't stop me now." "I've got to see the surface, Mary, I've got to." "I want to see the Sun again, walk on top of the Earth, not hide like a rat underground." "I've got to do it, Mary, I've got to ask him." "Yes." "Welcome back, Salamander." "Are you all right?" "Don't, don't come too near my friend, I am not yet decontaminated." "I am too weary, totally weary." "You shouldn't have made this trip, Salamander, you're doing too much." "Someone has to bring back the food for you, my friend, huh?" "You know that the radiation is slowly killing me, don't you Swann?" "You're just doing too much." "I worry about you all the time." "What're you going to do when I am no longer here?" "Radiation gets a little more each time, hm?" "One day, that needle will stay at maximum radiation." "Don't say that." "Why Mary." "Colin." "Huh, it's my big joke, huh?" "Just to frighten you a little." "I've got good news for us!" "We can return to the surface?" "No no no not yet, but I've found another store of food..." "Thank goodness!" "...it is undamaged." "Colin, open the last store of wine, huh?" "Go on, you help him too, Mary." "You must take it slowly for goodness sake." "I'm all right my friend." "I'm just a little dizzy." "It's... it's terrible up there, you know, Swann, you've no idea." "Right, I am ready." "Here we are, my friends." "Please, no." "It is enough that I am back with you again and I have brought food for you." "Plenty of food." "Who can try...?" "Please Swann." "I remembered on my way back down here that we are near our anniversary again." "In a few short weeks we survivors will have been down in this shelter for exactly five years." "Five years..." "Colin and Mary were... were just teenagers then." "Look at them now." "We fed ourselves." "But what's more than that, we are fighting back!" "We are doing something!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Will we return to the surface, Salamander?" "Yes, of course we will, this is what I am striving for, but up there it's terrible still." "The war goes on and on." "You never know when the air is clean or when it's poison." "When can we return?" "We have to... to fight for a while longer, hmm?" "Creating natural disasters, monsoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, always in the places where the enemies of truth and freedom gather together." "You tell us this all the time, Salamander." "When are we going to escape from this nightmare prison, that's all I'm asking you?" "Colin, please." "I want an answer!" "You shall have an answer, my friend." "You will return to the surface when you have a good chance of survival." "No no it's alright, but you must believe me." "Colin, all of you... you cannot return to the surface until it's safe to do so." "Please my friend, we must... we must..." "He's doing his best." "I can't help it Mary." "Next time I'm going to make him take me with him." "No." "You know the others didn't come back." "I've got to." "Then take me with you." "I'd rather die with you up on the surface than live down here without you." "No, Swann." "We must check the power levels, huh?" "Alright, everyone to their places please." "Salamander wants to check the power levels." "Come along there, come on." "Full blast, that's right." "Check the meter levels..." "Full power on line one, Salamander." "Oh, good, good." "No faults indicated." "Excellent." "But I still don't understand what's happened to Fariah." "She went the wrong way." "We lost her." "Well we must find her!" "You don't seem to realize how vital it is." "Doctor, hold still a moment will you?" "Sorry." "There." "Look at that, Giles, isn't it amazing?" "Salamander to the life." "Yes, it's... it's not bad." "Shh, I think I heard something." "Well perhaps it's Fariah." "Stay where you are." "I've been looking forward to meeting you again."