The Outers’ base was in a state of panic as Tark ran in. People were bustling about, shouting at each other and carrying equipment. Tee stood in the centre of it all, calling out instructions and answering frantic questions from passers-by.
‘Yes,’ he said to Chuck. ‘Break out all the weapons.
Arm as many people as you can.’
Tark weaved his way through the throng, making his way towards Tee as quickly as he could.
‘What happened?’ asked Tee.
‘It gots out,’ answered Tark.
‘Where are the others? Where’s Gal?’
Tark shook his head. ‘It gots ‘em. It’s huge. It’s ... eatin’ up everythin’. I thinks it’s coming this way. We is done for.’
‘Dear, dear, dear,’ said the professor, scurrying up behind them. ‘Are you sure it’s going to attack us? I mean, it may have other plans, other intentions, other priorities. It may, it may.’
‘I has gots no idea,’ said Tark. ‘But it ain’t friendly.’
The professor nodded. ‘Yes, yes, I see, yes.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Well, now, I have some other experimental weapons that we might be able to use.’
‘What about the force-field?’ asked Tee. ‘It held it in the cave for a while. Can we somehow redirect the force-field from around our base and use it to hold the creature? Then maybe we could attack it with everything at once.’
‘Hmm.’ The professor scratched his head. ‘Maybe, maybe, yes, maybe. I need to go have a sit down and think about it.’
‘Sits down?’ sputtered Tark. ‘Ya betta makes it quick!’
Tee’s communicator beeped and he lifted it to his ear.
‘Rylan here,’ came a voice, broken up by hissing and crackling. ‘I’ve reached the top of the cliff I can see ...’ His words were swallowed up by interference.
‘I’m losing you,’ called Tee.
‘It’s massive.’ Rylan’s voice was back. ‘It’s tearing through the Forest. Swallowing it up!’ And then it was gone agam.
‘Rylan!’ shouted Tee. ‘Can you hear me? Is itheaded for the base?’
Rylan’s muffled voice was barely audible, now. ‘We don’t stand a chance.’ The connection went dead.
Then it sprang back to life with a new voice,rumbling like oncoming thunder. ‘Devour!’
Tee’s expression was grave as he snapped the communicator shut and looked at the professor. ‘We need everything you’ve got and we need it fast.’
The professor shuddered. ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Why is it coming here? It shouldn’t be coming here. That’s not good. Not at all. At all.’
‘Listen up, everyone.’ Tee climbed up onto a coupleof storage crates as the Outers gathered around him.
‘We’re in for a hell of a fight.’ He paused. ‘And, in all honesty, I don’t know that we can win it.’ He paused again, choosing his words carefully. ‘But we have to try. Not just for ourselves, but for all future Outers. Because if there is one certainty in this contrived, artificial, imposed world - it is that there will always be more of us. There will be other characters, other versions of ourselves -’ he looked directly at Tark ‘- who will stand up and say No. So for the sake of all these future Outers, as well as for ourselves, we now come to the point where we must again say No. We will not lie down and die. We will fight for our existence. We will fight for our freedom.’
A cheer went up from the Outers.
‘Win or lose,’ continued Tee, his eyes moving about the common room, meeting gaze after gaze.
‘Whatever the outcome, we will achieve it withoutthe Designers. Win or lose, we are free!’
As another cheer made its way through the crowd, Professor Palimpsest clasped his hands together.
‘Free,’ he whispered. ‘Are we really?’