‘Never will we hand our Sanctuary, our home, over to the machines or their masters! And never will we give it to the scum, Domechildren, machine-friends or anyone else! They think us weak, unable to fight them, and the truth is, we are weak, perhaps even weaker than they think, but there is something they do not know—that together we are greater than the sum of our parts.’

Vail stopped and smiled—a beatific slow smile, a smile at complete contrast with the fire in his eye. He spoke softly, but somehow it carried, even across the din. ‘They have had their time, and it is at an end. The sun is now setting on their day, and the dawn brings with it a new time—our time! Every day our numbers grow as more and more of us stand together. And as we stand together, we stand poised to act, and act we will! Because the time has come, for us to stand up, to stand together, and to remind the scum that this is our valley—ours and nobody else’s!’

The crowd roared, louder and louder, in waves.

‘And we will take back our valley, take back what is ours, we will drive these usurpers from our lands, these invaders who come with begging bowls and ask for our lives as alms! No longer will we be oppressed, no longer! Because we have had enough, and we have given enough!’

The crowd was screaming, virtually frothing at the mouth, they were ready, ready to be unleashed, to burst forth, all they were waiting for was the word.

‘We will go forth with fire and fury, and we will wash our valley with the blood of the scum, and cleanse it of its filth! Because the time has come to scrub ourselves free of this taint—the grime and crime and disease and drugs that these Domechildren, all these outsiders, bring to us as reward for our hospitality! The time to once more be clean and pure and free as we once were! Very soon, we shall scrub out the scum!’

It was as if he had pressed a button. The crowd, which had been bordering on delirious, burst past into a state of frenzy that words could do no justice to. Albert was reminded of nothing so much as the squealing blood-mad beasts he had seen earlier.

‘Scrub out the scum! Scrub out the scum!’ On and on it went, louder and louder. Albert glanced at the woman who had given him the eyepatch. She was standing on tiptoe, face red and strained, eyes bulging out of their sockets as she shrieked along with the rest, so loudly he could hear her voice cracking.