The Overlord nodded dismissal and the Captain clicked his heels, saluted and marched smartly from the room. The Overlord smiled a rare smile. How fortunate that the man should have come to him. So much more effective than having to send for him, as had been planned. As for the baking soda in the package, if any of the slaves complained about the taste of their food that evening, the soldiers would know that it was just the 'new medication'.

He returned to his study of the circuit diagrams of the computer, rehearsing in his mind the route to the heart of the lifepak program. As his fingers traced the lines he thought of what these diagrams represented: the life force of Ark One for a hundred and forty years.

A hundred and forty years ago a choice had been made- the wrong choice, the selfish choice - and the people of the city had paid a heavy price for it ever since. Perhaps more knowledge had amassed in a single place in the whole history of humankind - but at what cost! The loss of freedom of six generations of human beings.

Can the boy, Luke, reverse the consequences of that choice? The Overlord straightened his back painfully and sighed. He stared across the room, his grey eyes bleak, the lines from his flared nostrils to the tight corners of his lips very marked. Can Luke free us without destroying that store of knowledge, knowledge that we will need to start a new civilization Outside, knowledge that has already cost so much?

“What a choice,” he muttered out loud and rubbed his dry hands over the tense muscles of his face. “What a choice for one person to have to make.” Not for the first time he felt the intolerable pressure of being Overlord of Ark One.

WITH smooth precision the evening programme of the Ark proceeded. The eighteen prisoners received their meal from a different slave, a young woman who whispered, as she handed out their meagre ration. “Be ready. Do not sleep. Only pretend.”

“Who sent you?” Thomas spoke under his breath. “Ruth,” she whispered back and left them.

A splutter of excitement was quickly quenched as Thomas said drily, “Eat up, everyone. If this is all we're going to get we may as well clean the plates and get some sleep. To- morrow will come all the quicker.

“Tomorrow?” Athena played up to him. “What is special about tomorrow? Oh, how long are they going to keep us here!”

They ate their bread and drank their water soberly enough, but when their eyes caught each other's they could hardly keep the grins from spreading across their faces. Freedom!

In the Lords' dining room, in the huge hall of the soldiers and workers, and in the slaves' kitchen meals were consumed. Dishes were washed and tables scrubbed. In groups and singly the slaves straggled off to their quarters at the perimeter of level Three.