They were shoved into a shed near the lake and left alone. They stood in the darkened building, the children whimpering, the older people trying to comfort the younger ones with their stoic attitude. The fear of the unknown was even more torturous than being beaten. Then there was a commotion at the door, which opened to admit Barker, surrounded by a contingent of his inscrutable guards. He had removed his sunglasses, and Therri saw the strangely pale eyes for the first time. They were the color of a rattlesnake belly, she thought. Some of the guards carried blazing torches, and Barker's eyes seemed to glitter in the flickering light. His face was wreathed in a satanic smile.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, with the geniality of a tour guide. “Thank you for coming. Within a few minutes, I will rise high above this place on the first phase of a journey into the fu- ture. I wish to thank you all for helping to get this project launched. To those of you from SOS, I wish you'd been in my hands earlier, so that by the sweat of your labor you would come to appreciate the bril- liance of this plan.”

Ryan had regained his composure. “Cut the crap. What do you in- tend to do with us?”

Barker surveyed Ryan's bloodied face as if he were seeing it for the first time. “Why, Mr. Ryan, you're looking a little rumpled these days. Not your usual blow-dried self.”

“You haven't answered my question.”

“To the contrary, I answered it when you were first brought to me. I said you and your friends would remain alive as long as I found you useful.” He smiled again. “I no longer find you useful. I'm having the air dome lit up for your entertainment. It will be the last thing your dying brain will record.”

The words chilled Therri to the bone. “What about the children?” she said.

“What about them?” Barker's icy gaze swept the prisoners as ifj

surveying cattle being led to slaughter. “Do you think I care for any one of you, young or old? You are nothing more to me than snow- flakes. You'll all be forgotten once the world learns that an insignif- icant Eskimo tribe controls a significant portion of the ocean. Sorry I can't stay. Our timetable is very precise.”