click from the hatch announced that they’d passed its scrutiny and the way to Shade’s headquarters was opening.
But Gold-Eye didn’t walk in. He stood where he was, just looking, till Ella gave him a bit of a push and he stumbled over the lip of the hatch and into the cavernous chamber.
The room took up almost the entire aft third of the Submarine. The space once separated by bulkheads and partitions and filled with engines, fuel tanks, and machinery had been opened up by Shade’s robots. Now it was a large open space. A dark space, with a single pool of light right in the middle, about thirty paces from the hatch.
Things the size of cats moved in the shadows and corners of the room, the light occasionally reflecting from their metallic sides. One scampered near the light and Gold-Eye saw it in its entirety—and shivered. It had a bulbous body, balanced lightly on eight segmented legs. Far too like a spider.
“Robots,” whispered Ella, seeing him shudder. “They’re safe. They work for us.”
The only visible furniture in the room—a broad, official-looking desk of dark-red wood and a padded leather chair—were right in the pool of a light.
Two three-seater couches faced the desk at oblique angles. Ninde sat on one, draping her legs across to take up two places. Hearing the others enter, she looked around and sat up straight.
“Where’s Shade?” asked Ella as she sat down next to Ninde. Gold-Eye sat too, on the same couch—but right at the front of the cushion, ready to spring up and run. He still didn’t like the look of this dark room, or the constant, peripheral movement of the spiderish robots.
“He didn’t want to talk to me,” sniffed Ninde. “He said he’d wait for everyone. I suppose Drum is coming sometime?”
“He’ll be along in a minute,” replied Ella, frowning.
Sure enough, a few minutes later a loud click announced the hatch opening again, and Drum entered the chamber. Unlike the others he wore a huge toweling robe that covered him from ankle to neck. Without saying anything, he walked across and sat on the empty couch, its springs groaning under his weight.
An expectant silence followed, broken only by the scrabble of the robots’ steely claw-legs on the decking.
Then Ella stood up and said, “Shade. We’re all here.”
VIDEO ARCHIVE—TRAINING LESSON A41
Ella: Why do I always have to do these?
Shade: You’re the oldest. You know the most.
Ella: You’re older—and you could just generate the images anyway.
Shade: But you’ve actually been out there. The others respect you.
Ella: Do they? They’re frightened of me, perhaps. Except for Drum…
Shade: That’s because you are single-minded. Most of them don’t realize that this is not a permanent refuge…that one day the Overlords will find us.
Ella: Yes. I know.
Shade: Well, we must prepare as best we can. Now, try not to sound bored when you’re doing this. Just matter-of-fact. Start in three…. One…two…three….
Touch the screen to begin. Thank you.
This is Lesson A41 of the First Series. Pay attention.
There will be an exam following this session.
The subject of this lesson is the organization of the Overlords’ creatures. The five basic creature types used by the Overlords in their battles are Screamers, Trackers, Myrmidons, Wingers, and Ferrets. These creatures are always found in groups.
If you cannot accurately identify these creatures, then go back and study Lesson A2.
The following simple verse will help you remember the number of creatures in a group and the name we give the group.
Screamers scream singly, all alone;
Trackers track in trios of three;
Ferrets follow in fangs of five;
Myrmidons march in maniples of seven;
Wingers fly in flights of nine .
It is important to know how many creatures there are in a group, because there will never be less than this number in any given area. If you see one Myrmidon, there will be six more somewhere nearby. If you