Ruler of the Realm

Sixty-seven

Blue sat beside Henry, put her arms around him and kissed him.

‘What are you doing?’ Henry gasped. He jerked away and stared at her in astonishment.

Blue pulled him close again, but this time whispered in his ear. ‘They’re watching us. We need to make them think something’s going to happen.’

‘Why?’ Henry’s mouth was muffled by her hair.

‘To play for time, you idiot!’ Blue said in exasperation and kissed him again. After a moment he began to react as if he might be enjoying it. As they drew apart she murmured, ‘OK, let’s not overdo it.’ She manoeuvred so her body was between him and the screen. ‘Turn out your pockets.’

‘What?’

‘Turn out your pockets!’ Blue hissed. ‘We have to get out of here and I want to see if you have anything that might help.’ A thought occurred to her. ‘Where is here, anyway? Do you know?’

‘We’re in one of the demon ships. A transport. On Earth we call them flying saucers.’ He began obediently to turn out his pockets.

‘Was that funny square room part of it?’

Henry shook his head. ‘That was a storage cube in limbo,’ he said incomprehensibly. ‘The saucer picked us up from there.’

Blue stared at him with a sinking heart. ‘Where is the saucer now – in space?’

Henry nodded. ‘Yes, probably.’ He caught her expression. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘If we’re in space, we can’t escape. Unless you can fly a saucer.’

‘No, I can’t,’ Henry said. ‘But I remember how to work the blue light.’ He saw her blank look and added, ‘The light that pulled us out of the cube.’

‘We don’t want to go back to the cube!’ Blue hissed. Then, in a moment of uncertainty, ‘Do we?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Henry said. ‘But the light will send us anywhere, if I can figure the coordinates. There…’ He looked up at her and gave a little smile. He’d finished emptying his pockets.

Blue stared at the little heap on the bed. There were several unfamiliar coins, a piece of paper with writing on it, a small white packet of something that might have been a snack and several pieces of string. Not exactly commando gear to break out of – what did he call it? – a flying saucer.

She forced herself to think. The limbo cube place had been packed with demons, but she could only remember seeing three in the saucer – the two that accompanied Henry and the Black John creature. There were probably others – how many demons did it take to crew a saucer? She needed to know what she was up against.

‘What have you got?’ Henry asked in a whisper. He glanced around him. ‘You don’t think we should go back to… you know… kissing?’

‘What have I got what?’ Blue asked crossly, ignoring his second question. ‘Look, do you know how many demons are on this ship? Twenty? Thirty? A hundred? What?’

‘In your pockets,’ Henry said. ‘You might have something useful too. There’s just three.’

Did he mean what she thought he meant? ‘Just three of a crew?’

‘It’s all you need. Most of the ship is automatic. And, of course, they have me when the implant’s activated.’ He shifted to block the viewscreen. ‘Go on, you must have something.’

‘I have this,’ Blue said; and showed him the slim, sleek shape of the stimlus half concealed in her hand. She was feeling suddenly elated. Just three. There was a chance they might get out of this yet.