Wrath of the Lemming-men by Toby Frost Read Free Book Online

into his mushy peas. Smith picked it up and broke the seal.
    ‘Hmm.’
    ‘What’s it say?’ Carveth demanded.
    Smith unfolded the letter. ‘ Dear Smith ,’ he began. ‘ I am writing this sub rosa, as it were: you and your people have done good work for the Service and I believe in paying back a service rendered . That’s nice,’ he said.
    ‘Is it a raise?’
    ‘Let’s see. . . U se this information as you will. Y our crew includes an alien and a girlie, so you may find it appro- priate to keep this under your hat, as it were, in case they get excitable .’
    ‘It is a raise!’ Carveth cried.
    ‘ Agshad Nine-Swords did not die in combat: he was murdered by a cowardly blow struck from behind .’
    Suruk raised his head from his cup of whelks. ‘What is this?’
    ‘My army contact tells me that around ten a.m. orders were given by General Young herself for Third Armoured Brigade to travel to Tambridge as quickly as possible. The garrison on the other side of the Tam had been overrun. The Yull meant to cross the bridge and attack from the North. It was vital to retake the bridge or destroy it to stop the Yull getting across.
    ‘I am informed that the raiding party were greeted by a scene of destruction: the sides of the bridge were smashed open, and there were dead Furries all over the shop. In the middle of it all was Agshad Nine-Swords. He was holding a broom and covered with wounds. The men realised that it was him who’d been holding the Yull back, and refused to detonate the bridge until he was rescued.
    ‘The report states that on hearing the vehicles of the armoured column , Agshad looked around. At this point, a Yullian officer, previously held at bay by Agshad, leaped on him and struck him in the back.’
    Smith stopped. They looked at him. He took a swig of tea.
    ‘ I am informed that the raiding party rushed the bridge, rescued Agshad and pulled back, detonating the bridge supports as they withdrew. Agshad died on the way to the brigade HQ. ’
    ‘Roses, luverly roses, get ’em ’ere!’ the wallahbot called, and with a whine of servos it rolled to the next table. ‘One fer two pahnd, three fer a fiver!’
    ‘I see,’ Suruk said. Smith and Carveth watched him carefully. He raised an eyebrow-ridge. ‘Proceed, Mazuran.’
    Smith nodded. ‘ The Yull headman is called Colonel Vock. Even for one of the Furries he’s known as a savage, merciless bastard. He was the ground officer at the Burning of Neustadt. ’
    ‘And my father?’ Suruk said. ‘What of him?’
    Smith said, ‘ Agshad spoke to the medic just before he died. He expressed – Look, Suruk, I’m not sure—’
    ‘I am.’
    ‘Alright: . . . he expressed the wish that his son had taken up a proper job . Then W says I can do what I like with the information.’ He tossed the letter onto the table-top. ‘That’s it.’
    Suruk pulled a machete from his belt in a smooth hiss of steel.
    Smith glanced at Carveth: she was watching the pair of them with huge, wide eyes, as if she had never seen creatures like Suruk and Smith before.
    ‘Easy, old man,’ Smith said.
    ‘What’re you going to do?’ Carveth said, and she put a hand over her mouth, as if it had slipped out by mistake.
    Suruk picked up his battered cod. His knife flashed: one cut opened the backbone and the second lopped off the tail. He tore it open and bit it in two. ‘First, I finish my dinner,’ he said. ‘Then, the show begins.’
    *
    Smith was picking fluff off his red fleet jacket when Carveth knocked on the cabin door and came in. ‘How do I look?’
    Smith tugged at his cuffs. His jacket felt very tight across the shoulders since had sent it to be cleaned.
    Admittedly, there had been a lot of alien blood to get out, but a couple more trips to the dry cleaners and it would be the size of a robin’s brassiere.
    Carveth had not fared much better. She wore her favourite dress, which was blue and from different angles made her look like Alice in Wonderland, a