Phase 6

They had already passed the corpse of the Delta when Berynne considered if it was worthwhile telling his Follower companion about her. Probably not, he mused, trying desperately to keep up. She's not even interested in why I pointed a gun at her. I'll have to come back another time to bury her.

Dawn was still a little while off, and if it weren't for the lantern Berynne wouldn't have been able to see more than a few yards ahead of him. The trees cast eerie, juddering shapes across the road, and he felt genuinely freaked out. Here he was, chasing after a mute Follower to mecha-knows-where and, hey, they might kill him when he got there, but ... He had to admit that any death at the hands of the Followers would be a damn site more humane than if the Tekkis who had sent that plane after him found him.

The journey continued in silence. After a short while more Berynne could see a tall farmhouse in the distance, unremarkable except that for the light emanating from the ground floor of the building. "That's it!" he cried, happily. "An enclave! At bloody last!"

The girl wheeled so suddenly that Berynne barely had time to react and nearly walked straight into her. She put her finger to her lips angrily and shook her head vigorously as she turned again to carry on along the highway in the direction of the building. Sulking, he said nothing more. In a few moments, they climbed a wooden fence and walked across a field of grass, approaching the farmhouse from the direction of the lights.

The light from the building barely intensified as they got closer, and Berynne saw that it was seeping through narrow gaps in heavy curtains. He sensed that they were being watched by something, feeling distinctively uneasy as the girl approached the bulky farmhouse door and pounded on it liberally before stepping backwards into full view of the ground and first floor, ushering Berynne to do the same.

The curtain on the closest window swished aside to reveal heavy iron bars and a figure scrutinising them, clad what looked like an orange suit of armour. Scourges, he thought. This is an enclave, alright.

He had met Scourges before, or rather witnessed them, since they were apparently bound to silence. The Metaphilosophy allowed no Follower to bear arms, but for some reason Scourges could, and did, frightening weapons that even Mjus would think twice about going against. They were the valiant and unwavering guardsmen who stood around looking as mean as the orange armour would allow when Preachers were persuading folks to join the Follower cause. Berynne had been to watch a Preacher a couple of years ago; he could still remember feeling intimidated yet utterly mesmerised by the weaponry and bulk of the Scourges.

The curtain moved back noiselessly, and the pair waited for what seemed like an eternity until Berynne heard three bolts being shot back from home and a series of complicated locks being undone. A crack of light appeared and the massive door slowly opened, spilling light into the night and revealing the figure of a man standing in the doorway.

"Well," and the strangely-accented English was reassuringly loud compared to the silence he'd been in before. "You'd better come in then, both of you." He pointed at Berynne accusingly, and behind him were the two massive Scourges, carrying two shotguns. Each. "No monkey business."

The girl strode through the door and instantly began to whisper urgently into the man's ear, occasionally looking back at Berynne. He took the time to take in his appearance. The expression on his face was stony but neutral, and Berynne guessed that he was around thirty. He was neither short nor tall but well-built, and definitely well-fed. Like Berynne, he had longish hair, wavy and grey, unlike Berynne's own curly brown locks. His clothes, dungarees, sturdy boots and a rough shirt, were brown and simple and terribly practical.

After a few moments the girl rushed off into another room behind the Scourges, and the man beckoned for Berynne to come forward. "Come on," he said. "I want to get this door closed. You never know what might be out there."

Berynne stepped through the door, and opened his mouth to thank the man, but he was stopped by a look. "Shut up. Sit down." He motioned to a chair, and Berynne took it, nonchalantly. The Scourges were watching him. He could feel it, even if he couldn't see their eyes behind those helmets. In some respects, that made it even more terrifying.

The man closed the door, and turned to address him. "Like I said, could be anything out there. We had some planes over here yesterday. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you? Only we're pretty suspicious of Tekkis, as maybe you can imagine."

In full Tekki Beta garb, Berynne knew that his pleas would probably sound ridiculous, and started to wonder how much of the truth he should tell. The man sneered at him pityingly, and Berynne placed his accent - London. "Look, Tekki, don't shit me. Ana's told me everything. Put your gun on the floor, and slide it over to those two."

Berynne did as he was told. Neither of the Scourges reacted. "Look," he blurted out, panicking. "I need your help. That plane - it was coming for me, to kill me. It could only have been Tekki, right? And I'm Tekki, right? So - "

The other man interrupted him. "Yeah, you're Tekki. I don't know what you're doing out here, but if that plane was wanting to kill you yesterday and you're still alive this morning it seems only reasonable to me that they'll be wanting to kill you again today. The way I see it, that means there'll be more Tekkis out here, maybe coming here, asking for you. Come on, man. Give me a reason to trust you, and we'll be reasonable."

Berynne didn't respond. He couldn't think of a reply - everything this Follower had said was rational, and he was surprised it hadn't occurred to him before.

"Alright," the man said. His voice had softened. "Now I've got your attention, let's start with your name."