'There's plenty of people bad-mouthing us now, but none of them ever mentioned it before. It has never been an operational requirement!

h.e.l.l, as far as any of us knew, we were up against a bunch of half-naked boneheads armed with knives and crossbows!" Steve nodded sympathetically. 'On the other hand, sir, this wasn't the first explosive strike against a wagon-train.

Cadillac blew up the flight car of The Lady in the previous year."

'I agree,' said Zack. 'But that was an internal explosion in a particularly sensitive area. If on-board security had been tighter and if the fire doors had been closed - as they should have ' 'But they weren't!" roared Bull. 'And that's why Hartmann and his execs were relieved of their command and tossed in the slammer - only to be reinstated by that sonofab.i.t.c.h Karlstrom so's he could play one of his silly fuggin' games!" He fixed his eyes on Steve. 'You've probably figured out why I'm so fired up by what you told us. The loss of The Lady from Louisiana has dropped everybody round this table into deep s.h.i.t and it was Karlstrom who put us there! We got the P-G and the rest of the Supreme Council accusing our family of letting things slide, but the fact is none of this would have happened if that slimebag hadn't handed a batch of lethal, ordinance to the Mutes on a plate!" 'With respect, sir, it would be convenient to shift the blame for everything onto Commander-General Karlstrom, but it wouldn't be fair. Some of the responsibility is mine. If I'd managed to capture Cadillac and Mr Snow - which is what I was sent out to do- The Lady would not have been destroyed."

'Well that does you credit, son. But these Mutes turned out to be a .lot smarter than anyone bargained for. If Karlstrom had told you right from the outset that the decoy unit was carrying live explosives you might have been able to get on top of the situation. But you were kept in the dark. As it happened, we didn't come out of it too badly.

We may have ended up with our buns in a vice, but we did get rid of Mr Snow - and you brought in Clearwater. She turned out to be a prize and a half.

'Having said that, you're probably wondering why we swapped her for Commander Franklynne. Well, it wasn't because she was my daughter.

The Family are prepared to make the same sacrifices we demand from everyone else." Bull reached out and gave Fran's hand a fatherly pat.

'She knows that if it was her life against the future of the Federation, I'd face the pain of losing her. h.e.l.l, if I wanted her wrapped in cotton wool, would I have let her go to Ne-Issan?"

'I guess not, sir."

'd.a.m.n right. We made the swap because Clearwater had become surplus to requirements. The guys in the research labs would have loved to have had her as a specimen, but we've got something much more valuable - her baby."

Steve took another chance and played dumb. 'But they were both exchanged for -' 'You're wrong." Bull grinned. 'She was given another boy in the delivery room. We have her son. Your son, Steven. And like you, he's no ordinary baby. Know what I'm getting at?"

'uhh, no sir."

Bull glanced at his kin-folk sitting around the table as if seeking their approval for what came next. 'It really cuts me up to see how some of our people are treated.

Guys like you put your life on the line for the Federation, and end up being cheated by those they serve. By people like Karlstrom and, yes my brother - who talk about trust and loyalty and then sell their dog-soldiers down the river.

'I'm going to share a secret with you that they wouldn't trust you with. A secret which is yours by right!" Bull paused then said: 'We have reason to believe your son is Talisman. The child-saviour the Plainfolk have been waiting for."

Steve's jaw dropped. His surprise was totally genuine.

Everything was starting to drop into place. Clearwater had not been shedding tears over Sand-Wolf, but for the child the Federation had taken from her. Lucas... Had she known who he was?

'I won't go into the whys and wherefores,' said Bull, 'but it all lines up with the Prophecy, and is confirmed by the medical evidence. We got him, Steve - and you gave him to us. That's gonna earn you a place in the history archives."

Steve gestured in surrender. 'This is all kind of, y'know overwhelming. I just had no idea." He ran his eyes around the table and came back to Bull. 'Will I be able to see him, sir?"

'Sure, all in good time. Don't worry - he's in safe hands. One thing you can be sure of, he's gonna get the best of everything - and that's what we want you to have too."

Bull took hold of Fran's hand again and squeezed it affectionately.

'Now you know how much Karlstrom trusts you. Don't blame my brother.

He listens to the wrong people. And if I'm not wrong, Karlstrom has probably tried to poison your mind against Fran here.

Am I right?"

'Well, sin ' 'Yeah. He probably said you were just the latest of a long line of jack-dandies that got the heave-ho every six months. Is that near the mark."?"

Steve looked at Fram 'Something like that, yes."

'Well it's not true,' said Bull. 'No point in pretending my daughter was tempted by the fact you were a handsome young buck, but we both knew you were also intelligent, resourceful and brave."

Steve accepted this accolade with a modest shrug.

'Fran has kept tabs on you and Roz for several years.

She's been your Controller. Now that may sound sinister but it isn't.

Controllers look after the people we regard as "special". Watch over them - protect them." Bull grinned. 'She's the last of a long line.

You and your late kin-sister have been on the Special Treatment List since Day One. It's all down in the file, Steve - and we both like the way it adds up.

'This may embarra.s.s you, in front of all these folk, but contrary to what that slime-ball has said, she has deep and genuine feelings for you, son."

'I've become aware of that, sir." :eve made eye-contact with Fran again. There was complicity in her regard, but not the heart-warming feedback he got from Clearwater.

Bull noted the exchange. 'Did you know she wants to pair off with you."?"

'Beg pardon, sir."?"

Bull laughed at Steve's bafflement. 'You know what a pairing-off party is, don't you?"

'Yes, sir. It's where potential guard-mothers and fathers meet and then, if they hit it off, they take out a co-habitation bond."

'Right - but in the Family, it's called "marriage". The man and woman become husband and wife - father and mother to their children. I'm not Fran's guard-father, I'm her natural father. That's something else which sets us apart from our soldier-citizens We can reproduce our own kind - like you, son."

Yeahh, and I know why. Because you're all super-straights ....

Bull continued: 'The First Family is a collection of families, united by one dream - the conquest of the blue-sky world and the restoration of America. Our America - good, honest and true - swept clean of striped lump-heads and yellow trash. But although we share the same dream, some of us believe the wrong people are in charge of the train and that if we just stand by and do nothin' it could come off the rails. Know what I mean?"

'Yes, sir .... ' 'That's why we'd like you to join us. A man in my position needs people around him he can trust- and after the way Karlstrom has treated you, I reckon you'd like to feel you were among people you could rely on."

'Yes, sir."

'So how about it - would you like to marry my daughter?"

'I-I-I... don't know what to say, sir!" The prospect was absolutely staggering. Appalling.

'Try saying "yes"!" snapped Bull. 'I don't offer a deal like this to every trouser-snake that comes along!" 'Dad!" cried Fran. 'Give him time to catch his breath!" 'I-I'd, uhh- be honoured, sir! If your daughter believes I can make her happy, then I'd like nothing better than an opportunity to prove that she made the right choice.

She has ... come to mean a great deal to me too, sir."

'A great deal more than you know, son. You're looking at the next President-General. As my son-in-law, that's gonna put you in the line-up. Twenty to thirty years from now, it could all be yours."

Steve nodded. 'Sir, you must, uhh - excuse me if I seem to be reacting like a stumble-b.u.m. Getting hit with Talisman, then a possible marriage and now this, well .. it's one h.e.l.luva lot to take on board."