EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

A cold mist hung over the ancient city, so thick that the streetlights appeared as a hazy circle every twenty meters along the narrow street. By three hundred hours only the most foolish citizens would be out of their homes even if they could bear the close to zero temperature.

This was the time the IMPACT forces were on patrol. The Internal Monitors of Peace and Citizen Tranquility ruled the city-state of Sympia with an iron fist since the continental wars four decades earlier. Their authority now superseded that of the original police force, who were now relegated to directing traffic and keeping streets tidy. Everything within the hundred-kilometer perimeter wall was under their iron fist. At first the IMPACT forces were welcomed to Sympia and the other five city-states within a six hundred kilometer radius. They provided security war weary locals needed. It was only after the military enforcement policy was given another five-year mandate that the all-powerful organization began to step over the thin line between a protector and ruthless enforcer of IMPACT's ideology.

In an expected pronouncement a year earlier, the Grand Marshal of the United IMPACT Commonwealth stated that the humanz, the z added to distinguish loyal citizens, of their land had been polluted by invaders two hundred years before. These invaders had contaminated the genes of loyal citizens by interbreeding. The only way to stop further pollution through future generations was to halt it now.

By default, all male citizens over a meter eighty in height and females over a meter seventy were declared possible bearers of alien genes and ordered to have DNA samplings. Other defects were those with light colored eyes, fair hair and skin pigment that burned in the summer sun.

During the following months, random arrests were extended to full scaled roundups. Few talls, as the unfortunate citizens became known, passed the test. Those who did were from prosperous families who, it was rumored, bought their right to freedom. Talls declared as having defective genes were sent to internment camps that were set up on the coastal badlands. What happened there was unknown but those who entered a camp never came out. The official news that they were sterilized but treated humanly and deported to off shore islands to live out their lives in peace and tranquility was not believed by even the most loyal citizens.

In the xenophobia that reined over the land, the other intelligent species that lived in and around Sympia was ignored. There were few of them and they were known for their neutrality in all the intercontinental wars. The so-called fuzzballs were spherical creatures the size of a large orange who had the power of flight that was sustained without having wings. Four body openings expelled air under pressure to propel the fuzzballs along. They had small arms and legs, eyes and a mouth but all other organs were hidden by a fuzzy fur that covered their bodies. They were highly intelligent and could speak in a high pitched almost squeaky voice. Humanz had difficulty telling whether individual fuzzballs were male or female for there were no external differences in their appearance.

But the fuzzballs were not as docile or harmless as the IMPACT leaders believed.

* * *

Quig, a dark brown fuzzball, flew twenty meters above the street and observed the actions of the IMPACT forces below. Their movements were unusual in that everything was quiet and done in the shadows. The sirens, loudspeakers, floodlights and hovering helicopters were absent. Instead IMPACT military police sneaked from building to building until only one was surrounded. Again, this was unusual. Usually a whole block was surrounded and the citizens within brought out. Residents were usually examined and those within the gene criteria and with no criminal or political points against their names were allowed to return home. Everyone else would be forced into closed vans and taken away for more interrogation.

"It's going to be close," Quig muttered to himself.

The tall girl he was assigned to protect was hiding in the building. Quig knew only that it was imperative that the humanz never interrogated Brittany Forbes who lived in the attic of this house. The fuzzball gritted his small spiky teeth and dropped down on the dark roof of the building where the woman lived.

* * *

Brittany tossed in a fretful sleep caused by the uncertainties of the time. Since the new laws she had had to give up her college studies and was now a virtual prisoner in the attic apartment. Two men who could be considered tall lived below her but rather than providing a security shield they scared her. Innuendoes and comments had been superseded by frank demands by the younger guy for so-called favors otherwise he'd notify the authorities that she lived in the building. She had double locks, a security camera and other precautions but knew this would not stop the men if they wanted to enter. In fact it was the Gridmyres, a humanz family on the first floor who really protected her. Old Neechon watched the two guys like a hawk and she had heard him once telling them that if she was designated a tall their own heights would also become suspect.

She woke from a deep sleep when something shook her toe. Immediate thoughts were that of panic. Why hadn't the alarm rung? She forced her eyes open but in the dull reflected light from outside she could see nobody.

A cough made her heart leap. "You must get dressed, Brittany," a high pitched voice whispered. "IMPACT has this building surrounded. Hurry! There's not much time."

The girl turned and saw a fuzzball standing on the end of the bed. His dark fur was almost a perfect camouflage,

You're Quig from that group that patrols the city aren't you?"

It was the fuzzball's turn to look surprised. "You know?" he said.

Brittany managed a smile. "You are one of our few allies in the city. Whenever I see you or one of your friends flying above me it gives me the strength to go on."

Quig nodded, well really his whole body vibrated above his tiny legs, but Brittany understood the movement. "You must get dressed and come . . . now!"

The girl moved in a well rehearse movement. Within seconds she was in her street clothes. She stared at a small wall monitor that pulsed green. "Nobody's downstairs yet," she whispered. "What way? Down the back steps to the alley?"

"No. Every entrance is covered. We have to go out the way I came in." Quig glanced around. "Bring a blanket?"

Brittany frowned. "But how?"

"I came down the chimney. There are iron rungs that go up the inside. I guess they were used by chimney sweeps hundreds of years ago."

A buzzer sounded and the monitor light changed to a pulsing yellow.

The girl nodded and grabbed a small backpack from under her bed, strapped a blanket on the top and slid it onto her back. She moved across to the monitor and pressed in a code. The words Armed flashed on the screen.

"A couple of hundred volts are going through the door handle," she explained. "It'll take them a while to get around it."

"Good for you," Quig whispered, "but we must go."

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