December 16, 1910

At least they had some warning. Suddenly the Death List began updating with scores of names. Spears went to Humphries and demanded a map of England. "Lancashire, Atherton, Hulton Colliery Bank Pit No. 3, the Pretoria Pit. Oh-seven-fifty, December 21."

Alan rolled out the map. "Bolton and Wigan substations, nearest towns Atherton and Westhoughton, closest Branches Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, Sheffield, Leeds. How many?"

"Three hundred forty-four, most of them in one explosion. They may put out a general call for off-duty Reapers, to share the Death List and hold off the demons. Please tell Agent Cortland to schedule that week now and give me a copy as soon as possible. Ask her to reserve any Reaper who has experience with mine disasters. That team from Swansea, for instance. Pair them up with senior second shifters. No youngsters. Nobody coming off of third shift is to participate, only those fully rested."

"Very good, sir." And it was. Will had remembered not to send weary Reapers into harm's way.

Alan consulted with Cortland and Onayemi about the schedule, then returned to his office and called Major Artois.

"Good morning, sir. Our Death List has just informed us of a mine explosion in Lancashire, December twenty-first. Have you had warning of this? Atherton, Hulton Colliery Bank Pit No. Three, the Pretoria Pit. Oh-seven-fifty, three hundred forty-four fatalities listed, probably a country-wide call for Reapers, and almost certainly demonic interference. Just so you know. The Manchester Garrison will be the primary responder." Artois abused him for a bearer of bad-news-before-breakfast and disconnected.

Alan's second call was to the Medical Director to pass along the same warning; they would issue a blanket bulletin to all Infirmaries.

Alan's third call was to Supplies, to expect a demand for medical goods and a rush on the decontamination showers.

His fourth call was to Franklin and Cole at the London Lab. "Les, is that new portal of yours ready for field use? Wonderful. Can we borrow it on the twenty-first? General all-Division alert for a mine disaster in Lancashire. We need to move squads of Reapers from their Branches to the destination site without having to make a number of jumps to get there...Right, how does that work? Brilliant. Do you need help to set it up? Can you send instructions around to everyone? Perfect. Just let me get this approved..."

Together, he and Will opened the War Room. A communications portal was opened to Manchester. Will offered the new Franklin-Cole Mass Transit Portal to be set up near Atherton. All Branches could use their communications portals to tap in and send personnel, who could then take up positions around the mine. Manchester accepted eagerly.

Alan was pleased. He'd expected at least a hint of 'blarsted London interference, harrumph!' and 'demm'd new-fangled contraption' spluttering. However, the Reaper speaking for Manchester was a regular attendee at the Gather. He'd used the beach portal and become comfortable with it. Which was, after all, the whole point. This year's Gather had also included a portal to Calais, where French and Belgian Branches had started their own party. Guests travelled between the two Gathers and made friends. Alan wondered if Holbert would be willing to continue as Gather Master after his promotion. It really did need a Senior in the lead. Perhaps Alan could help him appoint an aide from the Junior staff, to lighten the load. Alan had slipped it into the Budget, just in case.

Fortunately the twenty-first was a Wednesday. Eric's teaching schedule would keep him out of the fight, if Manchester requested an all-hands turnout. Alan rather hoped they would, as this would approximate battlefield Reaping. Good experience for those who had never dealt with it. Like himself. But he was an administrator and teacher, bound to his desk and lectern. Well. He likewise served the purpose of the Highest. It said so, right there in the Ethics book, page 127. He taught it every year.

On December 20, Eric was issued a Death List for the mine explosion. Evidently Manchester had decided to take no chances with their limited resources. All souls were to be Released as soon as gathered. They called for all practicing Reapers of more than fifty years' experience, plus younger Seniors ready for this sort of training. Alan was not called. He assumed that Will wanted him in the Academy where he could be quickly summoned to the War Room if needed. He tried very hard to be sensible about it. He succeeded in being only slightly snappish. He arranged for Eric's teaching assistants to pick up his classes and put his own on alert.

Eric left for Atherton at 0500 the next day. Alan sent him off with a calm cheerfulness which fooled nobody. He then returned to his desk; the early combat class was covered; his Technique class wasn't until 0800. He reviewed his notes. He wrote several memos, then set them aside to proof when Eric was safely back. Finally he put on his jacket, combed his hair in case Pollard was out patrolling for untidy professors profaning the sacred halls of Academe, and summoned his scythe to port to the classroom.

The alarms in the War Room rang. Of course they did. A Ravening was expected. Alan picked up his textbooks. Eric was fine, doubtless enjoying himself with a nice fight before his Reaps. The alarms rang again. Another incursion. Alan would just have a quick look at the alarm screen—

Two lights bloomed over Westhoughton near Bolton—

Time: 0745

The alarms rang. A third light glowed over the Hulton Colliery.

A Death List appeared in Alan's hand, transferred from a Reaper who could not execute it.

Alan dropped his books, ran for the Transit Portal, joining many other Reapers from the bullpen.

Will shouted at him. He waved his Death List. No choice. Will motioned him to continue.

Alan jumped into the Portal, landed and ported mid-step to the mine. Will was right behind him.

Time: 0750

An enormous explosion shook the ground. Alan managed to stay on his feet. Will was guarding him, and that was so wrong, but there was no choice; Alan had the List and must Reap; those with no Lists must defend—

Grell would kill him for bringing Will into this—

Deep underground, no, not here, deeper still, deeper; the List called him—

Here. A stunned, terrified soul; gather, comfort, review. Release into the Light, where neither Reaper nor demon could follow. Another, another. These had been killed instantly in the explosion. Reapers passed him to collect those being killed by mine gas. Another. Over here, three. Two more. Wait, back there. Here and here.

A demon rushed him. He ducked. A swish over his head; Will's pruner. He stayed in a crouch to avoid Will's backswing, Reaped another soul, crept forward. Two more. A demon was clawing at another body. He rammed his Angel blade into it, pushed it aside for Will to finish, gathered in the soul. Comfort, review, release. Unknown Reapers worked beside him. One or two looked familiar, probably from the Gather.

His List was complete. His duty now was to defend and watch for any souls missed or lost. Alan dismissed the Angel knife and summoned his full-sized scythe.

"Will, go back to London! You're too valuable to risk! Grell will kill us both if you get hurt!"

"Nonsense, Humphries! Our duty is clear. We must protect our people who are still Reaping. And you weren't supposed to be here either. So Slingby will also want to kill us, and will have to wait his turn. Not something he's good at, in my experience."

"Will, down!" Alan beheaded the demon behind Will, covering them both with a spray of blood, not ichor. One of the mammalian or avian types. The blood burned.

As the collecting Reapers moved farther along the mineshaft, Alan and Will stayed in place to prevent more demons from following. Will had improved out of all recognition by keeping up with the sparring sessions. He was handling close-in fighting better too, now that he had his bifocals. Will's eyesight was really very poor. Alan would make a note of scheduling him regular appointments with Spectacles. Just as soon as there were fewer demons in the way.

Harmon joined them, completed List in his breast pocket, and helped with the onslaught. Joined soon after by Ten Hagen. They seemed also to be defending Will. Excellent. The demons were still coming. Alan turned to shield Will from another attack from the right side of the mineshaft.

Spears moved to the left as a new group of demons arrived. One of them was pointing and shouting. "That's him! Get him! Get him, get him!" Harmon swung his scythe behind the shouter's knees and Ten Hagen delivered a powerful whack to the side of the head. Will stepped up to defend Harmon as Ten Hagen quickly pulled the demon aside. Spears assumed that he was trying to get it out from underfoot. He and Harmon engaged the rest of the group. Alan rejoined them from across the shaft. Ten Hagen returned and joined in.

Another demon ran in. Alan gutted it, turned and struck at another. His scythe stuck in its ribs. It took a moment to yank free, but Harmon protected him from the side, and both of them turned to help Will. Ten Hagen moved to kill a demon trying to run past them to attack from their rear.

More Reapers came back up the shaft to join the fight. Iris Quirke was there, and with a roar Grell appeared, chainsaw spreading destruction. Eric arrived, yelling curses. Another roar, this time behind the demons. Knox, Mountjoy and Kendall, Fairbairn, Burns, all coming to trap the demons between two groups of Reapers. Behind them came the Angels, swinging swords of fire.

Iris did the reconnaissance; she was best at looking innocent. After her sortie she returned to the mineshaft where Harmon and Ten Hagen waited with their prisoner.

"Director Spears has returned to London, so Grell can yell at him in private. The Angels are poking about the towns for escaped demons. All the souls are accounted for. Slingby's scolding Humphries, who's scolding back. They'll be off to kiss and make up any moment now. Mitch is keeping an eye on them. Everybody else is heading home."

"Dandy," said Harmon. "Let's give it just a minute. I want everybody well away before we move this fellow to Judicial for questioning."

"Senior Goodfellow is waiting for us in Admin with an escort," said Iris. "It's safer for us if Auditing's involved."

The demon, securely bound in port-proof ties and suffering a pounding headache, snarled. "I fear none of you, Reapers!"

"And we're not afraid of you, demon. But you should be afraid of Judicial," said Ten Hagen softly. "Because they terrify us."

0945 at the Cafeteria, tea after cleanup: Quirke, Roberts, Solway, Brock, Smitty, Dutch, Harmon and Sorenson

Iris smiled at the people around the table. "Senior Goodfellow delivered the demon to Judicial. They'll ask why the demons are targeting Humphries, which we know already, but now it'll be on record. If there is any attempt to allow the demon to escape, or to kill it before it can be questioned, or if anyone comes after us, that will reveal any collaborators that may still exist in Research or elsewhere. Sarah says it's quite the nicest present anyone could give her. It's the least I can do to repay her and Agent D'Acres for taking me in when my first Mentors died."

"The restraints I gave you kept it confined, I assume?" asked Smitty. "I'll need to follow up that line of research if they were fully effective."

"Worked a treat, Smitty. Good job." Harmon sipped his tea. "Can you give us more if we need them?"

"Our inventories are meticulously recorded. I can't hide any more materials as wastage. I'll produce a new set under proper supervision, present it for testing, and we can get them issued as optional equipment. Shouldn't take too long. Or, if I can borrow your demon back for demonstration purposes, complete with the restraints, we'll have approval same-day. I'll have to explain why they weren't constructed according to the required procedures anyway."

"So," said Mitch, "if our slightly dented demon tells all, the Higher Ups will tell Slingby he's being targeted, and why. They'll put fences around Humphries, as much as they can, given his need to get out once in a while. He'll hate it but he'll cooperate. Mostly. We'd better watch him for signs of rebellion, and step up if another disaster pulls him into active Reaping."

"If the Higher Ups agree that he's valuable, they'll put him on a no-call list," said Marisa Solway. "Might not apply in an emergency like this one, though. A Death List transferred from a dead or crippled Reaper has to be completed. I can talk to Cortland and Onayemi, ask them to refuse his offers to fill in when somebody's injured. That won't keep him from dropping into the human realm to walk over to the London Lab, or to sneak out to eat lunch in a pub, or just to sit on the rooftops when he's feeling chained."

"I know that they've piled work on him when he asked questions they didn't want him to pursue," said Brock. "They've given him protection but not the reasoning behind it. They've left him feeling he's considered such an incompetent Reaper that they prefer to send his partner out alone. He soldiers along, behaving until he's sick of it and sees a chance to go over the wall."

"I think Humphries and Slingby both would be ready to secede if they weren't blowing off steam teaching combat and sparring with Spears. They are genuinely concerned for their students, which is a firm anchor," mused Roberts. "Whether that's enough to hold them in place forever is uncertain. We have to continue as before, to observe and protect as much as we can. Our lives will be a lot easier if we can keep them here, doing what they're doing."

"The Thursday night meetings give Humphries a feeling of still belonging," said Dutch. "He can hobnob with other Reapers as well as all the friends he's made around the Realm. Somebody's trying hard to turn him into an Academic or an Admin. It's not going to work, any more than it's working with Slingby. If they are pushed too hard, they could transfer to another Branch as a Reaping partnership."

"Transfer would be blocked under the 'essential personnel' rule," said Marisa. "Which would tell them that somebody is restricting their duties."

"Please. Slingby knows. Slingby's part of it," said Harmon. "I watched him scold his partner for Reaping today, as if Humphries had a choice. It's not just anger, it's worry. Humphries is very fast and very good, but he's also small and sometimes reckless. Which just means, like all of us, he needs to work with a partner. But he's been denied even that, locked up while Slingby goes off alone on Sweep duty. Might also be self-preservation on Slingby's part, if the bond is all you say it is, Iris."

"The bond is everything I say it is, and it will cause trouble. Obviously they themselves don't understand it fully. The current situation affects the bond. It essentially tethers Humphries to Slingby as a mere source of healing when he's injured. That can't last. The bond seeks a balance between equals, not between an owner and a pet. Expect more escapes, more arguments, a demand to be allowed a choice or at least an explanation. Keep hoping for final complete honesty between them. If Slingby can convince Humphries that his safety is essential to the future of our Branch and Realm, then Humphries will have a reason to behave. But without that explanation, Spears can't command his cooperation, and the Higher Ups can't force it, and all we can do is what we're doing."

"Why don't they teach this stuff?" groused Brock. "Yes, it's rare, but still!"

Smitty shrugged. "Efficiency and economy. They prefer small plug-ins to solid-state modules."

"Dutch, will you please translate from Engineering into Reaper?"

"My pleasure, Fred. Smitty says that, to Management, one dead Reaper and a surviving partner beats two dead Reapers any old day. They keep it secret because they consider the knowledge counterproductive. Sorry, folks, I need to get back. Spears saw me in the mine. He's going to want to know why I was there. I'll have to tell him."

"Me, too," said Smitty. "I have to warn my Engineer that I've been guilty of unsupervised fabrication. That, Fred, means I have been tinkering with dangerous materials without telling him. He'll not be pleased. Dutch and I are the only people here who will be in real trouble, for actions forbidden to Juniors. Everybody else lie low."