Madness in a Cadenza

[Thunderer]

The Geiger counter had been crackling monotonously for about an hour already, and by now they were used to it as to the ticking of a clock. They had taken off from Leeds some time ago in a hastily repaired Paladin with more welding marks than paint on its hull. They had been given a refreshment back in Harrington in the form of two very economical baths and two cans of beans that were a week past their expiration date. Their consequences were not the cause that was triggering the Geiger counter. It was the East Leeds Smog Cloud, where they were nearing the Manchester Jump Hole. Depending on weather the ship was welded well enough or not, they were going back home in one piece.

With the autopilot on, Kaze had been trying, for some time already, to establish contact with a certain signal with the transmission hub datacentre in her bionic arm, which seemed quite charred. Meanwhile, Seeley was trying to finally catch some good sleep after having succeeded in convincing himself that he was at last safe.

The cockpit was suddenly lit by a blue hologram. "Bingo." Kaze's whisper caught his attention. Although there was no image, the device was emitting sound. It was General Proulx, completely unaware that he was being recorded, and he was talking to someone who appeared to be his superior, in French. French had to listen very closely to understand him.

"...d news. We 'ave practicallie won zhe war.
...
Oui, I will tell you right away. An admiral of zheirs, 'is name is..." The rustle of an apparently small piece of paper can barely be heard. "Sir Jeorge Rishar' 'all.
...
Oui, Cambrige. 'e as offred to surrendre if we attaque when 'e says, and in exshange we should name 'im zhe gouverneur of zhe Province of Bretonnie. Are you intrested in..."

Kaze turned the device off and shook her head in the silence that let their unpleasantly surprised heartbeats be heard and lasted for a couple of moments. "This is madness!", Seeley shattered it. Kaze continued shaking her head with slow moves that appeared to be gathering black clouds of wrath.

"Your blood has gone bad.
As I knew it would."