The Peacock Cloak

remains of it to see what lies beneath. It’s all very exciting because we really have no idea.”
    Not much excitement was evident, however, in the faces of Prisoner Gestas and Prisoner Dismas. Officer Graves gave a small sigh.
    “One note of caution,” he went on. “We really don’t know what function this place used to serve, but we do know they had some mighty advanced technology back in those days, and played with materials and forces that we no longer understand. Wear these radiation counters at all times, and if they ever start to bleep, or if you come across something that seems in any way odd, do please report back to me before going on. It’s for your own safety. I really don’t want anyone to come to any harm here.”
    Shoe and Pennyworth shrugged and spat and grudgingly shoved the proffered counters onto their belts, and Graves led them to a part of the site where a shaft of some kind had been filled up with rubble. Some four metres of this debris had already been lifted away. Now Graves led them down into the shady hollow and, under his direction, the two thieves reluctantly began removing more loose stones and putting them in large bins for removal later by crane.
    “People say that this dig really isn’t very important compared with the big ones on the mainland where they are finding all those wonderful artefacts,” Graves enthused as they made a nominal pretence of working. “But we don’t know what it will throw up, do we? And we won’t know until the whole dig is done. I think you’ll find it a fascinating place. All digs are, like books of secrets waiting to be read.”
    “Wow,” said lean-faced Shoe in a flat, bored, sarcastic voice.
    Graves blinked and looked momentarily hurt – the thieves’ surliness was starting to wear him down – but he was a man with a determinedly positive outlook on life.
    “We look up the stars today,” he said, “and we know their names and we know what they’re made of, but for all practical purposes they might as well be lights projected onto a screen. It was different for our ancestors at the time of the Old Empire. When they looked out at the stars, they were looking into a vast cave of delights going back and back and back, a cave through which, in some way we no longer understand, they were able to move freely – just imagine it! – bringing back strange beasts and fabulous wealth and wonders that we can only dream about.”
    He glanced hopefully at Shoe and Pennyworth. Both were gazing into the distance with the determinedly vacant expressions that people and animals wear when they are keeping their minds entirely blank.
    “And yet,” Graves doggedly continued, “technological prowess is only part of what we lost when the Great Calamity brought down the Empire, and I would say not the greatest part. What strikes me most at these sites is the architectural grace, the calmness and at the same time the playfulness of that wonderful civilisation. Again and again we find details, flourishes, ornaments, whimsical little touches, that seem to serve no purpose other than to give delight, or raise a smile, or serve as food for thought.”
    He glanced again at the two thieves and finally resigned himself to the fact that he might as well be talking to the stones.
    “Anyway, it gives you a good appetite, that’s for sure,” he said a little sadly, “all this digging and shifting rocks in the open air, with a nice sea breeze to keep you cool.”
    Pennyworth turned to the side and spat.
    “So are there any questions, lads?” asked Graves, making one last effort to force cheerfulness into his voice.
    A seagull screeched. The ocean sighed.
    “I’ll leave you to it then,” Graves concluded. “Have fun. Lunch will arrive back at the sorting area at twelve. Just come over and find us when you’re ready.”
    Shoe and Pennyworth grunted, watched him go, and then slumped on a slab of rock and lit up cigarettes.
    “A fascinating place,” Pennyworth mimicked. “A wonderful book waiting to be read.”
    He put two fingers into the back of his mouth as if to make himself gag.
    “What a dump ,” he concluded.
    “Yeah,” agreed Shoe, “what in God’s name made us pick this job?”
    After half an hour of this sort of talk, boredom finally drove them to interact at least a little with their surroundings, and they chucked a few stones at each other. Then they set up a bit of ancient marble paving slab and lobbed more stones at it until it split