soldier of some kind that they captured on a skirmish.
He knows that they will never let him live long enough to leave here,
so he was grateful for any suggestions I had."

"This is man's talk I do not understand," Ijale said, turning away and
starting towards the cooking fire.

"You'll understand this," Jason said, taking her by the shoulder.
"The soldier knows where Appsala is and can lead us there. The time
has come to think about leaving this place."

He had all of her attention now, and Mikah's as well, "How is this?"
she gasped.

"I have been making my plans, I have enough files and lockpicks now to
crack into every room in this place, a few weapons, the key to the
armory and every able bodied slave on my side."

"What do you plan to do?" Mikah asked.

"Stage a servile revolt in the best style. The slaves fight the
D'zertanoj and we get away, perhaps with an army helping us, but at
least we get away."

"You are talking _revolution_!" Mikah bellowed and Jason jumped him
and knocked him to the floor. Ijale held his legs down while Jason
squatted on his chest and covered his mouth.

"What is the matter with you? Want to spend the rest of your life
rebuilding stolen engines? They are guarding us too well for there to
be much chance of our breaking out on our own, so we need allies. We
have them ready made, all the slaves."

"Brevilushun...." Mikah mumbled through the restraining fingers.

"Of course it's a revolution. It is also the only possible chance of
survival that these poor devils will ever have. Now they are human
cattle, beaten and killed on whim. You can't be feeling sorry for the
D'zertanoj--every one of them is a murderer ten times over. You've
seen them beat people to death. Do you feel that they are too nice to
suffer a revolution?"

Mikah relaxed and Jason removed his hand slightly, ready to clamp down
if the other's voice rose above a whisper.

"Of course they are not nice, beasts in human garb is more truthful. I
feel no mercy for them and they should be wiped out and blotted from
the face of the earth as was Sodom and Gomorrah. But it cannot be done
by revolution, revolution is evil, inherently evil."

Jason stifled a groan. "Try telling that to two-thirds of the
governments that now exist, since that's about how many were founded
by revolution. Nice, liberal democratic governments--that were started
by a bunch of lads with guns and the immense desire to run things in a
manner more