'Another trap?' asked Thorn.

'Perhaps. We'll see.'

'Chaline's online now,' said Aiden.

Cormac stood up, walked to the front of the carrier and took the seat next to him. Thorn looked at Mika questioningly. She shrugged and said, 'If he doesn't want to tell us, he won't.'

Thorn said, 'One minute he says the Maker isn't a killer. The next minute he says he knows how to kill it. He's an opaque chap at times.'

'He knows what he is doing,' said Cento.

'I didn't suggest otherwise.'

The three of them moved up front to listen.

'Chaline,' said Cormac. 'Is the stage-two runcible through yet?'

'It is, and it would have been set up in another ten hours if I wasn't up here on this damned ship, and if there were no other interruptions.'

Cormac grinned. 'I'm afraid there might be. Tell me, how long would it take for you to relocate the stage-one runcible?'

'What? What the hell do you want—'

'Take it as a metaphorical question for now.'

Chaline calmed down. 'Depends where you want it. The biggest time-eater is laying the's-con cables.'

'How about if you just use a microwave emitter?'

'That would be quicker, I suppose. How far away would you want it?'

'About five hundred kilometres away from all other installations.'

'Why would you want to do that?'

'Just answer the question, please.'

'OK, about thirty hours, if all available staff are on it.'

'Could the AI run it from the new installation?'

'Of course I could,' replied the voice of a bored aristocrat.

'Right, Blegg, if we bring the Maker out after us through the stage-one runcible, having destroyed the buffers after our transmission, it would likely be killed.'

Blegg said, 'Y'want Dragon to know this, of course. It should be kept informed…'

Cormac smiled and shook his head. How the hell had he known? 'Of course,' he said, 'and it is our prerogative to do this. It must be punished for the deaths of those on Samarkand.'

'I see. You have already encountered this Maker?'

'Yes, and I want to be there to see it destroyed. I know remote detonators could—'

Chaline interrupted. 'Are you out of your minds? Destroy another runcible?'

Blegg's voice was as smooth as a snake. 'If that is what it takes, then that is what will be done. Y'understand?'

Cormac wondered if Chaline could smell the garlic on his breath and see the flecks of gold in his eyes.

'Right,' said Chaline tighdy.

Blegg had a mandate from Earth Central. He could be argued with - but it was a poindess exercise.

'Will you arrange all that, then? I want a proton weapon left in the containment sphere. You'll have to turn off any proscription device in the sphere for that. I also want a fast AGC beside the runcible, with a covered walkway leading to it. Put three coldsuits in it as well.'

'We'll contact y'when everything is ready. Dragon will be told.'

'Good, after you make contact with us, we'll be flushing the Maker out with the CTDs. That's all.' Cormac rested his fingers on his bottom lip and stared at the console until the transmission was broken. 'Dragon probably heard every word of that,' he said. 'It put a lock on the information concerning the arrival of its dracomen on Samarkand, so it has access to the grid, and I think its tracking down of this Maker to Samarkand confirms that. It will, accordingly, discover all that has happened here. Very little information will escape it.'

'Are you going to tell us what you're up to?' asked Thorn.

'I haven't quite got it all sorted myself. I am, as Blegg might say, giving myself leeway for subterfuge. I'm afraid you'll have to be content with that for now. What you heard then is all you need to know.' He centred his attention on Aiden. 'Aiden, I want you to open a channel from my comunit to Viridian. Preferably through underspace, coded and random scrambled.'

Aiden nodded. They all waited for Cormac to say more.

Thorn became impatient. 'Now?' he prompted.

'Now? Well, I haven't eaten since yesterday and I'm hungry. I suggest we eat before heading out. Pelter needs to be dealt with. I can't have an imponderable like him about while I'm dealing with… other things.'

27

The magnetic rails lifted the shuttle from the bay floor, just like AG.

'That's it,' said Tull over the intercom. 'Now you just ease it straight out. You'll be going out opposite to the station's rotation, so you should have no problem. Obviously, once you're out, you'll fall away at one-quarter G.'

'In what direction?'

'Depends when you get through the door. I'd suggest you do this next time Viridian comes into view.'

Great, real technical.

Jarvellis kept her eyes on the door and her hand on the slide control as she waited. Already space beyond the door was taking on a blue-green haze. Any time now, then.

When the arc of the planet slowly climbed into view, she quickly pushed the control forward. She did not really fancy hurtling directly towards the planet at one-quarter G while still trying to figure out how to operate the controls of this thing. The shuttle slowly accelerated for the door, and more and more of the planet was revealed. As it went out into space, it immediately dropped and she rose against her seat straps. A glance up showed her the station now retreating with dismaying rapidity. She moved the control column and was rewarded with a cacophonous creaking as the ion engines moved in their housings.

'All or nothing,' she said, and pressed a button marked 'Grids'. Nothing happened. There was no flare, no surge of power. She leant forward and round, so as to see the ion engines. There was a glow underneath them no more vigorous than that from a faulty toaster. Jarvellis studied the other buttons available. 'Gas feed' seemed the most likely, so she pressed it. A pump started up somewhere behind her, and there was a stutt- ering roar to her right. Her view of Viridian tilted, kept on tilting. The roar started to her left, but the tilt did not correct and now the horizon was dropping away. She eased the column over, corrected the tilt. How the hell did she ease off on the power, though? It took her some minutes of frantic searching before she realized her foot was flat down on a floor pedal.

'This is Viridian control calling Nix shuttle. Answer, please.'

Jarvellis ignored the radio and concentrated on flying the shuttle. She could not figure out how to get back towards the planet. The settings of the engines seemed to be designed for re-entry only. Think! It occurred to her then that she was thinking like someone who had lived with gravity for too long. She was thinking in terms of up and down. She moved the full column over and nipped the shuttle so that Viridian was now directly above her, and then applied some power.

'This is Viridian control calling Nix shuttle. Answer, please.'