Perhaps this, then, was why the alien had handed her the figurine-because it contained some form of encoded data.

She had muttered curses at the empty corridors as she passed through them on her way across the ship, wondering why she’d taken so long for this to occur to her.

She pushed back the cover over the imager, a horizontal flat black disc set into a wall recess. Dakota pulled the figurine out of her pocket, placed it on the plate and stepped back. A few seconds passed and nothing happened.

She began to wonder if she’d been wrong after all.

‹Dakota…›

The Hyperion shuddered and the bridge lights flickered.

Piri! What was that?

‹I am investigating. ›

A light blinked and she realized the imager had begun its scan, although it was taking a lot longer to do so than normally. Numerical and compositional data began to spill across the imager’s screen:

88% ferric alloy, 10% organic matter, 2% other factors

unknown/not on record. Phylogenetic analysis of organic materials suggests: Indonesian maize hybrid.

(‹0.0002% of overall composition): ORIGIN: unknown.

GENERAL TACH-NET ENTRIES None

MANUFACTURED BY Unknown

PRIOR OR PRESENT OWNERSHIP Unknown

INTERACTIVITY INDEX Zero/not known

‹No system errors or malfunctions detected. ›

Piri, I felt something happen almost the instant I put that statuette on the imaging plate. There’s no way that’s a coincidence.

‹No system errors or malfunctions detected,› the machine repeated pedantically. Dakota quelled her frustration and picked up the figurine, stashing it out of sight behind a panel.

She turned and saw several message icons were now flashing on screens and in the air. It appeared her passengers, too, were concerned at this fresh turn of events.

‘Look, I don’t have a fucking clue what just happened. You ever flown a ship before?’

‘A low-orbit glider,’ Gardner replied, studying Dakota with eagle eyes. ‘That isn’t the point.’

‘Well, my point is, this isn’t a glider,’ Dakota snapped back. ‘I need to check every system is functioning, and that’s what I’ve been doing. So frankly, if the lights go dim or the ship shakes again, don’t be too surprised-’

‘I’m not happy about this, Miss Oorthaus,’ Gardner replied, glowering at her.

‘Fine.’ Dakota folded her arms. ‘Want to find another pilot? Go ahead.’

Gardner stared at her in silence for long seconds then let out a long sigh. ‘Mala, the Senator and the rest of them here aren’t nearly as reasonable as I can be. When things go wrong, they tend to react badly.’

He spoke quietly, leaning in towards her as if sharing the details of some secret indiscretion. ‘Josef Marados assured us you were one of the very best. If you’re not being straight with me now, we can trace the source of the incident through the stack records. After that it’s in the Senator’s hands.’

She gazed into Gardner’s eyes and suddenly felt sure he had no idea what had happened to Josef Marados. But surely he knew? How could any of them not know?

But Gardner wasn’t questioning her about Marados’s death. He was concerned about the sudden, violent spike in the Hyperion’s computer systems while she’d been on the bridge on her own.

‘I am,’ she told him fervently, ‘one of the best. I can take you through the necessary protocols and show you everything I’ve done since I came on board. And the fact remains that this ship’s been quietly falling apart in orbit for the best part of a century. It’s like a three-legged dog. That they’ve managed to keep the thing flying at ail is remarkable.’

Gardner put his hands up. ‘That won’t be necessary. I’m going to go talk to Senator Arbenz now, and I can guarantee he’ll run an independent systems analysis. Is there anything else you want to add?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, holding his gaze, and injecting what she hoped was just the right mixture of irritation and outrage into her response. ‘This vessel is a shit-can. If you don’t let me do things my way and it ends up dumping the internal atmosphere because I wasn’t allowed to fully test the systems, it won’t be my fault. Otherwise, I need to know how it works and what holds it together, and that means running checks on systems that haven’t been properly maintained in a very long time.’

‘All right, but if there’s any chance whatsoever of any further disruptions occurring, I want you to clear it with me first. Understood?’

Dakota nodded her assent and watched Gardner depart.

Piri, who else has been reading the news reports coming out of Mesa Verde?

‹Dakota, both Senator Arbenz and David Gardner have been reading news reports received from Mesa Verde. ›

She then had the Piri Reis recheck the Mesa Verde bulletins and found to her amazement that the news item about Marados’s death had been erased. She had her ship backtrack, but the original item Dakota had read no longer existed. There was no longer any evidence it had even been picked up by the Hyperion’s tach-net monitors.

Dakota found herself gripped by an overwhelming sense of paranoia, a feeling that her grip on reality had become deeply tenuous. Dakota had read one thing… and, somehow, Gardner and the Freeholders had read another.

Either she was going crazy and she’d imagined it all, and Josef was still alive back on Mesa Verde, or someone on board the Hyperion had reprogrammed the tach-net transponders to exclude any mention of his murder.

She turned and glanced behind her. ‘You can come out now, Udo.’

Udo Mansell emerged from the shadows to the rear of the bridge like a looming ghost.

‘Very good,’ said the Freeholder, stepping towards her. ‘How long did you know?’

‘Ever since you arrived through the service hatch. I know where everything is on this ship, at all times.’ She reached up and tapped the side of her head. ‘Remember?’