“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Not your fault, Captain. Mine. Just how bad is Dalton? Did you get a complete profile yet?”

“They’ll do more tests, but we have enough. It’s pretty hopeless. Mental age of maybe a two-year-old. See, him and the girl were raised together, and apparently she has always looked after him. That hasn’t helped at all — may have made him worse.”

“Apart from you, who knows about any of this?”

“Well, the psych tests on both the man and the woman are part of the general records. But I don’t see anybody bothering to look at them.”

“Don’t you believe it. Commander Brachis will look at them if they’re anything to do with Pursuit Team candidates. We have a wager on it.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

“He’ll think he’s won. Maybe he has. Captain, do you have the profiles with you?”

“Right here.”

“Take a look. Do you think we have a situation where we might be able to use a Tolkov Stimulator?”

There was a long silence at the other end.

“Captain Flammarion?”

“I’m here, sir. I’m looking, but I just don’t know. His profile’s pretty good, so there might be a decent chance. But Commander — ”

“Captain?”

“The Tolkov Stimulator. It’s not — I mean it is — isn’t it? It’s supposed to be for top security. Top security use only. It’s not — I mean it is -

“ Don’t gibber, Captain. When I want a monkey on my staff, I can find one down here on Earth. I know the restrictions on Stimulator use better than you do. But this use is a top security issue — the security of the whole Stellar Group. Can you think of a more urgent use?”

“But it’s not just that. I’ve seen the Stimulator used — it only works one time out of ten.”

“So it’s a long shot.”

“And if it doesn’t work, it kills the subject.”

“Which would mean the wager with Commander Brachis was off. Captain, don’t waste any more time talking. Find a Stimulator. I’ll make sure we have all the approvals.”

“Yessir.” From the sound of Flammarion’s voice, he was standing to attention. “I’ll do it, sir. But sir — ”

To still here.”

“Remember how the Stimulator works. Somebody has to be present to apply it to the subject. There’s a real strong bonding involved, and it can take months. And from what I’ve heard, it’s absolute hell for both of them. After the first few tries, the person applying the Stimulator usually wants to up and quit. It will be like that using it on Dalton. You’ll have to appoint somebody to stay with Dalton and the Stimulator, for weeks and weeks, and — ”

Kubo Flammarion realized where his line of speech was taking him. His tongue froze in horror.

“Relax, Captain. You are definitely not a candidate. I appreciate your concerns, and I know all the risks of using a Tolkov Stimulator as well as you do. Let me worry about that.” Mondrian leaned back, studying a calendar on the desk in front of him. “Note your own orders. As soon as the tests are complete, take the man and the woman to the Horus confinement facility. Set up the maximum security environment there. Also set up a system for education, and one for Pursuit Team training.

Allocate a chamber for a Tolkov Stimulator — I’ll arrange for the equipment to be shipped to you. Any questions?”

“The person who will be applying the Tolkov Stimulator to Chancellor Dalton—”

“Is no concern of yours. I will take care of that also.”

“Any other questions?”

“No, sir.”

“Then proceed.”

Mondrian pressed the disconnect and walked quietly through into the bedroom. Tatiana lay flat on her back. She was still sleeping, but when he moved to her side she turned to him in the darkness. Mondrian touched her, caressing her slowly and gently. She pulled him close and muttered in pleasure at what he was doing.

They made love quietly, still in total darkness. Afterwards Tatty locked tight, rocked him up and down, and whispered in his ear, “That was different from anything we’ve ever done before. Usually you pull away at the end, but this time you stayed with me. Essy, that was absolutely wonderful!”

“It was fantastic.” Mondrian was whispering, his breath touching the hollow of her neck. “Princess, you’re very dear to me. You ought to know that.”

“I wish I could believe it. But it’s difficult. You come, and you go …”

“I know. You told me not to make and break the same old promises, and I won’t do that. Never again. But I’ll make a new promise.”

“Oh, Essy. Don’t. Not now. Don’t spoil it.”

“Princess, I mean it. I have an important job that needs doing. It has to be carried out away from Earth, and it may take a long time.”

“You’re telling me you’ll be away from me for a long time.”

“No. The opposite. I’m telling you that I need help. I have to have someone that I trust totally. If you’ll agree to help me, we’ll leave Earth — together.”

She jerked beneath him, trying to sit up under his weight. “Essy, do you mean it?

“I certainly do.’

“I mean, after all this time … then you ask me to go, just like that. I can hardly believe it.”

“I’m serious. We’ll go — if you want to.”

She began to rock him again, tightening her arms and legs about him. “Of course I want to! Why wouldn’t I want to?”

“What about Paradox? You won’t get a supply of that once you’re away from Earth. Its export is one of Quarantine’s strongest prohibitions.”

“Ah.” She paused. He could hear her breathing through her nose, and the tiny sucking sound as she bit her lower lip.

“I still want to.” There was fear and hunger in her voice, and she laughed nervously. “The stuffs Killing me anyway, I’ve known that for years. Will you help me kick the habit?”

“Of course I will.”

“Then when will we go?”

“Very soon. I’ll have to get special permission from Quarantine, and an exit permit, but I’ll start working on that this morning. We could be leaving Earth in three days. Can you be ready?”

“Ready?” Tatty was suddenly crying. “Ready! Esro, if you want me I’m ready this minute. I’ve been ready for ages. If you need me, I’ll go right now, without packing one thing.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Tatty had never heard such happiness in his voice. In the darkness, she could not see his face.

Chapter 7

The asteroids of the Egyptian Cluster form a solar system anomaly. The orbits of the cluster members share a common inclination and a perihelion distance of about three hundred million kilometers. That supports the idea that they are a cluster, although one now far dispersed spatially. They also share the common material composition of the smaller silicaceous bodies of the solar system.

And yet they are, every one, anomalous. Instead of moving in the ecliptic, like all well-behaved planetoids, their common orbital plane is inclined at an angle of nearly fifty-nine degrees to it.

The physical data for the Egyptian Cluster are given in the Appendix to the General Ephemerides of the solar system — a fair measure of their importance in the big scheme of things. But even within a minor group there is a natural pecking order. Horus, twenty kilometers across, is an asteroid low in the order, very much an undistinguished specimen. No more than a bleak wedge of dark rock, it lacks atmosphere, volatiles, regular form, useful minerals, easily accessible orbit, or any other interesting property.

It is the perfect place for privacy. Mindful of this, an isolationist (and now extinct) religious sect long ago turned Horus into a worm-riddled cheese of black silicate, hollow and tunneled and chambered. The echoing inner cavities, with their entrance corridors paradoxically reflex and convoluted, were an ideal location for assured privacy and security.

Or for incarceration.

In one of the central chambers of Horus minimally appointed as living quarters sat two men and two women: Kubo Flammarion, Chan Dalton, Tatiana Sinai-Peres, and Leah Rainbow.