«However they preserve it, they'll need a lot of power for the job, and that's on top of gravity generation and environmental maintenance. Where's that been coming from uninterrupted for thirteen thousand years?»

«Direct mass-to-energy conversion,» Katherine speculated. «Or they could be tapping straight into the sun's fusion. Whatever, bang goes the Edenist He3 monopoly.»

«We have to go back,» Marcus said.

«NO!» Antonio yelled. «We must find the gold first. When that has been achieved, you can come back by yourselves. I won't allow anything to interfere with our priorities.»

«Look, I'm sorry you had a fright while you were over there. But a power supply that works for thirteen thousand years is a lot more valuable than a whole load of gold which we have to sell furtively,» Katherine said levelly.

«I hired this ship. You do as I say. We go after the gold.»

«We're partners, actually. I'm not being paid for this flight unless we strike lucky. And now we have. We've got the xenoc ship, we haven't got any gold. What does it matter to you how we get rich, as long as we do? I thought money was the whole point of this flight.»

Antonio snarled at her, and flung himself at the floor hatch, kicking off hard with his legs. His elbow caught the rim a nasty crack as he flashed through it.

«Victoria?» Marcus asked as the silence became strained. «Have the satellite arrays found any heavy metal particles yet?»

«There are definitely traces of gold and platinum, but nothing to justify a rendezvous.»

«In that case, I say we start to research the xenoc wreck properly.» He looked straight at Jorge. «How about you?»

«I think it would be prudent. You're sure we can continue to monitor the array satellites from here?»

«Yes.»

«Good. Count me in.»

«Thanks. Victoria?»

She seemed troubled by Jorge's response, even a little bewildered, but she said: «Sure.»

«Karl, you're the nearest thing we've got to a computer expert. I want you over there trying to make contact with whatever control network is still operating.»

«You got it.»

«From now on we go over in teams of four. I want sensors put up to watch the airlocks when we're not around, and I want some way of communicating with people inside. Start thinking. Wai, you and I are going to secure Lady Mac to the side of the shell. OK, let's get active, people.»

• • •

Unsurprisingly, none of the standard astronautics industry vacuum epoxies worked on the shell. Marcus and Wai wound up using tether cables wrapped round the whole of the xenoc ship to hold Lady Mac in place.

Three hours after Karl went over, he asked Marcus to join him.

Lady Mac 's main airlock tube had telescoped out of the hull to rest against the shell. There was no way it could ever be mated to the xenoc airlock rectangle, but it did allow the crew to transfer over directly without having to use exoskeleton armour and the MSV. They'd also run an optical fibre through the xenoc airlock to the interior of the ship. The hatch material closed around it forming a perfect seal, rather than slicing it in half.