«I'm sure there will be an answer at some time.»

«I know, we're only a commercial trader's crew, with a very limited research capability. But we can still ask fundamental questions, like why have they kept the wormhole open for thirteen thousand years?»

«Because that's the way their technology works. They probably wouldn't consider it odd.»

«I'm not saying it shouldn't work for that long, I'm asking why their homeworld would bother maintaining a link to a chunk of derelict wreckage?»

«That is harder for logic to explain. The answer must lie in their psychology.»

«That's too much like a cop-out; you can't cry alien at everything you don't understand. But it does bring us to my final query. If you can open a wormhole with such accuracy across God knows how many light-years, why would you need a starship in the first place? What sort of psychology accounts for that?»

«All right, Marcus, you got me. Why?»

«I haven't got a clue. I've been reviewing all the file texts we have on wormholes, trying to find a solution which pulls all this together. And I can't do it. It's a complete paradox.»

«There's only one thing left, then, isn't there?»

Marcus turned to look at the hulking figure of the cosmonik. «What?»

«Go down the wormhole and ask them.»

«Yeah, maybe I will. Somebody has to go eventually. What does our dear Katherine have to say on that subject? Can we go inside it in our SII suits?»

«She's rigging up some sensors that she can shove through the interface. That grey sheet isn't a physical barrier. She's already pushed a length of conduit tubing through. It's some kind of pressure membrane, apparently, stops the ship's atmosphere from flooding into the wormhole.»

«Another billion-fuseodollar gadget. Jesus, this is getting too big for us, we're going to have to prioritize.» He datavised the flight computer, and issued a general order for everyone to assemble in capsule A's main lounge.

• • •

Karl was the last to arrive. The young systems engineer looked exhausted. He frowned when he caught sight of Marcus.

«I thought you were over in the xenoc ship.»

«No.»

«But you . . .» He rubbed his fingers against his temples. «Skip it.»

«Any progress?» Marcus asked.

«A little. From what I can make out, the molecular synthesizer and its governing circuitry are combined within the same crystal lattice. To give you a biological analogy, it's as though a muscle is also a brain.»

«Don't follow that one through too far,» Roman called.

Karl didn't even smile. He took a chocolate sac from the dispenser, and sucked on the nipple.

«Katherine?» Marcus said.

«I've managed to place a visual-spectrum sensor in the wormhole. There's not much light in there, only what soaks through the pressure membrane. From what we can see it's a straight tunnel. I assume the xenocs cut off the artificial gravity under the portal so they could egress it easily. What I'd like to do next is dismount a laser radar from the MSV and use that.»