“Depends, Supervisor.” Ghosh stepped forward, plucked an angular yellow rock from the working face. “If this rotten rock keeps going, it might take a whole lot longer. When we drift our way under the Number One, we’ll have to crib our way up as we go. We hit stable rock again, it’s just a matter of drilling, shooting, and mucking. We’ll be making twenty-five feet a shift.” He paused meaningfully. “If we hit good rock.”

Absently she ran a finger along the scar in her cheek. “Didn’t figure it would take this long.”

He gave her a knowing squint. “What’s your hurry? Got a shipment going out to Solar System that I don’t know about? Ituri’s making metal down at the smelter, and we’re shipping it up to orbit for holding in vacuum. Didn’t know we were behind on tonnage. Uh . . . assuming we ever see another ship from Solar System.”

She grinned back, amused with herself. “Maybe part of me is still that same woman who stepped off Turalon. You’re right. Ashanti couldn’t take everything we had to ship as it was.”

Ghosh slipped his glove off, wiped a drip from the end of his nose. “Do the math. Turalon spaced for Solar System five years ago. If everything worked, if she inverted symmetry and ran the equations backwards, she would have popped back inside right on cue three years ago. Would have taken her a couple of months to make the transit from Neptune orbit to Transluna. Wouldn’t have needed more than a couple of weeks to unload her. Meanwhile, all of Solar System is hearing about the missing ships. They still think seven of the big cargo vessels have vanished. They won’t have a clue that Ashanti or Vixen made it. The stories will be running wild about Freelander showing up as a ghost ship. The powers that be will be watching the holographic record of the temple of bones, seeing that spooky hallway with all the weird writing, and Jem Orten and Tyne Sakihara’s corpses in the welded-up A.C.”

“That ought to send shivers through the Board. Almost wish I could be there to see their faces,” Kalico told him. “They’ll control a lot of the images. Keep a lid on most of the more gruesome details, like the fact that the crew murdered all the transportees.”

“What about the returning contractees?” Ghosh lifted an eyebrow. “Marston and his bunch with all their plunder. That’s going to make a splash. And they’ll tell the whole story.”

“Oh, you innocent babe in the woods,” she chided him. “We’re talking about The Corporation. What principle was it founded on?”

“Control, distribution, and management for the good of all.”