“Think we’ve been missed?” he asked.

“There’s no way of knowing whether anyone’s been ordered to visit you after I delivered the food,” said Philip without looking up from his work. “I do know that there wasn’t any tridee pickup in your suite. It doesn’t make any difference now. I don’t advise going back to check on it.”

Mal wasn’t surprised to see that the youth was sweating heavily. Whether from the concentration he was applying to his work or from nervousness, he couldn’t tell.

The young engineer worked carefully now. “I just negated the alarm system. It should only take a minute now to cut power to the sewage gate—damn obsolete solid switches . . .”

“Isn’t there an override on the computer for emergencies—like an unauthorized interruption in the power flow?” Kitten asked.

“This is where it would be managed. I’m handling that, too. It’s tricky . . . I’m more worried about someone coming in while we’re trying to swim the gate and switching power back on. We’d still get out . . . well-done.”

“Hey, what . . .?”

Mal didn’t think, didn’t look. He whirled and chopped hard, using his weight. The man never finished the sentence. Mal had become so absorbed with Philip’s manipulations of computer innards he’d completely forgotten he was supposed to be watching the door. The man had entered unseen and uttered the single exclamation of surprise. Now he was lying motionless against the half-open portal.

Mal carefully closed the door, repressing an almost overpowering desire to look out and see if anyone else was beyond. He turned and bent over the fallen figure in the green biotech uniform.

“I didn’t mean to hit him so hard,” he said quietly. “He startled me.”

“Yes,” said Philip. He craned his neck for a better look, turned back to the console. “I believe you’ve broken his neck. Remind me to announce myself in advance if we’re ever to meet on a dark street.” He carefully replaced the exopanel and stood up, brushing his hands. “No sense letting them know what sections have been toyed with.” He looked over at Kitten and Porsupah. “How are you coming with that doming?”

“A second,” said Kitten, struggling on the last bolt. It came loose with a soft pop as the vacuum was broken. Together they lifted the released section and slid it over the doming in front. The revealed space left plenty of room for even Hammurabi to slip through with centimeters to spare.

Mal took a step towards the channel, then paused and looked at Philip.

“Yes, I concur, Captain.” Mal nodded and went back for the body of the dead technician.

“Even if they’ve discovered our absence, they’ll have no reason to suspect you’ve come this way,” the youngster continued. “There are dozens of branches leading from the maintenance pod we entered.”

“Let’s discuss it later, over a mug of hot ceebeetea at some suitable city saloon,” Mal said, hefting the corpse over his shoulders. Porsupah and Kitten had already slipped into the greenish liquid. They waded easily into the deep channel, holding onto projections from the sides to prevent the light current from pulling them down the dark cave.