“Just around that point,” the youngster replied, pointing ahead. “The island’s not very big, but parts of the complex go quite deep. Miss Kai-sung, you and Porsupah-al don’t know where the Captain’s raft is beached, so be sure and stay close. The harbor is crowded enough to be confusing.”

“Don’t lecture me, my skinny samaritan. I’m a big girl now.”

“What about harbor patrols and interior alarms?” Mal asked, to change the subject.

“Aren’t many this close in. There is a transceiving shield, quite illegal—and efficient. Our best bet, therefore, is to get out of the landing proper and skim like hell until we pass the defense perimeter. Then we can cast unblocked to the Rectory in the city. Once they pick us up, his Lordship should be too busy packing to worry about us.”

“You hope,” said Kitten.

“The best of all possible Illities,” he replied. He began paddling towards the point of land he’d indicated.

“Any other vessels expected tonight?” Mal asked, swimming close behind.

“I don’t know for sure, but I don’t believe so. Why?”

“Going by your description of Rose’s setup and what I know of similar ones, this defensive situation is designed primarily for detecting boats trying to get in. It just might ignore any going out. With luck it will be quite a while before anyone notices our disappearance.”

As they moved up the inlet, hugging the shoreline, Kitten couldn’t escape the feeling that Rose was watching from somewhere in the trees. At any moment a light would lance out from the shadows and spear them with its unblinking glare. But they reached the raft landing without anything other than a few disturbed mollusks detecting their passage.

There were few lights on at the artificial beach. Nothing moved. Philip led the way up the pebbled plastic-sand cover. No one stopped him to ask what a sanitation engineer was doing out for a late-night swim—in full workwear. A gesture brought the others out of the water. Slick and hard, the plastic gave excellent purchase to hover vehicles. The little group had no trouble making their way towards the beached rafts, although there were places where some frantic scrambling was necessary. They huddled next to the deflated sac of one raft.

“I can make out one guard at the head of the loading pier,” Philip whispered. “We ought to be able to slip inside your craft without his noticing us.”

“I’d rather make sure he doesn’t,” said Mal. He disappeared quietly under the metal piering. Several minutes passed while the others waited and the moonlight grew dimmer. The dot that represented the guard abruptly doubled in size, then disappeared completely. After a short pause, Mal’s voice floated across from the rampway of his raft.

“All clear now. Philip, you boost Miss Kai-sung and Porsupah up, then I’ll pull you in.”