The former captain raised her chin. “I don’t see what other choice I have.” For a moment, she kept the posture. Then her shoulders slumped and she let out a long sigh. “My friend here won’t give me back to my own people, because it knows some of them have been protecting me. Menderes, for a start.” She looked away, suddenly unwilling to meet my eye. “And besides, I think it might be time for me to finally give myself up properly,” she said. “I’ve been running for too long. Too many people have been hurt. Adam…”

“Adam?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You can consider me your prisoner, Captain. Take me wherever you like, as long as it’s away from this godawful place.”

“And your friend?” I inclined an eyebrow in the direction of the bear, which was snuffling quietly to itself. “He won’t object?”

Sudak reached out and gave the creature a comradely pat.

“He’s just a projection,” she said, “made of air molecules. As soon as he’s no longer needed, he will disintegrate back into his constituent atoms.”

I eyed the thing warily, not convinced. “But until then, it’s solid?”

“Pretty much.”

I tightened my grip on the gun. I didn’t think it would have much effect on such a large beast—especially if it wasn’t anything more than an animated dummy—but just holding it made me feel better.

“Okay,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry. “We can worry about prosecuting you for the last war when we’ve got past the one that’s just kicked off outside. Have you got any ideas how we’re going to get home in this state?”

Sudak shook her head.

The bear grumbled to itself.

We can help you with that.

“How?”

Ask the Trouble Dog.

I could feel my heart beating at the back of my throat. I raised my face to the riveted ceiling.

“Ship?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“What’s the bear talking about?”

For a moment, I stupidly thought she hadn’t heard me. Then the Trouble Dog spoke again.

“I think you should get to the bridge, Captain.” Amusement filled her voice. “You are really going to want to see this.”

Seventy: Sal Konstanz

SEVENTY

SAL KONSTANZ

When I arrived, slightly breathless, at the bridge, I saw the Trouble Dog’s avatar waiting for me on the main screen. She was dressed in silk and brandishing a sword like some kind of samurai.

“What on earth are you wearing?” I asked.

She looked down at herself with a smile, then back at me. Her expression was stern, but there was a playful glint in her eye.

“Never mind that,” she said. “You need to give the order.”

“What order?”

“The order to stop this war.”

I walked over to the captain’s chair and perched on the edge. “Why me?”