Perez shook his head sadly. ‘They’ve got lots more suns where we’re headed. I fear they won’t miss just the one, Nancy.’

Schiller shrugged. ‘Well, that’s the flaw in my plan right there. Maybe you could wear an eyepatch, Dan.’

‘If you wear a bag over your head, I’ll think about it. What do you say, Senator?’ Perez looked over at Corso. ‘Should we pass a resolution that Nancy has to wear a bag over her head for the rest of the trip?’

Corso shook his head. ‘I’d rather wait for Eduard to get better, as I think any bag-wearing decisions should stay strictly with him.’

Perez chuckled, and an awkward silence fell.

Corso put down his bulb – now half empty, Dakota noted – and leaned forward, hands resting on his knees, while making sure to catch each of their eyes in turn. Dakota watched as Driscoll drained a bulb of the foul concoction, and put it down empty with apparent satisfaction. Guy looks like he drinks it every day for breakfast. Maybe he was from Redstone, like the rest of them.

‘All right,’ said Corso, ‘this meeting is about making sure we’re all on the same page. That means us talking about what’s up ahead.’

‘But we’re not all here,’ said Nancy. ‘The Commander’s still on ice and your other guy’s still in recovery. Don’t you think maybe we should wait until they’re out of the med-bay?’

‘Martinez’ll be out of there sometime in the next several days, and Mr Lamoureaux isn’t going to be taking up any duties until at least then either. So we’ll fill them in when the time comes,’ said Corso. ‘Look, we’re all from different places, some of us from Redstone, some not. The only thing we’ve really got in common is our reason for being here, and that’s the Mos Hadroch.’

He glanced over at Dakota. ‘Nathan’s filled everyone else in about what we found inside the Atn, while you were still up on the bridge. I can’t think of a better time than the present for you to tell us just exactly what it is the Mos Hadroch can do.’

They all looked at her expectantly.

‘Okay.’ She cleared her throat. ‘The main thing you need to know is that every new superluminal drive-core produced by a cache is quantum-entangled with that same cache. That entanglement means any changes you make to the cache can affect any ships carrying those superluminal drives, regardless of how distant they may be.’

Dakota looked around them and noticed that, apart from Driscoll, their expressions ranged from uncomprehending to suspicious.

‘Where did you get all this?’ asked Schiller.