He grabbed a towel and pushed his way out, hastily drying himself before pulling on a set of clean clothes from the locker. How, he wondered, might he have gone about arranging that strange encounter, if he had been in the shoes of whoever was behind the avatar? What resources would he have needed?

Access to explosives, for a start. Ty brushed his fingers through his damp hair as he thought. Explosives wouldn’t be too hard to get hold of, for someone determined enough. His time with Peralta had taught him how cheap fabricators could be hacked to mix the right chemical compounds. Unmanned taxis were equally notorious for being easy to hack. The imaging equipment the agent had used to speak with him was expensive, but standard; all that was necessary was to pay someone to install it in an empty office, no questions asked. One man could do it. In fact, given modern tach-net comms technology, one man could organize it all and not even have to be on the same planet.

Ty paused, his eye catching the glint of the ring. The avatar/agent had threatened to expose him if he didn’t take the ring, but in reality he had already been exposed. For a start, Marcus Weil had recognized him, and he hadn’t been quiet about it. Quite possibly Martinez and the other members of the frigate’s crew were the only ones who did not know his true identity. All in all, it made a mockery of the avatar’s threat.

Filled with a sudden decisiveness, Ty grasped the ring and started to pull it off. He would fling it into the void the next time he was outside the ship.

He tugged it as far as his knuckle and then froze, gripped by a sudden conviction that something terrible would happen if he took the ring off. He just stood there, bewildered by his own sudden reluctance.

‘Hey.’

Ty spun around, his heart in his throat. It was Olivarri, and he had been so sure he was alone.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Olivarri. ‘You were standing there staring into space like you’d seen your own ghost.’

‘I’m fine. I was just . . .’ Ty reached up and realized with some confusion that his hair was now bone-dry. How long had he stood motionless? ‘I must be more exhausted than I thought,’ he stammered.

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Olivarri nodded warily. ‘Takes it out of all of us. Some of us haven’t clocked this much time doing EVA in more than ten years.’

Ty realized all he wanted to do was get out of there. ‘I guess so,’ he replied, and stepped past the other man.

‘Wait.’

Ty turned back in irritation.

‘There’s something we need to talk about,’ said Olivarri.