‘All right,’ said Martinez, just as Schiller and Perez entered the bridge, ‘here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got no idea if this is hostile action, but until we know otherwise we have to assume it is. We need to find out where everyone is and start piecing together how all this happened.’

‘And if we can’t find them?’

‘Then we go looking,’ Martinez replied.

Dakota reached the hub twenty minutes after the alarm had shut off and found Nancy Schiller and Dan Perez already waiting there. Both were armed with pulse-rifles.

‘That leaves just Driscoll and Olivarri,’ Schiller observed to Perez, as Dakota approached.

‘Any idea what’s going on?’ asked Dakota, grabbing a wall rung.

‘We’re assuming it’s sabotage until we know otherwise,’ said Perez. ‘We’re just keeping an eye out.’

‘What for?’

‘Can’t rule out a third party,’ Schiller growled, patting her rifle. ‘Lots of places on board for a saboteur to hide in. That means we’ve got to be ready for any surprises.’

‘But no word from Driscoll or Olivarri?’

Perez shook his head. ‘Not yet.’

‘Look, you’re forgetting about Trader. I’ll go back down to the stern and check he’s still where he should be.’ She started to head back the way she had come.

‘No,’ said Schiller, raising her rifle towards Dakota. ‘You stay right here where we can see you.’

‘Okay,’ said Dakota, turning back slowly. ‘If that’s what you want.’

Perez put one hand on the barrel of Schiller’s rifle and pushed it back down. ‘Nancy, let’s first work out what happened before jumping to any conclusions, okay?’

Schiller’s mouth worked like she wanted to say something in response, but then she relented, lowering her rifle and muttering something foul under her breath.

‘Look, right now we’re just trying to figure out where everyone is,’ Perez explained. ‘Most comms are still down, so we’ve been sitting tight and waiting to see who makes it back here, assuming they’ve got the sense to head for the bridge. If Olivarri and Driscoll don’t show, we’re going to go looking for them.’

‘In that case,’ said Dakota, ‘you’re going to want to break out the spider-mechs, especially if you think there might be saboteurs on board. They’re independent of the Mjollnir’s control systems, so they probably won’t have been affected by whatever’s happened. Plus, they can move around the ship and report back a lot faster than any of us can. In fact, I could run a couple of dozen of them at once single-handed. That’d free you up to—’