‘We’re running out of time, Ty. A few more days and we’ll be reaching our destination.’

Whitecloud nodded. ‘Did we get what we needed at our last stop?’

‘Yes. . . but there were some problems. Dakota and the others are on their way back right now.’

‘What problems?’

Corso briefly summarized the events on the cache-world, including Nancy’s radiation poisoning.

Whitecloud paled at this final piece of news. ‘Nancy . . . is dying?’

Corso frowned at his reaction. Whitecloud was clearly severely shaken, more than might be expected given that he hardly knew the woman. ‘No, not dead, but it’s really not looking good. She’s going straight into a medbox as soon as she’s back here but, to be honest, the delay before we can rendezvous is just going to further reduce any chance she might still have had to pretty much zero.’

Whitecloud’s face became a mask. ‘I see,’ he said briskly, looking away from Corso. ‘That’s a matter of some concern, of course.’

Corso nodded, and wondered again just what it was Whitecloud wasn’t telling him. ‘We need to find a way to activate the Mos Hadroch that doesn’t involve Trader,’ Corso reminded him. ‘Dakota’s been down here a couple of times, hasn’t she?’

‘Yes,’ said Whitecloud, ‘but we never got a repeat of the phenomenon that occurred the first time she saw it.’ He nodded towards the artefact in its cradle. ‘It’s been inert ever since.’

‘Do what you can, Ty. It could mean the difference between success and failure. I’ll see if I can get Dakota to come back down. Maybe this connection between the swarm and the Atn is what we need to finally get somewhere.’

Ty nodded, but his whole mood had changed dramatically once he’d heard the news about Nancy. Just what have you been hiding from me? Corso wondered as he left.

As soon as Trader’s yacht had docked, Dan Perez and Ray Willis helped Dakota get Nancy out of her suit. Corso arrived in time to watch the two men lower her into a portable medbox towed away by a spider-mech, before following it back out of the bay.

‘Her suit’s support systems are keeping her alive, but only just,’ remarked Dakota once she and Corso were alone. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. ‘I know she’s not going to make it, but why do I feel so bad? The woman hated my guts. She wouldn’t want me to feel sorry for her.’

‘Maybe you’re still a little more human than you seem to think,’ Corso suggested.

Dakota just shook her head, her eyes filled with regret. ‘I can’t help but blame myself. I let myself get careless.’ There was anger in her tone. ‘I was in too much of a hurry to get down inside the cache.’