‘First, my dear Dakota, let me recount to you the full tale of the origin of the Mos Hadroch, as far as it is known. It is said to have been created by a species who were forerunners to the Magi, and who saw several of their own worlds destroyed in the early centuries of the nova war that set the Greater Magellanic Cloud ablaze. This vanished race developed the Mos Hadroch as a means to counter the dangers inherent within the Maker caches, but were themselves destroyed before it could be implemented. The Mos Hadroch itself vanished for ever and, for lack of evidence that it ever existed, it became little more than a phantasm, a fable that gained credence through the simple accumulation of age.’

Beyond Trader, Dakota saw dark shapes with wide ragged fins passing slowly by the tower, bioluminescent algae making their skin glow with sinuous patterns of green and yellow.

‘But you thought it was real enough to go after the Maker swarm yourself,’ she said.

‘Before you departed, I told you of my own journey to the Maker. Although ultimately disastrous, it was not entirely a failure. I came away with the knowledge that the Mos Hadroch was of paramount importance to the swarm. After the Maker turned on my fleets, I remained locked in time-stopped stasis for decades until rescuers found me cast adrift in a cloud of wreckage. All I retained for my efforts was that single sliver of knowledge, that somewhere out there existed a weapon that might be used to prevent the nova wars the swarms are programmed to provoke with their caches. But its location has remained elusive – until now.’

‘There must be a reason why we’re here talking, and you haven’t just gone to get it for yourself.’

‘Precisely, Miss Merrick! And in that simple statement lies the proof of your intellect.’ The alien drifted a little closer. ‘You see, it is one thing to have a weapon, but another to know how to pull the trigger.’

Dakota cocked her head. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Precisely how would you suggest the Mos Hadroch is activated and implemented?’

Dakota stared at him, mystified. ‘I couldn’t begin to guess until we actually find the damn thing, whatever it is.’

‘Indeed,’ Trader was saying. ‘Beyond a name, you do not even know what it is we are looking for. You know that it has a location, and your own people have discovered that some connection exists between the race that created it and an isolated Atn clade. But you do not know its dimensions, its size, or whether it even has a material shape.’

‘But if all you yourself managed to find out is its name, then you’re no better off than we are.’