A year before, the settling of this segment had been delayed by a Jart incursion beyond 2 ex 9. Now the delay was indefinitely extended; the Jarts and their allies had grown in strength, and it seemed they might break through to 1.3 ex 9. Still, the humans did not pull back. They did not settle the segment, but they conducted other activities—including opening a gate at 1.301 ex 9.

The verdant areas of the segment extended for only a few thousand kilometers. The flawship passed over a terminal building covering the gate through which the segment's soil and atmosphere had been brought into the Way; they were accelerating again, over a stretch of sandy, barren territory much like the region just beyond the seventh chamber, and then through another atmosphere barrier.

There was no commerce in the next segment. No other gates had been opened; except for three more defense outposts, the Way was a featureless, darkly bronze tube along the entire million-kilometer stretch. Patricia contemplated the geometry of this undisturbed section of corridor. The geometry stacks would be of a different configuration without gates to bunch them, but they would exist—in fact, this segment might be ideal for her search. . . .

"Would you like to test your ideas here?" Olmy asked her quietly. She turned, startled, and nodded.

"Ser Yates and I have been discussing your theories," Olmy said. "We feel you should present them to Ser Ry Oyu. . . .”

Patricia's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Would this have anything to do with Korzenowski?" she asked, deciding now was as good a time as any to probe Olmy's secrets.

Olmy lifted a finger to his lips conspiratorially. "If you wish to test your ideas. . . perhaps. But no more talk until our audience."

At 1.301 ex 9, they passed through another barrier. Beyond, a segment barely sixty kilometers long lay velvety green under a thick and hazy atmosphere. Four small terminal buildings—little more than a hundred meters on each side—were spaced around the as-yet-unopened circuit at the middle of the segment.

A disk a third as wide as the one that had transported them to the Timbl terminal ascended from a white landing field near the zero terminal, climbing toward the flawship.

Patricia's jaw hurt. She realized she was clamping her teeth and forced herself to relax. What was Olmy up to—and what would he and the gate openers possibly want with her? What could she exchange in return for the opportunity?

They descended to the surface in the smaller disk. This disk was clearly more utilitarian in design; its bottom half was opaque, and its only illumination was the steady glow of traction fields.

A pie-shaped segment of the disk slid aside, and traction field chutes lowered them gently to the landing area. Olmy disembarked last. Prescient Oyu led them toward the terminal.

"We can walk," she said. "I think it would be best to meet with Ser Ry Oyu immediately."