“You carried my message to Garry Lanier, I understand…before he died.”

Tapi nodded. “I regret not serving under him.”

“He was a remarkable man. This…is more awkward than it should be, between two men used to serving the Hexamon…”

Tapi listened intently, head cocked to one side.

“I would like for you to convey my love to your mother. I cannot see her.”

“She’s still isolated,” Tapi said. “I can’t talk to her now, either.”

“But you’ll be seeing her before I will.”

Tapi’s lips tightened on one side, the only acknowledgment of worry.

“I’ll never see either of you again. I can’t explain much more than that…”

“You’ve told me this once before, Father,” Tapi said.

“This time there’s no doubt, no second chances.”

“Pavel Mirsky came back to us,” Tapi said, hoping to make an extreme comparison as a joke. Olmy smiled in a way that chilled him.

“Probably no chance of that, even,” Olmy said.

“Can I ask questions, Father?”

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

Tapi nodded.

“I couldn’t answer if you did.”

“Can I help in any way?”

Olmy smiled again, this time warmly and with a slight nod. “Yes,” he said. “You’ve been reassigned to Way defense in the seventh chamber.”

“Yes.”

“You can tell me one thing. My research hasn’t borne any fruit here. Do your weapons still attack only Jart or nonhuman objects?”

“They’re not set for human objects. They won’t fire on them.”

“Under any circumstances?”

“We can target them to fire on any object, manually…But there’s little time expected to do any manual targeting.”

“Don’t Olmy said.

“Ser?”

“Just that. Don’t manually target a human object. I will not compromise you any more than that.”

Tapi swallowed and glanced down at the floor. “I must ask one question, Father. You are not working under Hexamon instructions. That much is obvious.” He looked up and reached out to touch his father’s arm. “Whatever you’re doing is for the good of the Hexamon?”

“Yes,” Olmy said. “In the long run, I think it is.”

Tapi backed away. “I can’t hear any more, then. I will do my best to…do this, not do this. Whatever. But if I see any sign, even the…” His anger and confusion were apparent.

Olmy shut his eyes and gripped his son’s hand.

“If you have the least suspicion I’m lying, or working to harm the Hexamon, you target manually.”

Tapi’s face was grim. “Anything else, Ser?”

“You have my blessings,” Olmy said.

“Will I ever know?”

“If there is any way, within my power, to let you know what happened, and why, I will.”

“Are you going to die, Father?”

Olmy shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“What do you wish to tell Mother?”

Olmy handed him a block. “Give this to her.”