‘You said the door would not stop them. Just how strong are they?’

‘Have you been to the Sparkind quarters?’

Cormac shook his head.

‘Well, you remember Gant telling you they had Golem Thirties? Do you know what they are?’

‘Cybercorp combat androids. The best.’

Mika pointed at the dracomen. ‘These two would be a match even for them.’

‘Bloody hell! We should move them to a security section.’

Mika smiled. ‘I doubt the security section would hold them either. Anyway, the cell has been armoured since they were first moved in, and there’s shutters to come down over this window. Half a second and they end up in a box of ten-centimetre-thick case-hardened ceramal.’

‘Will that be enough to—’ began Cormac, but was interrupted by Hubris’s voice.

‘Notification: there will be a slight adulteration of the air supply. This is not a cause for alarm. Counteragents are being spread through all systems. I repeat, there is no cause for alarm.’

Cormac felt something loosen its hold on the inside of his chest; until then he had not quite realized how worried he had been about the nanomycelium. He looked back to the dracomen and saw that Smiler was standing. For a moment he thought food was being delivered. Then he saw that the dracoman was sniffing at the air. He watched, and while he watched he became aware of a bitter metallic taste in his mouth and a pungency to the air that reminded him of the smell from a cold-forge.

The counteragents.

‘Chaline works quickly,’ he said to Mika, and wondered at the precise meaning of his words.

‘Yes,’ said Mika, something in her voice. Cormac studied her suspiciously, but she was watching the dracoman.

Cormac felt uncomfortable for more than one reason. It was disconcerting to think that the air was filling with little mycelium-killing machines, and that they were on his tongue and in his nostrils. The dracoman seemed to find the whole thing amusing. It grinned, then walked to the viewing window and stared directly at Cormac, which was disconcerting as well, as the window was set for one-way viewing. He had nearly convinced himself the dracoman could not see him, when it pointed up at the intercom speaker.

‘They do have vocal cords. They should be able to speak,’ said Mika.

Cormac reached across and switched on the intercom. ‘Have you something to say, my friend?’ he asked, trying to appear unruffled. This could be what he needed. At last he might begin to unravel this mystery.

‘Dragon coming,’ said the dracoman, and turned away.

‘Wait!’

The dracoman returned to the middle of the floor and sat down, and from there it just grinned at him.

‘I don’t think you’re going to get any more than it wants to tell you. Remember, its motivations are not the same as ours.’

Cormac contained his anger. ‘Yes,’ he said.