They gathered in the recreation room: Cormac, Aiden, Thorn, Mika, Chaline, and some of the technicians and crew. Cormac saw that one of the technicians was holding a bloody cloth to his head. Another was sitting holding his ribs. He wondered how many more had been hurt.

Hubris showed them the scene in the shuttle bay. The external doors were wide open now and pseudopodia were flooding the bay in a landslide of flesh, their cobra heads feeling along the walls like the fingers of a blind man.

‘Intruder defence mechanisms online—’

‘No,’ said Cormac, ‘belay that. Put me through to the shuttle bay.’

‘You are through. Intruder defence systems offline.’

‘Dragon, why have you attacked this ship?’

He had a horrible feeling that he knew the answer; that he had just pissed it off and that it was after him. He somehow doubted, that being the case, that there was anything that could prevent him from being found.

‘It’s concentrating on the drop-shaft door now,’ said Chaline. ‘Stress readings are up.’

‘What the hell?’ said Chaline.

On the screen they could see that a pseudopod had attached itself to one of the wall consoles.

‘Getting the layout of the ship, probably, and anything else of interest,’ suggested Cormac.

They watched as the drop-shaft door crumpled and broke and the pseudopods flooded through.

‘They have entry,’ said Chaline unnecessarily.

‘Perhaps it mistook Hubris for a she-dragon,’ said Thorn. There was a giggle from behind him that soon petered out.

Cormac ignored the comment and stared at the screen, his hopes growing. The pseudopods were going down the shaft—away from them—not coming up it. Suddenly he knew what Dragon wanted.

‘Hubris, what is the status of the dracomen?’

‘They were unhurt in the incident, but have since undergone changes.’

The screen flicked to reveal the interior of the isolation chamber. The two dracomen were lying on the floor, curled in the foetal position. They had excreted some kind of fluid that had sealed them in cauls, so they appeared newborn. Cormac knew they were making ready to go back, but should he let Dragon have them? Would they make bargaining counters? He had to try, else Dragon might just take its dracomen and disappear.

‘Dragon, if you persist in this action, the dracomen will be destroyed. We will—’

The ship shuddered again. There was a loud crash over the intercom.

‘Pseudopods just took out the door next to Isolation,’ said Hubris. ‘Do you wish the dracomen destroyed?’

The screen flicked again to show the scene outside the isolation chamber. Pseudopods filled the area and were pushing at the armoured shutters over the viewing window. A voice, which Cormac recognized of old, came over the intercom.

‘Bluff, Ian Cormac, is for those without strength. You will not destroy what is mine, for if you do, I will crush this ship.’

Dragon . . .