‘It relates because a trispherical ship was blown in orbit above Viridian only one solstan day ago.’

Cormac leant back and sipped his coffee. ‘Coincidence is not that elastic,’ he said.

‘No, it is not.’ Blegg reached up and undid his coldsuit. He went on. ‘There are people on Huma who have taken to using a new and very efficient augmentation.’ He tossed something down on the bench between them. It was bean-shaped and reptilian. Cormac inspected it, then looked round at Thorn, who had a puzzled expression on his face. He looked back at Blegg, then down at the aug again. He prodded it with his finger. It was soft.

‘Biotech?’

Blegg nodded.

Cormac said, ‘I had intended only to take Aiden, Thorn, and Cento—if he’s in one piece by then.’

‘Have to ask: y‘want to carry on?’

‘Yes.’

‘There’s the dracomen . . .’

‘No, I don’t want to take them.’

‘I think you should. You need every . . . source of information.’

‘Opinion or order?’

‘Take them. Your decisions should be fully informed.’

Cormac nodded—an order, then. ‘I’ll take them, but I’m damned if I’ll arm them. I’ll also need more than that. Are there any more Sparkind available?’

‘No, but there’s a small force of ES regulars there.’

‘They’ll have to do, then. I’ll also need energy weapons and a couple of contra-terrene tacticals. Yield forty should do.’ He looked at Thorn. ‘Get Cento—if he’s in one piece—and Aiden down here ASAP. They bring the dracomen down with them. Tell them I want them watched at all times. Also, I want an ES uniform with rank, same for yourselves. Get going.’

Thorn crushed his empty cup and tossed it on the floor. He had an expression of grim satisfaction on his face as he headed for the door. Cormac pulled his mask across, until the frigid air had circulated a bit and mixed with the warmer air in the shuttle.

‘Still a lot of holes,’ he said.

‘They’re for you to fill.’

‘OK, an energy creature moving about through our runcibles would have been noticed.’

Blegg smiled again, then leant back. He spoke at the ceiling. ‘Come on, moron. I know y’listening.’

There was no reply; perhaps the listener did not like his insulting manner. Cormac decided to try.

‘Samarkand AI, ask the Viridian runcible AI to search for an information lock of the type discovered by your predecessor.’

Samarkand II replied to him immediately. ‘An information lock was discovered one hour ago. Viridian now acknowledges the arrival of a matter / energy transmission. It arrived in containment sphere B9 and then left the runcible facility by an unknown method. Viridian also informs me that this lock is secondary.’

‘Secondary?’ asked Cormac. He looked at Blegg, who nodded slowly.

‘It means the lock was opened, then replaced. Someone knew where the Maker went before we found it out. Y’understand?’

‘Dragon,’ said Cormac.