It was Tull who returned first. She could see that something more than her dangerous presence was worrying him. He came in and hovered over her, inspecting the sealed wounds. After a moment he went to inspect a readout on the medbot.

‘Will you let me out of this?’ Jarvellis asked.

Tull stared at her long and estimatingly.

‘I’ll be careful of you,’ she added.

Tull made no move to release the clamps. Some of them were through to bone, and Jarvellis felt no inclination to fight them.

‘I cannot contact the surface,’ said Tull.

‘Understandable,’ said Jarvellis. ‘You weren’t much further from the EM pulse than me. It’ll have knocked out your com.’

Tull nodded thoughtfully. ‘I have cameras that track all objects that might represent a danger to this station. I’ve just looked at the replay.’

‘Quite a firework display,’ said Jarvellis uneasily.

‘Yes, planar explosives unless I miss my bet. By the vector of the explosion, I would say it hit your underspace engine. My concern is why you would have such explosives onboard.’

Jarvellis found she just did not have the energy to lie creatively, so she kept her mouth shut. Tull pushed himself away from the frame and she tried to follow, with her eyes, where he went. He was out of sight only for a few seconds when something touched against the back of her neck. Numbness rolled down her body. Nerve-blocker. Everything bar the autonomies inclusive of breathing and heartbeat was shut down below her neck.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘We are not uncivilized, Captain Jarvellis, but we are very aware of our fragility, as you know. I can only assume by your silence that you have been involved in something illegal, and that perhaps you would want to avoid talking to the ECS investigators when they eventually come up here.’

‘Look,’ said Jarvellis, ‘just let me go. I won’t cause you any problems. I’ve been through too much already.’

Tull came back into view. Jarvellis heard the clamps snapping off her body. To one side of Tull she saw a line of small ruby peas coiling away. Tull wiped them from the air with an absorbent pad. The cell-welder hummed briefly.

‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘I’ve given you two pints of synthetic blood so you shouldn’t experience too much dizziness or nausea. The clamp and probe holes may be a bit sore, but they will quickly heal.’

‘Then you can take the blocker off,’ Jarvellis said.

‘Not until I’m sure that myself and Jeth are utterly safe,’ he replied.

‘You’re going to keep me like this until the investigators get here?’

Tull shook his head. ‘I told you we are not uncivilized.’

Jarvellis felt herself drifting from the frame. Tull was propelling her to the door.