Aiden stood and moved to the front of the carrier, and was soon in contact with Viridian. Cormac turned to Thorn, Cento and Mika.

‘Tell me, what are your impressions? And you, Thorn, bear in mind what I said to you.’

Thorn surprised him by replying immediately. ‘Seemed to me the p-beams stung it a little, or just surprised it. It defended itself from an irritation. It was more interested in the dracomen.’

‘That speaks for itself,’ said Mika.

‘Those two grabbed the AGC—why, do you think?’ Cormac asked her.

‘Judging from what I learnt about their behaviour before, I thought they were out to defend you.’

‘That car had a roof before. I take it they ripped it off?’

‘Yes, one moment they were just standing there, the next they were tearing the roof off the car. There was a weapon under the seat. Scar went straight to it. They ignored me. I was clearly not going to interfere. Anything that can tear bubble-sheet like that . . .’

Cormac looked thoughtful. ‘The weapon was a laser carbine. A rather ineffectual thing to use in the circumstances, when we are thinking in terms of proton guns.’

‘Perhaps they just did not realize a laser carbine would not hurt it,’ said Cento.

Cormac eyed the android for a moment. ‘No, I think they understood the situation perfectly. I also think we’re focusing on the wrong thing. The weapon they used is not the issue. What we have to ask is why did they tear the roof off that AGC?’

‘To give themselves a greater field of fire,’ said Cento.

‘No again, on that. They only had one target.’

It was Thorn who gave the required answer. ‘So the Maker could see them,’ he said.

‘Right,’ said Cormac. ‘I think we’re starting to get somewhere now. Those dracomen were here to get to the Maker. To get it defensive.’ He looked at Thorn. ‘Just like that thing in the tunnel . . . maybe.’ Thorn looked away from him. ‘I think their one purpose is that. Maybe they had another purpose, should I cease to become Dragon’s best bet for killing the Maker. I guess we won’t know that now.’

‘We know Dragon tells lies,’ said Thorn.

‘Yes, but what we don’t know is how many, nor how deep they are. Now, Thorn, the Maker stunned you, Cento and Aiden. It used a different form of energy for you than for them. Aiden said it used just enough to knock him out. You said it was about stun three that hit you, which is incidentally the maximum safe limit used by ES for crowd control. It was specific, therefore it ascertained what you could take, and was careful not to kill you. Does that strike you as the action of a psychopath?’

‘No, but . . .’

Cormac turned to Cento. ‘Would a near speed of light collision kill that creature?’

‘Yes, very likely.’

‘Aiden, are you through yet?’