‘The stage-two runcible is undergoing rough alignment. This will take approximately fifteen minutes. I will fine-tune it in one tenth of a second.’

If ever an AI had been guilty of conceit, Samarkand II was that one, thought Cormac. He moved to the door of the shuttle as a covered walkway attached itself like a lamprey. As he waited at the door for the air beyond to heat up, he turned back to Blegg.

‘You know, they have a carrying pouch inside them. Dragon knew everything that was going on here. It just grabbed them to make sure they were internally clear of the mycelium. It didn’t want us finding that.’

‘Y’not wrong. That where the CTD went?’

‘Yeah, but it had to cut away some material to get it in.’

The door thumped open like the door to a fridge, and they entered the walkway. Soon they were passing by the milling technicians, and Samarkand II’s voice droned over the speakers.

‘Stage-two runcible alignment test commencing . . . Test complete. Still too far out for insertion of five-D cusp.’

The larger containment sphere of the stage-two runcible now rested under a large dome with floorspace all around. The open door to the containment sphere was big enough for heavy transport sleds. Cormac recognized the familiar figure of Chaline next to the door. He walked up to her and saw she was directing the adjustment of machinery under the black glass floor inside: the same kind of machinery as he had destroyed in the stage-one runcible. Dislodged floor panels were resting up against the wall of the sphere.

‘Much longer?’ he asked.

She watched him suspiciously for a moment, and then relented. ‘A few minutes.’ She gestured at the work going on. ‘This is only cosmetic. One more test and the spoon’ll be in.’

Cormac left her to it and walked back to Blegg. The Japanese was refilling his flask from a drinks dispenser. How he managed that, Cormac had no idea; the dispensers here did not normally dispense alcohol. When the flask was full they turned and watched as esoteric adjustments were made and Samarkand II gave notice of the next test. Inside the sphere they saw rainbows shimmering between the wide-apart horns of the runcible. They climbed to the roof of the sphere, penetrated it, then to the roof of the dome and through that. It was a beautiful sight. Cormac remembered the first time he had seen this with the stage-one runcible: the tower of rainbows reaching into the sky. It still did not fail to impress him.

‘Spoon’s in. All yours, Samarkand II,’ said Chaline with glee.

Cormac said, ‘Samarkand II, inform Viridian that access is now allowable from there.’

‘Viridian has already been informed.’

‘You mistake me. Inform Viridian that Cormac says access from there is now allowable.’