‘My ship, Simut.’ Ah-hotep rose up. Simut could feel her energy matrix probing at the data network of the tomb ship, accessing its sensor hierarchy. ‘Its systems are restoring. There was no danger.’

‘A ship sworn to my service.’

‘A temporary gift from the technomandrites.’

Mention of the enigmatic tech-brokers gave Simut a moment of concern. Was Ah-hotep’s belligerence a deliberate plan or just a symptom of her alliance with the technomandrites? Doubts flickered through his proteon synapses.

‘Why did you not trust me?’ he asked, changing the subject. ‘Why this attempted conspiracy with my royal warden?’

‘There was no conspiracy, merely communication, my lord,’ Phetos interjected. ‘I would not have allowed anything to happen that harmed your body or threatened your position.’

‘You judged poorly, but the blame lies with Ah-hotep for entreating your help.’ Simut leaned forward, the metal of his arms resting on his knees. He could recall the memory of the posture, more than he could genuinely feel it. Everything about his manufactured body was like a misaligned lens, a fraction removed from true synchronicity. The passing of aeons had not been kind.

‘The ship did not escape,’ Ah-hotep protested. ‘The end vindicates our decisions.’

‘Vindication? You are vindicated only if I decide it is so! I am your lord and judge.’ Simut accompanied his words with a chastising control pulse that sent the plasmancer spinning across the chamber, landing with a crash to skid across the floor. The hum of deactivating stasis tombs flooded the room followed by the matched tramp of feet as the lychguard advanced around the throne dais and surrounded the plasmancer, weapons at the ready.

‘You think me an idiot,’ snarled Simut. ‘If you are right, perhaps I am stupid enough to destroy you and risk the ire of the technomandrites.’

Simut descended the steps, gleaming energy coiling about his skeletal form. The lychguard parted to allow him to stand over Ah-hotep.

‘Am I stupid, Ah-hotep?’ he asked quietly.

‘No.’

‘You forgot something.’

The plasmancer looked up at him, eyes flaring jade for a moment before dimming with subservience.

‘No, my lord.’

Simut stood there for a while longer, making his superiority plain. When he tired of displaying his dominance he stepped back, conjuring a manipulative field to draw the plasmancer up from the floor, as one might extend a hand. He had made his point, it would be unseemly to gloat.

‘We cannot brook any more delays,’ Simut announced, returning to his throne. ‘If we do not make back the time we lost in the last system the Silent King will be displeased. With both of us.’

‘I agree, my lord.’ Ah-hotep hesitantly drifted closer. ‘It is why we could not risk any outside interference.’

Simut waved away her attempts at justification. ‘There will be no conquest. I will annihilate the occupants of this star system without pause, and when they are all dead we shall erect the resonator unopposed.’

He felt reluctance from both the plasmancer and Phetos.