She glanced over at the cabin door and saw with a surprise that its light was glowing a dull green, meaning it was unlocked.

Her gaze returned to Bash. He did this, she thought.

Then she stepped over to the door, hardly able to believe anything would happen, and watched in numbed silence as it hissed softly open.

Standing on the threshold, she tried to think of what she needed to do next. She now understood that it wasnt the Ingersolls shielding, or even her inhibitor, that kept her safe from the Wanderer; for both she and Megan were, in essence, part-Magi and that was all the protection they needed.

The same, however, couldnt be said either for the Ingersolls pilot, Szymurski, or for the rest of the ship with the useless shielding built into its hull.

Gabrielle decided to head for the command deck. If she was going to find the trigger code for the nova mine anywhere, it would most likely be there.

She closed the door again, and spent the next several minutes coaxing Bash into his clothes. Then she retrieved her homemade blade, winding the same piece of cloth from under her mattress around the blunt end and tying a knot to secure it. Finally she pushed it through a belt loop, where she could feel it pressing against the small of her back.

One glance at Bash told her she couldnt possibly take him to the command deck with her. Manoeuvring him in normal gravity was one thing, but now they were in orbit, the Ingersoll was operating in zero gravity. Getting him all the way across the ship would be excessively difficult, unless he decided to come back to life again of his own accord.

She stared at him and waited for some small sign, some flicker of awareness as before. Of course, there was none.

Ill be right back before you know it, she explained, kneeling beside him, then stepped back over to the door and palmed it open.

The empty corridor beyond beckoned. Playing around with the ships data-net, even under restrictions, had already given her a pretty good idea of the Ingersolls layout.

Halfway to the nearest drop shaft, she ran into a crew member, who came to an astonished halt. He was one of the guards who usually escorted her to and from the bridging suite, and she therefore knew his name was Travis.

What the hell? he barked. How did you get out of your cabin?

She swallowed hard and decided to try and brazen it out. I need to find Mr Schelling, she replied, trying to sound more confident than she felt. Its urgent.

First youre going to get the hell back to your cabin, he demanded. Then youre going to tell me how you managed to override the lock.

She didnt move. Im serious, she said. You need to warn them that the Ingersoll isnt under their command any more.