No, said Tarrant, studying her, shes not really interested in the money. Its just like Mr Bashir said: life for a machine-head in the Accord means being tightly controlled and entirely dependent on the mercies of a distant bureaucracy. But the Alliance was never about that. He leaned towards her, his gaze intent. This is your chance to get back the life you wanted before its lost forever.

Something made it hard for her to pull her eyes away from his. It was uncomfortably as if he could see right inside her, to all the insecurities she worked so hard to keep hidden.

But . . . just the four of us? she asked, looking around at the other two.

Its not as if we dont know that just one machine-head could keep a ship like this running indefinitely, said Tarrant, sitting back again. Id obviously prefer to take along a full team of specialists, but there isnt the time for that, and theres too much risk that it would lead to us being discovered before we set out. Not only that, but its absolutely imperative that none of this is in any way attributable to the Schellings or any of the First Families, for that matter. We need to make this look as if we just cut and run.

Cut and run. Just take the Beauregard and pilot her fifteen thousand light years, in search of some ancient ship travelling on an unknown quest.

The whole idea was impossibly romantic, and she was forced to admit more than a little appealing.

But it was impossible, of course. Surely he knew that?

You do know that all the Alliances ships are equipped with failsafes, dont you? she said. Theyre there to prevent machine-heads like me from doing precisely what youre suggesting. As soon as someone down in Ladested realizes Im taking the Beauregard out of orbit without authorization, theyll shut me down remotely.

And Otto Schelling, as the primary financier behind the Beauregard and its sister ships, said Tarrant, has the ultimate responsibility for that override. We wont be stopped.

I need more than just your word on that, she said.

Tarrant nodded. Id check the current authorization flags, if I were you.

Megan dived back into her datascape just long enough to ascertain that numerous fail-safes had indeed been disabled. She blinked, feeling numb. It meant she could literally take the Beauregard anywhere she wanted.

Why ask me to do this now? she exclaimed. Why not yesterday, or a week ago?

We didnt have everything we needed, a week ago, said Tarrant. And that didnt leave us much time.

Theres no turning back, she told herself, feeling a sense of standing on the edge of a precipice.

Whatever data you have about the Wanderer, she said, Ill need to see all of it.

Tarrant nodded, as if hed been expecting her to say just that. Well upload everything weve got to the Beauregards data banks, the moment you give your answer.