It was also, she knew, his pride and joy: its lines sinuous and curving and sleek, almost verging on the organic. But beneath that sporty exterior lurked the guts of a powerful machine designed to keep its occupant from being shot out of the sky.

Okay, Sabby, she murmured, as she found her way into the tiny cargo area at the rear of his jump-car, lets see what youve got tucked away in here, shall we?

She soon found the bulkhead hed told her to look for, feeling around its side until she found the hidden switch. A concealed door then clicked open, revealing a veritable arsenal of weaponry. She saw long-range neural disruptors, pocket-sized hunter-seeker drones with k9-enabled neural networks that could identify individual human targets according to their scent, a rack of zero-kickback high-powered rifles, and a small cache of throwaway energy weapons suitable for a dozen uses after which they could be used as grenades.

Not bad, she thought, not bad at all.

When you say youre going away for a long time, he had said to her in the moments before her departure, you make it sound as if you dont mean to come back at all?

She had pressed a finger to his lips, but his frown hadnt quite disappeared. She knew what he was thinking: that, wherever she was going, she wasnt expecting to come back alive. Otherwise, why hand him so much potential for wealth?

She activated the vehicles primary systems and took a moment to check up on Sifras recent movements. His dropship had indeed landed deep in the heart of the Montos de Frenezo, half a world away from Aguirre.

The next time we meet, Anil, she said to herself, its going to be on my terms.

NINETEEN

Megan

2751 (twelve years before)

Megan stepped down from the astrogation chair twenty minutes after Tarrant had demanded the presence of herself and Bash in the ships lounge, meanwhile wondering why the Wanderers signal had cut off so unexpectedly.

She felt a growing sense of unease as she made her way down through several decks to reach the lounge. When she met Bash halfway, they continued together in silence. She felt a sharp pang of regret as she remembered her first meeting with Tarrant and Sifra in the same lounge, several months before.

They arrived to find Tarrant sitting on a couch facing the entrance, a large aluminium case resting by his side. He stood up and pointed what looked like some kind of gun directly at Bash.

Megan heard a soft hiss of air, like a suddenly indrawn breath.

What the hell . . . ? exclaimed Bash.

She turned to see him examining a tiny, sliver-like dart protruding from his chest. He reached down to pluck it out, then tipped forward, with his knees folding under him.