His mind reflected his physical appearance; dull, shot through with frissons of agitation. The prospect that his creation had failed, coupled with the blitz against his patron, had come as a severe shock, Greg guessed. Jolting the secure academic world through which he moved. And now he had to answer impertinent questions. He wore hostility like a hedgehog coat.

"I'll be as quick as I can," Greg said. "I'm sure you have to get back to the Merlin."

No response.

"Have you ever told anyone about Philip Evans's NN core?"

"Certainly not."

"What about the giga-conductor?"

"No." Ranasfari sounded uninterested.

"Unintentionally perhaps, a slip of the tongue? One mistake would be all it'd take. People place a lot of weight on your words."

"Please, Mr. Mandel. Ask your questions, reassure yourself. But don't attempt to ingratiate yourself. I fully appreciate the emphasis Philip Evans places on your investigation, I have already discussed it with him. That is why I agreed to see you. Your conclusions from a minimum data source during your earlier instance of employment indicate your professional competence. Although, I personally suspect a degree of intuition was involved on your part."

"It was."

"Interesting. Is that part of your psi-enhancement?"

"It seems to be, although it's very much a secondary facet. Now, a loose word?"

"No. I don't make that sort of mistake."

"You of all people must appreciate the logic that there has been a serious leak within Event Horizon. Knowing about both the giga-conductor and the core logically makes you a suspect. However, now I'm satisfied you are not the origin of any leak" — Ranasfari smiled thinly—"that leaves the team which grew the core, and your own giga-conductor researchers."

The physicist's thin lips compressed dolefully. "I realise this. It… is difficult to accept that one of my people is responsible. I hope you are not asking me to point an accusatory finger?"

"No. But I'd appreciate any other leads from your department. For instance, the lightware cruncher you used to design the original cryogenic giga-conductor with, could that have been hacked?"

"No, it is isolated from the Event Horizon datanet."

Greg paused for a moment, waiting for any ideas to surface from his subconscious. He was aware of a background ache behind his temple. Options were converging at an alarming rate, he had a growing sense of conviction that the assistants weren't going to be the leak origin. Perhaps he'd picked the assumption off Gabriel. She was sitting on the bottom tier of seats, eyes closed, lost among the Tau multiplicities.

"Exactly how serious is this Merlin failure?" Greg asked, intuition prompting.

"Unless the cause can be determined precisely then it will be a major setback to both programmes," Ranasfari answered.

"Both?"

"Yes, the Merlin prospecting missions, and the commercial production of the giga-conductor."

"When did the Merlin actually fail?"