She studied the surface a little more closely, moderately impressed with Tyle’s suggestion. Five kilometers away another harvester was slowly braking, with high fantails of ice grains rising in sluggish arcs from either side of its scoop blade. The constant deluge from all the harvesters had coated the pit’s surface of solid ice with several centimeters of ice granules, as neat and uniform as a Zen garden. “I can’t see any tracks,” she reported. “Jessika, can you get me any images of Cancer coming out to Bremble today? Specifically, what space suit she was wearing.”

“I think I see where you’re going with this. Hang on.”

Kandara moved down the harvester several meters; being perched on top would make her a splendid target. But I haven’t been shot at. Why?

The whole situation was making her jittery, gnawing at her resolution. Cancer wouldn’t hold back. Did I get her with those first shots into the harvester? Could I be that lucky?

“Get me a schematic of the harvester,” she told Zapata. “She’s got to be inside somewhere.”

The translucent image splashed across her tarsus lenses highlighted the harvester’s internal walkways and small maintenance cubicles. Ninety percent of the interior was solid machinery. Of course, the explosive projectiles had opened up gashes big enough to shelter a human, but not many.

Kandara scattered a dozen microdrones and watched them scurry through the fissures. They’d be able to find her elusive target quickly enough.

“You were right,” Jessika said. “I’m looking at video of her going out to Bremble this morning. She was in a standard-issue space suit.”

“Did she bring it with her from Sol, or is it one of yours?”

“Ours.”

“Ping the beacon.”

Kandara held her breath, but the transponder didn’t respond.

“Sorry,” Jessika said. “She’s wiped the standard routines.”

Or one of my explosive rounds hit her. “Worth a try. But at least it’s not armor.”

“Kandara,” Tyle said. “Are you shooting at the harvester again?”

“No. Why?”

“I’m reviewing the telemetry—what’s left. Systems are going offline in the main power network. It looks like they’re being physically damaged.”

“Show me,” Kandara instructed.

The schematic splashed up the harvester’s power system. A tiny portal supplied power to the vehicle from Akitha’s solarwell electrical grid, but there were several quantum batteries distributed through the big machine as backups, keeping essential equipment active in the case of a power failure. If the harvester cooled below thirty Celsius, it would be a lot tougher for the maintenance teams to restore.

She saw the failures were all in the same section, around a quantum battery that supplied power to the rear caterpillar tracks.

“What systems are being hit?” she asked as she sent three microdrones racing to the location. “Is there a pattern?”

Zapata mapped a route to the section. She’d need to go back into the harvester through a hatchway on the left-hand side. But—inside was the last place she wanted to be. “Find me a target line the magrail can shoot through,” she told Zapata. From what she could see on the schematic, the section was almost completely surrounded by chunks of dense machinery.