“I’m not lying.” She walked over to a communicator. “Father William should have given us the all-clear signal before this. I’d better check in at the tavern and see what the problem is.”

“Maybe you’d better let me,” volunteered Cain. “Moonripple might answer, and you’re supposed to be a mute.”

Silent Annie smiled. “If she answers, I’ll just ask for Father William. Since she’s never heard my voice, she’s hardly likely to identify it.”

“I stand corrected,” said Cain.

Silent Annie spent a moment speaking in low tones, then broke the connection and turned to Cain.

“It’s all right,” she announced. “We can leave now.”

“What was the holdup?”

“He got to drinking beer and consuming food, and totally forgot about us,” she said with a semitolerant smile.

“It sounds like him,” agreed Cain. Suddenly he frowned. “We’ll have to put this off for an hour or so.”

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“There’s something I have to do first.”

“Does it have to do with Santiago?” she asked suspiciously.

“Indirectly. There’s a promise I have to keep.”

“To whom?”

“To a friend.” He walked to the door. “I’ll be back.”

She nodded, and he left her small house and began walking down the road that led through the little village. Within half an hour he had arrived at his destination.

“You look unhappy,” said Schussler as he came through the hatch.

“I am,” answered Cain.

“Then you were wrong about Safe Harbor?”

He shook his head. “I was right.”

“Santiago’s coming?” asked Schussler excitedly.

“He’s here now.”

“Thank God!” said Schussler with a sound that was as close as a thing of metal and machinery could come to a sigh of relief.

There was a momentary pause.

“Do you remember our bargain?” asked the cyborg.

“That’s why I’m here.”

“You’re an honorable man, Sebastian.”

“How do I go about it?” asked Cain, walking over to the panel that hid Schussler’s essence from view. “Is there a way I can disconnect you without causing you too much pain?”

“I can’t feel pain,” said Schussler. “If I could, I might even choose to live.”

“That’s a stupid thing to say.”

“Only to a man who can feel, Sebastian.”

“All right,” said Cain, touching the code that exposed Schussler’s tiny enclosure. “What do I do now?”

“I am compelled to obey your orders, even at the cost of my own existence,” said Schussler. “Simply order me to cease functioning and I’ll die.”

Cain stared at the small box. “You mean that’s all there is to it?”

“Yes.”

“I could have done that at any time.”

“But we had an agreement,” said Schussler. “I was also compelled to fulfill my end of it.”

“Are you ready?” asked Cain.

“Yes.... Sebastian?”

“What?”