They arced up into the black under an easy half a grav acceleration.

Rachel had been a Lunatic long enough to notice the strain. The Lunavator was a rotating bolo that touched down at the launch port exactly the same way every time, a classical mechanics milk run. Best to rest and not think too much about the high-wire handoffs involved.

She let herself drowse, thinking about the still mysterious Ythri motives, until the Prefect said at her elbow, “I wish I knew more about what they plan.”

This was unusually revealing. “Um, why?”

The Prefect allowed himself a frown. “They say this Ark is a legacy they want to ‘harvest’ but… somehow, it’s connected to their own history.”

“Maybe one visited them?”

“Then why would they need this one?”

“They’re hunters.”

“With long memories, apparently.”

“They insisted on bringing their own ship, too….” she prompted.

“It makes sense. The ship is very small and they say it fits their physio needs. All they took aboard were the basics: volatiles, air, food.”

“Which means they could scoot out, jump through the wormhole, wherever it is, and be gone with whatever they get from the Ark.”

The Prefect gave a small eye-twitch. “We have thought of that, yes.”

“And taken measures…”

“Yes.” He would say no more.

The Bolo central tether facility was a big captured asteroid, massive enough to prevent payloads from stealing too much energy and thereby lowering the Bolo orbit. The Lunavator rotated in the same direction as its orbit, precisely so that the velocity of each Bolo end’s tip equaled the orbital velocity of the system’s center of mass. So the center had to hold steady.

They spun upward, sliding elevator fashion around the dark asteroid, a rocky cinder brightly lit by the control station, and onward to the Flinger.

Rachel knew she was not privy to Prefect-level strategies, since the Library historically sponged up knowledge and gave forth only trickles, even to Trainee Librarians such as her. But the Prefect seemed relaxed, and this was an unusual chance. She gave him her best party-girl smile. It seemed to have no effect, so she said, “I’m getting on well with Fraq.”

“Yes, I see him eyeing you at our table meetings.”

Tone of voice told all. “What?” She never knew where his thinking came from. “He’s another species!”

“From an entirely different kingdom of life, true. But male strategies seem to be an invariant.”

She wondered if this was a joke and suddenly felt a blush spread across her cheeks. She had liked the strong look of Fraq, his tawny feathers wreathing slim muscles, the glinting golden eyes—

Best to deflect this talk, yes. “I tried to get out of him where the Ark is.”

“I know. You failed.”

Okay, try the front door. “You didn’t seem bothered when the issue came up.”

“I already knew.”

“Where is it, anyway?”

The Prefect grimaced, another unusual expression. So you’re not the perpetual Sphinx after all. “They finally revealed that. They spotted it using code-response transmissions while they came in from the Oort. How they knew the code they didn’t say.”