“I acquired her from another stringhunter who’d already put her under a number of times, during which she’d made considerable progress in accessing the theories of her priors. I have the readings if you wish to consult them.”

“Which stringhunter?”

“Asog Arrohauk. The Knell.”

“The Knell?” Dekies exclaimed. “The Knell was found clipped into pieces just outside of the Erath Conjunction. You stole her.”

“You have qualms, suddenly?” exclaimed Aptat. “Besides, I didn’t steal her. The Knell did. With the help of that one, there,” sweeping a hand toward Izairis, “they siphoned the signal from my transception cone while I was surveilling Vask. They stole my information and simply got to her before I did. I paid a price for my patience, but I took her back. I’m sure you understand.”

“And her downcord coherence, if she’s been under? Near zero by now?”

“The Knell’s log had her priors at forty, forty, and fifteen, proceeding down-cord. Not bad, I’d say.”

Something subtle about Dekies’ body language said the pirate princess was impressed with these numbers. I didn’t understand them, but as homework grades, they sounded low.

“Three priors, two on the cord at the same time. How?”

“Twin sisters, apparently,” said Aptat. “Sharing a few threads of the same string. If you’ve ever been around twins, it wouldn’t surprise you. This one is worth the asking price for those alone,” said Aptat, letting the tension build. Dekies remained quiet, waiting to hear the reveal. “She is called Naecia HyRope.⁵⁴ And she can build a cheat drive.”

Dekies barked a laugh that echoed across the deck, again egging her cohorts to join in. “Now I know you are lying! How many of these others did you lie about?”

“I do not lie.”

“The cheat drive is a myth,” Dekies scoffed. “If that’s what she had, you wouldn’t be selling, you’d be shopping for your own galaxy.”

Unperturbed, Aptat continued, “Her research transmissions over time were enough to convince me that she is on the same cord as two Pangean mathematicians – the aforementioned twin sisters – who had made the secret pursuit of such a drive their lives’ work–”

“Why don’t we all have cheat drives then? Did you say twin mathematicians?”

“I did. They died of an accidental depressurization during a test. This is what happens when you work in secret and then die suddenly. All is lost. Fortunately, for you, dear buyer, these two were Stringers and Naecia is their subsequent,” said Aptat. “A thermodynamics engineer by training, she has been trying to replicate their progress for near half her life, and is close to accessing the full theory – which I surmise resides down the cord in that third prior. Nevertheless, what she had managed to assemble on her own by the time I acquired her was a stellar age beyond what anyone living has been able to construct to date. For us, the cheat drive is a myth. Not so for her. I’ll show you.” Aptat gestured to the floor and a cube of steel ascended from the cargo hold. The top panel opened and the sides thereafter folded away.