She met his gaze. ‘His own.’

Malden returned his attention to Saul. ‘Hannah told me you were once Alan Saul – one of their most brilliant researchers – until Smith used pain amplifiers and cerebral reprogramming to destroy your mind.’

Saul shrugged. ‘Alan Saul is gone. I’m a two-year-old.’

‘Smith runs security aboard the Argus Station.’

‘I know.’

Malden just stared for a long moment, obviously making his calculations. ‘Argus Station is heavily firewalled with numerous cut-offs between it and Govnet. Most importantly it has a plain old-fashioned off switch to completely disconnect it from Govnet.’

‘The EM field they turn on to block solar radiation whenever there’s a storm,’ Saul agreed.

‘You know, it’s been very difficult to obtain information from up there for some time . . . I tried accessing by satellite uplink but failed. Security is far too heavy and when I started trying to steal access codes, the EM field came on and cut the station system out of the circuit. Its own internal network is maintained by coded shortwave radio when the EM field is off, and line-of-sight laser and hardwire when it’s on.’

‘Hence you going there with soldiers?’

‘I need to get inside the station, to be effective. I need to disconnect the transformers supplying the EM field to be sure I won’t be cut out.’

‘I myself intended just to sneak aboard,’ said Saul.

Malden shook his head as if listening to the plans of a child. ‘Then, the moment you started taking over, all Smith would have needed to do was switch on the EM field, cutting you out of the circuit, then hunt you down.’

‘I’m sure I would have found a way round that,’ Saul replied huffily.

Despite Saul’s obvious capabilities, Malden gave a superior smile now. Hannah realized he was thinking like a revolutionary, locked in that groove where it seemed the only solution to anything must involve guns. Perhaps some part of him assumed that taking over a space station must require drama. Obviously Saul wasn’t averse to guns himself, but Hannah realized that, by having an optic plug installed in his head, he’d negated the need for troops. His huffy response to Malden was just a pose, and he was way ahead of the man.

‘I can either leave you aboard this plane,’ Malden said, ‘in which case it’s certain station security will come looking for you – or you can come in with us.’

‘That a good idea?’ asked Scarface.

Malden glanced at him. ‘He knows the situation.’ He turned back to Saul, weighing him up. ‘You do understand the situation?’

‘If you leave me aboard the plane, Smith gets me and I’m dead. And even if I try to betray you to Smith, I’m still not going to be his best buddy. I’ll still end up chewing a bullet.’

‘Our objectives are essentially the same, too,’ Malden said. ‘And by working together now – and in the future – we can be a lot more effective.’