“You mean you’re not supposed to know anything about it,” Waela said. “Tell us what you do know.”

“Now, let’s change our tone a bit,” Murdoch said. “There’s an injured man on the deck and this whole unfortunate matter does not require more passion.”

He turned toward the Natali representative. “Doctor Usija, since the med-tech appears unable to respond . . .”

Hali looked down at Andrit who was beginning to stir.

“He’ll recover,” Waela said. “I pulled my blow.”

Hali stared at her. The implication was obvious: She could have killed the man. Belatedly, Hali bent to examine him. Her pribox showed a bruise on his neck, some nerve damage, but Waela was right: He would recover.

“What happened in Lab One?” Waela directed her question to Murdoch.

“An . . . artificial form of this phenomenon. You are the first natural example of this we’ve seen.”

“Natural example of what?” Waela forced the words out.

“The draining of energy from . . . other people.”

Waela glared at him. What was he saying? She took a step toward him and felt Hali’s hand on her arm. Waela whirled on the med-tech and almost brought her down. Sensing this, Hali jerked her hand back.

“Waela? Just a moment. I’m beginning to understand.”

“Understand what?”

“They think you’re responsible for the sick children.”

“Me? How?” She turned back toward Ferry. “Explain.”

Murdoch started to speak, but she snapped an angry glare at him. “Not you! Him.”

“Now, Waela, calm yourself,” Ferry said. “This has all been an unfortunate mistake.”

“What do you mean unfortunate mistake, you drunk? You set this up. You invited Andrit here. You knew about that spiral in your schematic. What were you trying to do?”

“I will not take that tone from you,” Ferry said. “This is my . . .”

“This is your funeral if you don’t tell me what’s going on here!”

Hali stared at Waela. What was happening to the woman? Murdoch, Hali noted, was standing very still—no threatening movements at all. Usija and Brulagi were frozen in their seats.

“Now, don’t you threaten me, Waela,” Ferry said. There was a plaintive note in his voice.

She’s perfectly capable of killing him if he doesn’t satisfy her demand, Hali thought. Ship, save us! What has come over her?

Usija began to speak very softly, but her voice was compelling in the tense air of the room.

“Doctor Ferry, you are looking at the phenomenon of the threatened feral mother. It goes very deep. It is dangerous to you. Since Waela is Pandora-conditioned, I advise you to answer her.”

Ferry pushed himself back in his seat as far as he could go. He wet his lips with his tongue.

“I, ahhh . . . your circumstances shipside, Waela. There has been some, ahhh, let us call it superstition.”

“About what?”