“Not completely . . . but Jesus is right. Nothing’s attacking our people out there.”

“Send some volunteers out with portable sensors, then,” Lewis said. “We could use a few repair crews as well. I’ll go with ’em, if you like.”

Oakes stared at Lewis. Could the man really be that brave? Runners remembering chlorine? Impossible. Something else was holding the demons in check. As he thought this, Oakes experienced the abrupt sensation that the entire planet was out there, waiting just for the proper moment to attack and kill him.

Taking his silence for agreement, Lewis pressed his way through the crowd, selecting people as he moved. “You . . . you . . . you . . . you . . . Come with me. Larius, you get a repair crew together, take the down-chart and get busy restoring our eyes and ears.”

Lewis popped a hatch at the far side of the room, waved his volunteers through, and turned before joining them. “All right, Morgan, it’s up to you.”

What did he mean by that? Oakes watched the hatch seal behind Lewis. I have to do something!

“Everybody back to work,” Oakes said. “Everybody but the Command Center crew outside in the passage.”

They were reluctant to move.

“Nothing came in the hatch when Jesus opened it,” Oakes said. “Go on. We have work to do. So do you.”

“Leave the hatch open if you want,” Legata said.

Oakes did not like that, but the suggestion moved them. People began leaving. Legata turned back to the control console for the big screen. Oakes moved to her side, becoming intensely aware of the musky smell which surrounded her.

“We’re fighting the whole damned planet,” he muttered.

He watched while portable sensors and repairs began restoring the big screen’s overview of the Redoubt’s operation. As service returned, it became apparent that something had destroyed some seventy degrees of perimeter sensors below the ten-meter level. Burned-out relays had put other sensors out of service. The damage was far less than he had feared. He began to breathe more easily, realizing only then how tension had tightened his chest.

Lewis returned after a time, crossed to Oakes and Legata at the screen. “Did you want those people to stay in the passage?”

Oakes shook his head. “No.” He continued to watch the screen.

“I sent them about their business,” Lewis said. “Nothing seems to’ve changed outside. Why are they waiting?”

“War of nerves,” Oakes said.

“Perhaps.”

“We must devise a plan of attack,” Oakes said. “The clones must be convinced that it’s necessary to attack.”

Lewis stared at the play of Legata’s hands across the screen controls, glancing now and then up at the COA she produced. Rega was much higher in the sky now and Alki was beginning to creep above the horizon. It was brilliant out on the plain, every detail washed in light.

“How will you convince the clones?” Lewis asked.

“Get a few of them in here,” Oakes said.