“The ship’s interfering with us,” Oakes said. “We can’t spare medical people or any others right now. We have to devise a plan for . . .”

“What is going on out there?” Legata asked.

Oakes turned, saw that once more she was running through the sensors, showing several at once. He glanced up at the screen and, at first, did not see what had attracted her attention. Then he saw it—a rectangle high up on the right showed a silvery something creeping over the Redoubt’s walls. It moved like a slow-motion wave, blanking out sensors, creeping up and up. Legata compensated for the obscured sensors, moving back and back through new sensors. The wave was composed of countless glittering threads bright in the glare of the double suns.

“Spinnerets,” Lewis hissed.

The entire room became so quiet that the air was brittle with listening.

Legata continued, busy at the console.

Lewis turned to the Naturals guarding the Command Center. “Harcourt, you and Javo take a ‘burner and see what you can do to cut through that Spinneret mesh.”

The men did not respond.

Legata smiled to herself at the continued quiet in the room. She could feel the tensions building to the precise moment she desired. It had been right to wait.

“Send some clones.” Legata recognized Harcourt’s high-pitched voice.

There was a heavy stirring in the room. She glanced back, saw more clones pressing into the center from the passage. Some of them were the more outré E-types. Most appeared to be wounded. They obviously were looking for someone. A guttural voice called out from amidst the newcomers: “We need medics!”

Lewis faced the two Naturals he had ordered to meet the Spinneret attack. “You refuse to obey my orders?”

Harcourt, his face red, repeated his protest: “Send some clones. That’s what they’re for.”

From somewhere in the center of the room, a thin voice shouted: “We’re not going out there!”

“Why should they go?” Legata asked.

“You stay out of this, Legata!” Oakes screamed.

“Just tell them why clones should go,” she said.

“You know why!”

“No, I don’t.”

“Because the first out on any dangerous mission are clones. Harcourt’s right. Clones first. That’s the way it’s always been, and that’s the way it’ll be.”

So he’s pitching for the loyalty of the Naturals.

Legata looked at Lewis, met his gaze head on. Was that amusement in his eyes? No matter. She depressed a key on the console controlling the big screen, watched the people in the room. They could not miss what was happening on the screen. She had set the program to fill it.

Yes . . . the room was becoming a tableau, all attention shifting to the screen, locking on it.