A minute later they were out of the door at the back of the building and looking at the busy street from behind a metal fence.

'Where's your hotel?' asked Maddy, hailing a taxi as it cruised past.

Geranium gave the address to the taxi, but Maddy made the car take a longer route, looking around all the time to see if they were being followed. As they approached Geranium's hotel, Maddy made the taxi stop a hundred metres short while they looked at the building.

'It seems quiet enough,' said Geranium.

It did. They climbed out and started walking quickly towards the building. 'Now just grab the minimum stuff you need and get out,' instructed Maddy. 'No argument.' She had an impression, if this girl was anything like a typical Elite, that she would have a ton of luggage and possessions. A thought occurred to her for the first time as she looked at the girl's clothes.

'Where are your parents, by the way?'

A moment's pause. 'On Earth.'

'Why are you here by yourself?'

'I'm allowed to be.' Maddy caught the whine in the girl's voice and decided not to press the point.

They paused at the corner of the street. 'Is there a back way in?'

The girl nodded and pointed around the block. They headed that way and peered around the corner. A car was parked outside the hotel. 'Do you recognise that vehicle?' asked Maddy.

Geranium looked. 'No. But it's just a car.'

The car didn't appear to have anyone in it, which meant nothing. Its AI could have been told to watch out for two people with their descriptions. Maddy weighed their chances of the vehicle being innocent, of the whole set up being just a product of her paranoia.

'Send her,' she said, pointing at Sarti.

The slave started and looked at her mistress.

'Send her in to get what you want.' Maddy continued. 'Clothes. Essentials. Don't get everything, it's probably not possible to carry it. Tell her to be quick.'

Geranium just stared at Sarti. Maddy swore—was the girl totally thick? Sending the slave in was logical: if there were Helots in there waiting for them, they would be less likely to injure a fellow Helot, particularly a woman. As soon as Maddy justified it to herself, however, it didn't seem so convincing.

After a moment, Geranium nodded. 'Sarti, here's the access card. You know where everything is. Just find the essentials—yours and mine. Nothing extra. You saw what Linda here put in her pack. That's the sort of things you need to get. Just one suitcase between us.'

'Yes, miss.' The woman stepped into the street, paused and looked back. 'Miss, I'm scared.'

Maddy felt Geranium stir as if about to approach the slave, and put a hand out to stop her. Geranium nodded and the slave walked towards the rear entrance of the hotel. The car remained motionless. No hidden person leaped out. Sarti gained the back door and entered.

The other two waited for a moment in silence.

'Is she going to be all right?' Geranium asked, peering around the corner at the rear door while Maddy kept glancing all around, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible.

'That's why we sent her in. You seem fond of her.' Maddy wondered how that was possible, an Elite fond of a slave. There were weirder things in the universe, but not many.

'Who are your parents?' Maddy remembered the girl had been going to give her surname, and had stopped. Cautious, and wise.

'My father is a Marquis. I seldom see him, though. I live with my mother. She's the Marchioness. Well, obviously, she would be.'

Maddy looked at the girl closely. The slight build, the shape of the face, the arrogant attitude when questioned...Was it possible?

'The Marchioness who?'

'deForêt-Bassyngthwayghte. I know, it's a stupid name. My mother's maiden name was Lucas. But she likes the aristocratic sound of deForêt-Bassyng...Are you all right?'

Maddy felt hot under the small, weak Martian sun. Memories came back to her: a cramped cabin on board a stolen spaceship; long conversations with the Marchioness as they flew to and from Procyon IV to steal the largest diamond in the galaxy; the last sight of the woman as they dropped her off in Australia, standing in the desert sun twirling an umbrella over her head. A year ago. And here was her daughter, looking at her like she was mad as Maddy tried to stop the trembling of her hands.

'Yes, I'm fine.' The words came slowly. 'Your Helot's taking a while.'

'Her name is Sarti. And it's only been five minutes.'

A single shot. Their heads snapped towards the building. Geranium was about to run towards the sound, but Maddy grabbed her in time and hauled her back against the side of the building. The girl struggled for a moment then seemed to settle. Maddy pulled her away and started to cross the street, watching out for traffic.

'That came from the hotel! I'm sure!' Geranium kept staring back.

Maddy just kept pulling her along. 'We can't go back. If they caught Sarti, we can't be around here.'

The back door of the building opened and a male Helot appeared. He paused at the entrance and glared out at the street. On the opposite side, Maddy and Geranium ran.

The male shouted and pointed at the women with his free hand. Another Helot emerged from the building and started to chase them.

The pack on Maddy's back bounced up and down as she ran. Geranium was beside her, long hair flying as they raced along the street and turned towards a shopping mall.

He's chasing us, thought Maddy. But a lone Helot running will attract attention.

If they could reach the mall, there would be many people and they might be able to give him the slip. At the very least, they might find a police officer or...

No! No cops! That would mean the end of everything.

Geranium, unburdened by any luggage, was a few metres ahead and passed into the entrance of the shopping mall. It was packed with lunchtime crowds. Geranium halted as Maddy caught up to her. Outside, the Helot paused as he observed the two women enter the mall. The glass doors closed behind them and they watched him closely as he pulled out a small comlink. It was a safer means of discreet communication, less able to be monitored than a fone. He was probably summoning associates.

There would be few Helots in the mall. Perhaps one or two Elite might have a slave to carry shopping, but that was all. If they could stay there the Helots would have a hard time chasing them inside. Helots chasing Sapes through a crowded shopping centre would attract way too much attention.

'All right,' said Maddy. 'Let's lose ourselves in here. I'm sorry you can't get into your hotel. This is your chance to buy what you need instead.' She grinned at the glowering girl. 'A teenage girl shopping with her father's credit. I envy you.'

Geranium slapped her on the arm. 'What about Sarti! You don't care!'

But Maddy shifted focus back to the Helot outside. He sat down on a bench, calmly waiting. His overalls—the usual Helot ones designed to cover but not interfere with the ability to work—were loose enough to hide a weapon.

'Let's find another exit,' she said, and started towards the main concourse of shops. She turned around when Geranium didn't follow. The girl was staring back at her hotel, just visible beyond the car park of the shopping centre, one hand over her mouth.

Maddy walked back and placed a hand on her shoulder. 'They won't hurt Sarti. She's their kind.' Geranium didn't move. 'I know Helots, all right? I've...worked with them before. They hate Sapes and Sirians, but they are fiercely loyal to their own kind. They'll understand that Sarti was just doing what you ordered her to.'

'There was a gunshot!' The girl's lower lip trembled slightly. 'They've killed her!'

'You don't know that. It was probably just a warning shot.'

An unsilenced gun—whoever had fired it didn't care about being heard. Confident as well as dangerous.

She wanted to add that they would have let Sarti go by now, but it would have been a lie. They would interrogate her, probably even use her as bait to trap Geranium. Anything was possible.

The Elite girl next to her gulped. 'Is he coming in?'

The doors of the shopping centre opened as customers came and went, but the Helot just sat there and watched them through the glass. He would attract attention eventually. Even here on Mars Helots didn't just sit around all day without someone asking them why they were idle, or who their owner was. Eventually the police might turn up and start to question him. That would be a chance for them to leave.

Of course, there were plenty of other Helots out there. Maddy had no idea how big the Talon might be, how many agents it had, how infused into society it was.

'I think we're safe for the moment,' she said, a hand still on Geranium's shoulder. 'We'll worry about Sarti later. If we hadn't sent her in that would have been you they caught instead of her, and I guarantee you'd be dead by now if they had.'

With a twist of her shoulder, Geranium freed herself of Maddy's touch. 'Just shut the fuck up,' she muttered. After a moment she added, 'All right. We'll do it your way.'

They moved towards the shops, trying to look like ordinary customers. It was a weekday, so the place was crowded. Music piped through the place, with occasional announcements by both humans and AI regarding shopping opportunities and bargains currently available. Holographic advertisements popped up everywhere. If they stood still too long and didn't look like they knew where they were going, an AI appeared and asked if it could be of service. It was annoying and brought unwanted attention.

'If we're going to hide, we need to get you some clothes and accessories,' said Maddy. Geranium still carried Maddy's satchel, and she remembered that the ghost was still inside it. If they passed through any security checks, which was possible in some of the stores, the device might be found and its use questioned.

'Give me my satchel,' she said.

Geranium slipped it off her shoulder and held it out. Just as Maddy took the strap, and the girl still had hold of it, a shadow passed across the space between them. Out of the corner of her eye, Maddy saw someone large, too big for a Helot, big even for a Sape. She instantly tugged on the satchel strap to haul Geranium out of the way. The girl stumbled forwards just as a man's gloved hand reached out to grab her.

'Run!' yelled Maddy, letting go of the strap and racing away from him.

Fortunately, Geranium did the same. They hurtled through the crowds, dodging and weaving around shoppers and displays.

The crowd soon detected the mad dash of the two women and stepped aside if they saw them coming. Other shoppers shouted and complained as they ran past. As they passed a rack of perfume Geranium grabbed it and hauled it into the man's path. Bottles smashed and spilled, but didn't stop him. They ran on.

In a minute, Maddy knew, the alarm would go off and security staff would lock down the shopping centre and that would be the end.

A door loomed up: a fire exit, or access to a stairway. Maddy grabbed Geranium's hand and hurled her through. 'Up the stairs!' She looked back to see if there was any way the exit could be locked. There wasn't.

Geranium looked down from the first landing, hands gripping the rail. 'That's the guard from the slave market! Marshall!' she gasped.

'Just keep going!'

A body slammed into the other side of the door. Maddy turned to race up the stairs as the door opened and the man entered. He grabbed at Maddy's arm, caught her and wrenched her backwards. Maddy toppled over and slammed into the concrete floor, stunned.

***

On the landing, Geranium saw Maddy fall and lie still. Marshall glanced up and her and started up the stairs. She ran up the remaining flights, through another door and emerged onto the roof of the shopping centre. Beside her an air conditioning unit hummed. She sprinted across the flat roof to the edge and halted. Below, a few people and vehicles moved through the car park of the shopping centre. They seemed a world away.

Marshall emerged through the door and stopped to glare at Geranium poised on the edge. He casually pulled a small gun from a belt holster and aimed it at her. The girl raised her hands even as her heels were over the edge of the roof.

'You're coming with me,' said Marshall.

Geranium indicated the satchel dangling from one shoulder with a nod of her head.

'Is this what you want? I'll give it to you if you like.'

Ten metres below was the car park. If she fell it would be onto solid concrete. Even in Martian gravity that would kill her.

The man shook his head. 'Take three steps forwards,' he said. 'Slowly.'

Geranium did so. Slowly.

She knew nothing about guns, didn't know if this one fired bullets or plasma bolts or something else. Plasma bolts killed you quickly, apparently, but had to be aimed just right. Geranium hoped this gun fired plasma bolts, and the man was a good shot.

'I'm...' she said.

'Shut up!' cried Marshall. 'Now put down the satchel.'

She let it fall.

'Please,' she said. 'I don't want to die.'

'Tough.'

With a grunt, Marshall staggered as something hit him from behind. He fell to his knees and his gun dropped as he pitched forward face first onto the roof. He lay sprawled and motionless.

At the entrance to the rooftop, Maddy lowered her stun gun and looked at Geranium.

'Are you all right?'

Geranium put down her hands and collapsed onto her backside as her legs gave way.

Maddy stepped over to Marshall and aimed the stun gun at him again. The gun had already recharged, but another jolt wasn't needed. She kicked his weapon across to the girl. 'Pick it up.'

'I thought I was going to die.' Geranium's voice sounded weak even to herself and it took a few tries to make the words run together well enough to be understood, but her hands were functioning enough to scoop the gun up. She also had the presence of mind to put it into the satchel.

'He'll come round in about five minutes,' said Maddy. 'We have to be long gone by then.'

She reached out a hand and Geranium used it to stand up. They stood looking at each other for a moment. 'You're all right?' Maddy asked.

'Yes. I guess so. You?'

'Fortunately my pack prevented my head from hitting the floor. But I was winded for a bit.'

'I didn't know you were armed. We could have—'

'Never mind that now.'

She looked down over the edge of the roof. 'We have to figure a way to get down without going through the shopping centre.'

There might be other Sapes or Helots waiting for them. And no doubt the Helot was still at his post outside the main entrance.

'This guard...' began Geranium.

Maddy glanced at the man. 'Yes, I know. He's from the slave market. And if he wanted to kill you—kill us—no questions asked, it's because the slave market has something to hide. Now don't waste time. Come on.'

Geranium joined her at the edge. 'Do you have rope in that pack?' she asked.

'No.' Maddy shrugged the pack off and tucked the stun gun back into it. 'It would be handy, wouldn't it?' They walked along the edge of the roof, peering down. At the far end Maddy stopped and pointed. 'That's the way. Hang by your hands from the edge here; you only weight half as much as you do on Earth. Drop onto that roof and walk across to the end there to the top of that fire escape. Easy.'

'I'm scared of heights.'

Maddy laughed. 'I'm scared of everything.'