At the edge of town, they halted one more time and ate from Maddy's supply of food in her pack.

Both water containers were empty; the effort of trudging over the tumbled rocks had made them sweat under their clothing despite the low temperature.

The walled domes of Albany gleamed pink in the rising sun. It was one of the oldest towns on the planet, established only a generation or two after the initial manned landing, when research stations were being set up and permanently occupied. Now it was just a place like any other.

They stepped onto one of the roads leading to and from the city, along which cars and larger vehicles were already skimming. Frost built up on the dark surface of the metal roads and had to be removed by built-in heating elements. Maddy could feel the warmth through her boots. Geranium took off her gloves and placed her hands on the surface as well.

'That's so good.'

Maddy looked at a nearby road sign. They had come in just north of the main dome, between two low hills about two kilometres out from the entrance to the city. From what she remembered of the city's layout, the northern district had its own police station.

'This is where we split up, my lady' she said. 'You can go to the authorities and hand yourself in if you like. Tell them about the slave market, but don't mention me if you don't mind. They'll respect who you are and believe you. Then you can go where you want. Earth, Venus, whatever.'

The girl stayed with her hands pressed on the road even as a car passed nearby, swerving slightly to avoid them.

'What do you mean?' she said. 'Hand myself in?'

'Those things that happened outside your apartment, at the shopping centre, at the slave market: you can guarantee you've been missed and connected with those things. Don't worry, they won't arrest you, you're the victim.'

'What are you going to do?'

Maddy didn't answer, mainly because to voice her intentions, even to Geranium, would be too painful. She might break down, and right now the girl still needed someone strong to guide her.

'Come on,' she said, and began walking along the side of the road. Geranium sighed and followed her.

Near the main entrance, which was a high gate that usually stayed open, there was a customs stop, although the transport of goods around Mars was largely free. Vehicles were halted and papers checked, but little was done to search for any contraband. They passed through without any problem, holding out their wrists to have ID's checked. If their names raised any alarms in the officers' minds, they didn't show it. It was possible they might comlink the police and alert them of their arrival.

Inside, Maddy halted once more. 'Well, this is it,' she said. She held out her hand. 'I'm sorry for leading you out and into the desert like that, but it really wasn't my intention to return here.'

Geranium looked up at Maddy through a lock of dark hair that had fallen over her eye. 'Then why have you?'

'Well, my lady—'

'You don't have to call me that. In the desert I was...I was in a bad mood. Sorry.'

'Geranium...' It still sounded weird calling anyone that. '...I'm a dangerous person. I know dangerous people, and they know me. I have to—'

She stopped, looking over the girl's shoulder. A Helot stood a few metres away, watching them. Like all Helots he had to have an excuse to be where he was, and so he carried a suitcase as if it belonged to someone else. Only there was no one near him. Their eyes met and he nodded.

Of course they would be watching the entrances. She had expected that, but thought they might at least have waited until Geranium had gone.

She shoved Geranium aside. 'Go,' she said. 'Don't make a fuss, don't run. Just go. Now.'

The girl looked around and saw the Helot. Maddy had her hand on Geranium's shoulder and could feel a tremor pass though her.

'I'll come with you quietly,' Maddy said. 'Let the girl go.' She shoved her away. 'You heard me. Go. He'll let you.'

Geranium took a step backwards, but the Helot shook his head.

'Both of you,' he said.

Someone coughed. Maddy turned and saw another Helot behind her.

'Not the girl. She's not—'

'Both of you!'

Geranium kept her eyes on Maddy.

'I think,' said Maddy, 'we'd better do as they ask.' They were still in the street, but these men wouldn't hesitate to use violence if necessary. Desperation overcame any innate fears of the Sapes.

The two Helots closed in and as a group all four walked to where a taxi waited. The doors opened as they approached. A man was inside already in the passenger seat. It was Marshall, the man who had chased them in the shopping centre, the one Maddy had stunned. He made room as they entered. The Helots took the front seat after relieving Maddy of her pack and putting it in the vehicle's trunk. They singularly ignored the slave deck on the back.

As the car pulled out and started down one of the main thoroughfares Marshall said, 'We thought you'd gone north, but we had spies at the other entrances just in case.'

'You're with the Talon?' asked Maddy. 'A Sape working with terrorists?'

'It's a business venture of my employer. Señor Campillo. There's a lot of money to be made, supplying slaves to Helots.' He chuckled. 'There's a lot of money in terrorism, too, when you work with the right people. Now, if you speak again without permission one of those bastards in the front seat—sorry, my employer's business partners—will punish you. I might do that even if you don't speak, since I owe you for what you did to me at the shopping centre.' He waved across Maddy's body at Geranium. 'No hard feelings, hey little girl?'

Geranium said nothing.

'I won't keep you guessing. We're going to meet Reed Hasur. He's also angry with you because you killed one of his best operatives in your escape. Quite a busy day for you yesterday. He might punish you, too.'

Maddy was sick of the man's cocky confidence already. She looked at the streets as they drove along. Of course there was no longer any need to keep their destination secret, since she now knew Reed's headquarters were located behind the slave market. The ride continued in silence until the car pulled up outside the same building as before. The Helots emerged from the vehicle first and opened the doors for the Sapes.

'We'll dispense with the dramatics of last time,' said Marshall. 'They're waiting.'

This time when the door was opened they were led straight through to Reed's presence in the same room as before. There were three more guards, and Enrique Campillo, standing against one wall. Marshall threw Maddy's pack on the floor, nodded to the others, then left the room, along with the Helots who had brought them there. Maddy and Geranium were pushed forwards by the other guards.

'You could have saved me a great deal of trouble if you'd just let me kill you,' the leader of the Talon said.

'May I speak?' Maddy took one step forward.

The man smiled and nodded.

'We're in a lot of trouble,' she said.

He smiled. 'I agree.'

'No, you don't understand. When I say "we" I mean everyone. Mars. Earth. The whole galaxy.'

Campillo barked a laugh. Reed frowned at him. 'Be quiet.' It was significant that the slave market owner instantly obeyed Reed's order. 'What do you mean by that?'

'That ghost, the device you asked me to repair. I accessed it.'

Reed and Campillo glanced at each other. 'It's empty of data,' said Reed.

'No it isn't. It has a lot stored on it.'

Campillo immediately picked up Maddy's pack from where it had been thrown on the floor and opened it. He rummaged through, throwing items out: food packets, clothes, her stun gun. After a few seconds he pulled the ghost out and held it up. He activated it using his fone and searched its data for a moment. He shook his head. 'It's empty. The bitch is lying.'

'It's there. But only I know how to get through the encryption.'

Reed watched idly. 'Did you find anything interesting?'

'I can see why you wanted me now. Not to repair the thing, but to help you locate any data on it. Yes, I found something very interesting. Something called Shepherd Moon.'

'What's that?'

'If you release me and...this girl here, I'll show you where it's stored.'

'Show us now,' said Campillo.

'Let her go first.'

'She's valuable,' the man said. 'We know who she is. Her family is wealthy.'

'You are obsessed by money, Campillo,' said Reed. 'But I agree. The Elite girl would fetch a good ransom.' He turned back to Maddy. 'Show us now. Or else we kill you both.'

Campillo held out the ghost to Maddy. 'I'll need to use your holovision,' she said. 'And a fone.'

Reed indicated the battered holovision terminal on one wall. Maddy made the connection, still flanked by the guards who watched her every move, and broke the encryption using Campillo's fone. When data appeared on the holo she searched through it until the file on Shepherd Moon came up.

'I found this while searching through. See what it says?'

There was a picture of a ship on the holovision, and some text scrolling under it. Maddy knew the text was unintelligible to everyone but her.

'You tell me,' said Reed.

'That's a Syndicate ship, the Shepherd Moon. It's some kind of mining ship. It can haul asteroids around. Nothing new there, but this one has Void manoeuvring technology. It can actually guide whole asteroids through Void. The first of its kind. Anyway, someone has plans for it.'

'Why can't I read it?' said Campillo.

'It's written in Message Stick protocol. A technical code.'

'Then how do we know you're telling the truth?' Reed probably couldn't read even normal Inglish, but of course wasn't about to let on.

Maddy indicated the holovision platform. 'The ship is going to be raided by a terrorist group. They then plan to use it to haul an asteroid into orbit around the Earth. They can move it wherever they want, change its course, its velocity, do whatever they like with it.'

Reed nodded. 'This ship is just one more Elite tool, another means of gaining raw material for the enslavement of all Helots,' he said. 'I commend the brave group that—'

'No!' shouted Maddy. 'That's not all!'

She took a deep breath. In the next minute she could be dead, or beaten to a pulp, or taken away to be tortured. It was pointless to indicate to them the lines of incriminating data, but she felt a strong desire to slap the holovision platform where the symbols and calculations danced under the image of the mining ship.

Nothing for it. But she still couldn't look any of them in the face as she said, 'They plan to put the asteroid into orbit around the Earth. From there, something is mentioned about final co-ordinates.'

Beside her, Geranium squeezed her hand. He eyes were wide, staring at the ghost file.

There was a long silence. Then Reed laughed.

'Don't you understand?' continued Maddy. 'What final co-ordinates? Why bring the asteroid to Earth orbit and then take it elsewhere? They could use it as a weapon against the Moon maybe, or even the Earth.'

At least Campillo looked a little worried.

Reed just sat back and smiled. 'Are you suggesting these terrorists, whoever they are, could be planning to destroy the Earth?'

'Millions of your own people will die. Young children. Women.'

There was silence for a long moment. Then, 'I'm glad you told me of this. I will monitor the progress of the insurgency with interest.'

Maddy pointed at the holovision.

'The person behind it is someone with the code name Ursula. But the ghost contains details of who that is. A man named Stefan Rix.'

Reed at last seemed interested. A glance played between him and Campillo.

'That file is a communication between him and Zeus. That's how his name is there. Don't you see? They're in league together: terrorists and Zeus, working together.'

Maddy hadn't slept the night before, not after reading the messages that passed between 'Ursula' and Zeus. Lines and lines of calculations, coded messages broken down by the ghost.

'You have to communicate with this Rix, find out what he intends.'

Reed Hasur stood up. Even then he was shorter than Geranium, but his presence filled the room. He motioned to the guards.

'Take these two and secure them,' he said.

Campillo stepped forward. 'Reed, I think –'

'I am used to being obeyed!'

Maddy continued to protest as the guards stepped forwards. 'Look, I know you don't believe me! But it's not something—'

But Campillo pulled a gun from under his jacket. He growled at the guards, who let him move forward and shove Maddy towards a door. Another guard pushed Geranium, who squealed and thrashed. The guard just pushed her harder.

In the next room at the far end was someone else who almost seemed to be cowering there against the wall.

'Sarti!'

A hand landed on Geranium's shoulder as she tried to run over to the woman, who at the sound of her name looked across and saw her mistress.

'Miss, I—'

'Arco!' one of the Helots shouted at Sarti. 'Silence!'

Sarti shut up, but in a moment had crossed the room to hug her mistress. Geranium felt her warm clutch and whispered in her ear. 'What happened to you?'

'Arco!'

'Better do what he says,' said Maddy, but she threw a thin smile at Geranium and nodded to Sarti. 'Time to talk later.'

'You will remain here,' said Campillo. 'You will be quiet.' Then he and the guards left.

After a moment of silence Geranium whispered to Sarti, 'What happened to you?'

'I've been a prisoner, miss. Like you. They captured me in the hotel room and brought me here. They wanted me to join them, but I refused. I didn't want to be a killer, a terrorist. So they kept me in this room since yesterday.' Tears streamed down the woman's face as she crowded next to her mistress. 'What's going to happen to us?'

Geranium looked at Maddy as if asking the same question.

The trouble was, Maddy had to admit to herself, she didn't know what was going to happen. Reed was a fool, and a blind one at that, and the Sapes in league with him were obviously motivated by money. The Moon meant little to them.

'They'll try to ransom you,' she said.

'What about you?'

Maddy shook her head. The room became quiet, except for the sound of Sarti's sobbing.