Monk's voice was muffled through the door cabin.

'There's been some kind of disturbance on Shiva.'

Rix finished dressing. His hair was still damp after his shower and hung down rather than follow its usual reach for the ceiling. The wet locks were still cold on his neck.

The knock came again, more urgent this time.

'Did you hear what I said?'

With a sigh, Rix opened the door. 'What kind of trouble?'

Monk hadn't been sleeping well, Rix knew, and he could see it plainly now. Red eyes, tousled hair, and a lugubrious expression. 'You look ill,' he said. 'Even for a Helot.'

'You were right about someone finding out about us.' The man even sounded tired.

'Three people arrived at Tower Two. Strangers. They're being brought here.'

As much as he'd been raised among Helots, Rix sometimes thought they were all quite stupid. Three people; three bullets. The equation was simple enough. 'Who gave that order?'

Monk stepped into the room and let the door slide closed behind him. 'Please keep your voice down. I did.'

'Why?'

'We don't know who they are. Syndicate agents, maybe.'

Rix didn't give a shit about the Syndicate. He left the room and headed for the bridge. Monk trailed behind. 'How's the work coming along?'

'They're about ninety percent complete. The power plant's installed. We were just waiting for the tower engines to come up to capacity, bring the Void on line and then get Zeus to do the math.'

At the door of the bridge Pansy scuttled aside as the two men entered. A glance at the control desk confirmed the news: the screen displayed all three dinghies heading back to the Shepherd Moon.

'There's a ship on Shiva itself,' said Monk. 'It must have arrived here before we did. I don't know how they knew about us.'

They should have scanned for any presence on the asteroid, especially after the news about someone accessing data through a ghost. Rix bit back a retort about Monk's running of the ship. It had been his responsibility, his fault.

'Get someone to check it out.'

'I already have. I can alter orbit and we can do a flyover if you like.'

'No time. We start things immediately the engines are installed.'

The dinghies would arrive in a couple of minutes. Rix opened a comlink channel.

'This is Rix. I want the prisoners brought to the lounge immediately on arrival. Three of you will remain as security—the others will return to complete the installation. We can't waste time. Do you understand?'

There was no reply. 'Do you understand?'

'Yes,' came the voice of Sniper.

Monk moved to exit the bridge, but Rix barred his way with his arm.

'What?' he asked.

There were so many things to say. Things were becoming sloppy—Sniper took too long to acknowledge an order; the strangers on the asteroid; the need for haste and precision; the desperate need for the next orders from Zeus. But Rix said nothing, just slowly removed his arm and let him proceed, turning to watch the Helot as he moved.

'Just get them working as fast as possible.'

Distant thuds told that the dinghies had docked. There was a pause, during which Frank emerged from the engineering deck below and was told what was happening. She growled something in Helot, but Rix didn't catch the words.

But he wasn't prepared for the sight of the people who shortly afterwards emerged into the lounge. Sniper came first, and behind him a tall, sour-looking man, then an old Helot, and finally another Sape, a female. The dinghies' crews followed behind. Rix frowned at the Sape woman; it took a moment for the face to match a name. Maddy Hawthorn. She was supposed to be some sort of dangerous insurgent, but now just looked scared.

She didn't meet his eyes, but glared around the interior of the ship. Their helmets had been removed but they still wore their suits, which were covered in fine black dust from the surface.

One of the Helots put his hands on his hips. 'I am Reed Hasur of the Talon. Which one of you is in command?'

'I am.' Rix stepped towards him. 'But you're the one who'll be answering questions.'

Reed laughed. 'We could be all dramatic about that, or we could resolve what we came here to do.'

'We should kill them,' said Monk. Rix had a momentary vision of the bodies of these three floating in the emptiness of space, with dark globules of blood emerging from their bodies, and thrust it aside. Nancy Jong would have enjoyed the scene, but it was just a distraction at the moment. He looked again at Maddy. What was she doing here?

'Maddy Hawthorn. You were with the Shamah a while ago.' Rix stepped across and looked closely at her. 'One of Lofar Safru's most trusted, I believe.'

Maddy remained silent. Rix caught her eye, but there was nothing at all coming from the woman except a sullen frown which could have meant anything.

'I demand to know what your intentions are,' said Reed. His eyes swung to Monk. 'I know you! I've seen pictures of you. Monk, they call you. You went to university, became educated! Why are you involved in something like this?'

'Shut up!' roared Rix. 'You are—'

'We know what you intend to do with the asteroid. We have access to a ghost. We know your plans, and we are here to ask you not to go ahead with them.'

Monk made a noise like he was being strangled. The other Helots in the room glanced at each other. But Rix wasn't fooled—Zeus would have told him if the plan had been compromised. So these people had learned something from a ghost. But there was no help coming for them, no battle fleet of the Syndicate Navy on its way right now to Shiva to save the day. There was nothing, and he knew that because Zeus knew everything and had remained silent.

'Watch them!' he said. A few of the Helot crew surrounded the prisoners. Rix gestured to Monk and indicated the bridge. They shut themselves in as before. It was tight and quiet in there, and more possible to think.

Monk let out a huge sigh. 'This sucks.'

'Thank you, Monk. That really helps.'

'I sent Drummer to take a look at the other ship.' Monk either hadn't caught the sarcasm or didn't care.

Rix turned on the comlink. 'Drummer! Come back!'

Silence.

'Drummer! Are you there? Did you find the ship?'

'Drummer here.' The Serf's grating voice startled Monk: the man sounded almost breathless.

'Are you all right?'

'Yes. There is a ship here. No sign of life that I can see, but I'm not on board yet.'

'There might be more people on the surface somewhere. Check the ship out and we'll send a dinghy to pick you up when everything is ready.'

'All right.'

Drummer signed off. Rix was shaking his head. 'Not good. If there is anyone on board Drummer should kill them and return here now.'

Rix sat in the pilot seat and began shutting down systems. With no present need for engines, he rerouted their energy to communications; he turned off everything not vital to running the ship,

'What are you doing?' asked Monk.

But Rix just kept shutting the ship down. Navigation, Void engine, AI safety power, reserve batteries. Every bit of energy from the thorium reactor was needed.

'I heard why you call him Drummer.' Rix didn't look up from the panel as he activated the Message Stick. 'Lola told me he has musical talent. Imagine that. Apparently he likes to belt out a rhythm on anything at hand. I caught him yesterday slapping his hands on an equipment locker door. Not bad.'

'He's a Serf, not a Helot. They're more intelligent.'

The Message Stick system clicked into life. All over the ship, lights dimmed. Rix turned off life support last; it would only be down for a few minutes, but doing it felt like sacrilege.

Contact with Zeus came a minute later. By that time Rix had sent Monk out and locked the door from the inside. With all power dedicated to Message Stick he would need to be brief. Fortunately, the part of Zeus that Rix wanted to talk to was inside the solar system, so there was almost no delay in transmission.

He keyed words into the system once contact was firm and secure.

Insurgents have compromised security. Reed Hasur leads them. And Maddy Hawthorn.

THIS IS A KNOWN FACTOR.

So what do we do?

NOTHING CHANGES. CARRY OUT YOUR INTENTIONS AS PLANNED.

They may have told others.

THAT IS NOT THE CASE. NO MESSAGES HAVE BEEN CONVEYED TO ANY AUTHORITIES.

Rix sighed. There was an ache behind his right eye now. Things were moving too quickly in some areas, and not quickly enough in others. He winced at the pain and wrote on the keydisc again.

I need assurance.

I AM SURE.

The Message Stick was severed. Zeus was like that. Rix slapped the keydisc closed and returned power to life support. A hundred lights relit the control panel as the ship's AI began restoring power to appropriate systems. It was almost possible to hear the thing sigh with relief.

Well, if Zeus was sure maybe there was nothing to be done.

Except, of course, to kill the prisoners.