Rip slowed the train down as they neared the exit. He could see the end of the line, a wooden barricade blocking the way. He slowed even more as they entered a large depot at a stately crawl.

Much like the one they started from, this subterranean room looked like a transfer station for cargo, although far fewer boxes lay scattered about.

Rip felt more concern about who they would find here, rather than what.

He eased the lever back to its horizontal position, bringing the train to a stop and leading to another skill pointdisplaying on his implant’s readout.

An argument broke out in the middle car. After a few heated words, several Venture Society members stepped out, guns drawn.

The police stayed on the train.

Rip deduced that Chief Inspector Sperry must have had a disagreement with Sharp and Bixby, which the nobles won. He decided to join them, and pulled a Tommy gun out of his interspatial wallet.

Blair followed him out, hopping lightly from the engine compartment to the concrete floor of the depot. The Verez sisters jumped out right behind them.

“This place seems deserted,” Chance said, aiming his gun straight up.

Bixby said, “Indeed.”

Rip scanned the far wall and noticed something curious.

“This is a mirror duplicate of the other room, but the far tunnel has a vault door, just like that storage facility we found.”

“He’s right,” Sharp said. “Let’s investigate, and hope those officers stay in place.”

Sharp, Bixby and Finley headed for the vault door with Twig and Chance trailing.

Rip stopped.

Blair looked up at him with a curious expression.

“You don’t want to examine the door over there?”

“Doesn’t seem prudent to cluster together. I’m going to stay back here, just in case.”

“We will stay with you, Ripley,” Liza said. “You are so wise in combat.”

“And strong,” Hilda added, her voice dripping in praise.

Blair turned to glower at them, her animosity reignited by their compliments.

Before the others could reach the vault door, it swung open and a string of men in gasmasks poured out.

Sharp yelled, “Sewer troopers!”

The five dove for cover, ducking behind shipping crates.

The troopers opened fire, their broomhandle submachine guns burping long strings of gunshots.

Rip and the three women took cover as well. He spared a glance for the train, and noticed several blue dome hats ducking down below the windows as a few stray bullets plinked off the metal cars.

Servos whined and a loud clank sounded as Humphries stepped down from the back of the train.

He clumsily tromped toward Rip and the girls, knocking over a stack of crates along the way.

“I say! Perfect opportunity for combat trials.”

His voice sounded muffled inside the robot’s head.

“He’s like a metal puppet in your electric world, no?” Liza said, lying prone next to the sergeant.

Rip gave her a second glance. Somehow she had sneaked closer when he wasn’t looking.

“Sort of. We call that a mech, although this one is more primitive.”

Sperry called out, “Tally ho, boys! Line up behind the professor’s bot!”

The offices streamed out of the rail cars with a roar, holding their billy clubs high. They lined up three abreast behind the vault robot and marched forward with it.

Blair sighed and said, “Come along. Looks like we’re the only ones in this lot with guns.”

She jogged out in front of the automaton, which had passed them by now, and ran point on its right.

Rip smiled and joined her. The vampire sisters moved to its left.

“It’s actually a decent formation,” Rip said, lining up his sights on the first set of sewer troopers heading for them.

Scattered bodies lay on the floor between Bixby’s group and the vault door. It remained ajar, open wide enough for a man to squeeze through. More troopers filed out, carrying broomhandle guns.

“Hold your position here, Lord Humphries!”

The group stopped at a good position, with a clear line of fire at the troopers.

Rip thought so long as Sharp and the others lay flat, their four guns could help in the onslaught. The girls and Rip opened fire, bullets ripping into troopers.

Blair said, “They’re not enhanced. They’re going down easy.”

Rip grunted, taking a lung shot. He felt the air go out and blood trickling in. Squinting, he sent a short burst into the face of the man who shot him.

He heard bullets plunk into the sisters, too. He spared a glance at Blair, but so far she had miraculously avoided getting hit.

Humphries’s robot attracted most of the return fire, but of course it was thoroughly impervious to small calibers and all lead pinged off harmlessly.

One of those ricocheted bullets finally found Blair, popping into her calf muscle.

“Rubbish!”

Rip noticed a large bloody spot on her leg when he paused to swap out magazines. He pulled a fresh drum from his wallet and placed the empty one back inside.

“Looks like they’ve stopped sending men in,” Blair said.

He glanced at the vault door.

“You’re right. No one’s coming through anymore.”

Gunfire trickled off, and slowly stopped as the last troopers were killed or wounded.

When a few seconds went by with no shots fired, Sperry peeked around the robot.

He said, “Round them up, lads!”

The cops broke from their formation behind the robot and rushed forward with a roar, looking to detain and arrest anyone they could find. But the sewer troopers were all on the floor, most of them dead.

At that moment, a tall man in a dark peaked cap and a long black leather overcoat walked through the vault door. All the Venture Society guns immediately pointed at him, but he seemed unconcerned.

He strolled out from the vault door with hands behind his back, glaring at the fallen troopers, the Venture Society personnel and the police.

Finally his eyes landed on the sergeant.

Rip waved and said, “Dar Caul. I know who you are, now.”

After several seconds of scowling at Rip, he shifted to Sharp, Bixby and Finley who were closer.

“What is the meaning of this intrusion?”

“Are you in charge here?”

Sperry pushed his way through Twig and Chance, then the nobles to face Dar Caul.

“I’m Chief Inspector Sperry of the Ethinium Police. You are all under arrest.”

Caul gave him a withering stare, full of contempt. The Chief Inspector did not back down, but stared back with the full authority of his office.

“Inspector . . .”

“Chief Inspector.”

“You are in the Ethinium steam vault. You have no authority here, as established by the Council of Ghent. That treaty, signed by all civilized nations, predates even your Magna Carta.”

A crack formed in the inspector’s façade, with a trace of worry flickering in his eyes.

“We pursued a suspected crime ring following gunfire under city streets. And our search has led us here. Thus, our authority extends here as well.”

Caul’s glare remained unrelenting.

“While Venture Society members on occasion tread into our outer vaults . . .” Neither Finley, Bixby nor Sharp looked very apologetic about this statement. “Those attached to major cities, such as this one, remain inviolate. And I will not tolerate city police, nor others, to remain in the vicinity shooting up my troopers.”

Sperry looked like he wanted to argue some more, but Finley patted him on the shoulder.

“Come along, Chief Inspector. We got what we came for. Knowledge. Let us depart and leave Dar Caul here to his own devices.”

Sperry had a sour expression on his face, but he acquiesced.

“You heard them, lads. Back on the train, the lot of you.”

Slowly, everyone retreated. The cops appeared particularly frustrated. Humphries clumsily turned around, knocking over two of them in the process, and clumped back to the rear of the train.

Dar Caul stared venomously at Rip a while longer before heading back to the vault door. When he slipped through, it swung shut. Rip noticed another cypher machine connected to the door, and filed the nugget away for later.

The last car groaned as Humphries climbed on it again.

Rip heard a muffled groan nearby. He looked down at a wounded storm trooper.

Then he glanced over at Liza and Hilda, remembering the shots they took.

“Do you need to feed?”

Liza sniffed and made a face.

“Bad blood.”

“Really? What’s wrong with it?”

She shrugged.

His eyes narrowed in thought.

“Blair? Has the Lyceum ever studied one of these guys?”

She shrugged and said, “I don’t know. But then, I don’t keep track of everything they research.”

He stooped down to pick up the man, slinging him over his shoulders. Then he walked back toward the engine compartment.

“I think taking biters from the vaults is a violation of the Council of Ghent,” Blair said, a tone of caution in her voice.

“Well, Caul’s not here to stop me. And somehow, I don’t think the Chief Inspector is going to protest much.”