"Rebecca went with them?" asked Rue for the tenth time. She couldn't understand why her doctor and friend had deserted her.

"She did," said Travis Li. "We spoke before she left; she genuinely believed you were dead. She told me that she wanted to defend the Envy from Mallory's people— first of all by making sure crew members Laurel and Chandra learned, as she put it, 'what really happened on Oculus. »

"I see. Thank you, Captain." This time, she held her expression completely neutral.

Captain Li continued. "We know now that Crisler has committed high crimes, but it is absolutely forbidden to withdraw beam power from a cycler cargo once it's on its way," he said. "You understand the sanctity of the Compact's laws? We have to honor our commitments regardless of local consequences." She nodded.

"We'll be questioning your companions about Crisler and the rebellion against the Rights Economy," said Griffin. "Don't worry, it won't be an interrogation. But we want to get your impressions most of all, as a citizen of the halo. We know Mallory's people have cut a deal with the R.E.; they want to abolish the Compact and make us dependent on the R.E." The abbot scowled, shaking his head. "They paint it as an opportunity, but it's really a power grab; we think Mallory and his cabal have been promised rights to all commercial travel between the lit worlds and the halo. As Rights Owners, they'd become fabulously wealthy…"

"And we'd be paying them to communicate with our own people," finished Rue. The prospect was appalling, but had its own sick logic.

She told the assembly the scenario she had worked out with Mike and Barendts, wherein Mallory got the Envy and Crisler whatever treasure lay at Apophis and Osiris. "Crisler is looking for some ultimate weapon he can use against the rebels and he thinks it's to be found at the Twins. We have to head him off."

"Why?" asked an elderly woman. "What does it matter to us if the R.E. tears itself apart? In fact, why shouldn't we just sit back and let them do it?"

Rue told them about the probability that Crisler's von Neumann machines would have to target alien worlds as well as human in order to guarantee wiping out the rebels. "This would amount to humanity declaring war against all other sentient life," she said. "I don't believe we could be neutral and I don't believe we could let it happen without being party to genocide beyond anything we've ever witnessed before. Do you really want that on your hands?"

They shifted uncomfortably; she could see they did not relish the prospect.

"But if you need a reason that's more… self-interested…" she said slowly, "think about this: If we're right and Crisler certainly believes as we do… if we're right, then what is waiting for us at Apophis and Osiris is some kind of technology that would make it easier for us to produce cyclers. Maybe they would produce themselves, we don't know. If Crisler gets his hands on it, we lose…" She shrugged. "Well, we lose everything. I think it's fair to say we lose the Compact. After all, who's building new cyclers these days?" She looked around the table.

"That's why we have to stop Crisler. We need to signal the Envy, get Evan and Corinna to break her free of the Banshee at any cost and head straight for the Twins. Think of what it would mean to the halo if we found, not just one new cycler, but a whole line of them!"

Even as she said this, Rue knew it was useless. They might agree with her, but Crisler held all the cards. Even if they sent a message to the Envy, Evan and Corinna had no way to stop the Banshee from going to the Twins. It, on the other hand, could blast the Envy to smithereens without a second thought. More to the point, Evan and Corinna could be rounded up at any time by the marines aboard the Banshee.

Even now, messages to that effect must be winging ahead of Crisler's magsail. By the time he rendezvoused with the ships, the Envy would be his. And no other ship from the halo could hope to get to the Twins first.

One of the people at the table was a government minister whom Rue remembered from her first meeting, lo those distant several days ago. He leaned forward now and called up a holographic starmap above the tabletop.

"Don't worry," he said, "this image is isolated from the inscape system. I just want us to be clear on the logistics before we make the next decision."

He pointed at the center of the display. "Apophis and Osiris. And here is Maenad, the Envy's next destination after Colossus. Crisler will arrive there, return to the R.E. and round up some extra ships. Then he'll fly to Apophis and Osiris. Captain Cassels, what do you think the likelihood is that Admiral Crisler will forego the extra ships and simply jump straight to the Twins from Maenad?"

She thought about it. Crisler was a control freak, but he was also cautious and thorough. He already had a complete scientific team aboard the Banshee, but he had no idea what he might find at the Twins. He might need more ships and if he discovered that too late, it would take years for him to return to High Space and gather them. She shook her head. "No. He'd want to have everything he needs before going in."

Nods up and down the table. "Right," said the minister. "Maenad is a light-year from us. Crisler will reach it in about fourteen months. Then he has to round up his new team— which may involve politics and we all know how slow that can be. When he's got the ships, he can fly out to the Twins in essentially no time at all. Call it… sixteen months."

"Sixteen months." It was the older captain, Serle. He was shaking his head in disbelief. "There's no way we can be ready in that time."

"We're going to have to be," countered Captain Li.

"Ready?" Rue put her hand up, looking ironically meek. "Ready for what?"

The minister glanced around the table, nodded. "Rue, what we're about to tell you cannot be spoken about outside this room. After our experience with Crisler's men hacking into our inscape system, we no longer trust public communications systems for this kind of thing. We know we were not compromised before his arrival, but now that the R.E.'s ties to Mallory's people are exposed, security is more vital than ever.

"You are now a captain of the Cycler Compact. You have certain rights and powers, including a security clearance high enough for you to hear what we're about to tell you. First, however, we need your solemn assurance that you will not tell your travelling companions, the professor and this NeoShintoist, Bequith, anything that we reveal to you now."

Rue chewed her lip, thinking. It was astonishing; from being a rejected kid on a cometary station, she had arisen to cycler captain. One small step remained to be taken and she would be in the central circle of power for the Compact itself, so far above where her ambitions had lain that she had no idea what it would mean for her.

"No," she said curtly. "I trust those men with my life, sir. They have my confidence."

Travis Li leaned forward. "They are citizens of the Rights Economy," he said. "We can't permit the R.E. to know—"

"They're my crew," she interrupted.

Li sat back, obviously startled. "Crew? But they were hired by Admiral Crisler to do research for him."

"Ask them," she said, though her heart was pounding. "One of the rights of a cycler captain, as you explained to me so kindly at the ball the other night, is to confer citizenship. I hereby say that Laurent Herat and Michael Bequith are citizens of the Compact, in my eyes, if they choose to be. Ask them. But I won't swear to you that I won't tell them whatever secrets you're offering me."

The powers of the Compact muttered among themselves and Rue sat with her face hot, feeling like she'd blown it for good this time. And what was this secret, anyway?