Hakim touched Martin on the shoulder. "We will be able to noach in two minutes," he said. "We will communicate with Greyhounddirectly. Through them, of course, Shrikeas well, but Shrikeis still out of direct range."

"What would you do?" Martin asked Eye on Sky.

"As a group? We we must decide—"

"By yourself," Martin said. "If you had the choice."

"What would you do if you alone, as a braid—" Paola tried to interpret.

"I we understand," Eye on Sky interrupted her. "It is not a question I we enjoy answering."

Martin stared at him and gave the merest nod.

Paola looked between the Brothers, who had stopped moving, waiting for Eye on Sky's answer.

"I we have not reached a decision," he finally said.

"You're wavering," Cham said. Cham pushed off from the ceiling and rotated to a reverse, landing with his feet on the floor, then performed the maneuver in reverse, exercising with nervous energy. "I think it's a trap," Cham said. "The very worst trap, perfectly designed to snare us. I think you should tell Hans that."

Ariel curled in mid-air. Martin could not read her expression.

"Nobody's asked the mom or the snake mother what we should do," George Dempsey said.

"George, you've always been a little dense," Donna told him.

"Hell, I know they're not supposed to influence us…" George said with a pained expression. "But they brought us here, they've given us this opportunity, and if we screw it up, if we decide wrong…"He blocked Cham's accelerated exercise with an arm, causing Cham to tumble and grab a stanchion. Cham mumbled something unintelligible but stopped bouncing back and forth and curled beside Erin. "If we decide wrong…" George repeated, but did not finish.

"We're guilty of a crime worse than the death of Earth," Paola said.

"Right," George said.

"Just what they want us to think," Cham said. "Perfect disguise."

"I don't think it's a disguise," Martin said.

"Nor do I we," Silken Parts agreed.

"Nor do we all," Eye on Sky concluded. Cham pushed his lips together and shook his head.

"Well, I'm in myplace," he muttered.

"Stop it," Martin said. "We could argue for years and not know for sure. I'm goddamned confused myself."

"Amen," Erin said.

"But I'm not Pan. We don't make the decision alone. We present what we have to all the others…"

In the quiet, cool noach chamber, Hakim, Eye on Sky, and Martin sat, waiting for signals to be coordinated.

Stonemaker and Giacomo appeared first, three-dimensional noach images growing out of the air. Giacomo's face was pale and drawn, his eyes dark and tired. Stonemaker received Eye on Sky's report as Hakim prepared to transmit their findings.

"We're having trouble," Giacomo told Martin. "Hans will be here soon. He can tell you about it. I need to speak with Jennifer right away."

"After Hans and I talk," Martin said.

"Martin, this is really important. We've made some significant advances. The moms are making new equipment for us. I have to talk with Jennifer, and Silken Parts, too."

"I understand," Martin said. "Strategy first."

Giacomo's face reddened. "God damn it, Martin, Hans isn't here yet, and we don't have much time. We've learned a lot in the past few tendays, stuff I wouldn't have believed!"

"So tell me about it while we wait for Hans," Martin said.

"Bring Jennifer in. We'll all talk."

Martin did not relish being bogged down in technical details, but he relented and asked Jennifer to enter the noach chamber. Her expression softened when she saw Giacomo, then became worried as she saw the strain he was under.

"Jenny, we think this system is armed to the teeth. Blinker is probably a giant noach generator, but it isn't used for communication. The entire planet changes every few minutes… The moms have studied it, I've been working through the momerath…"

"Give us the important stuff," Jennifer said, glancing at Martin. "We'll talk momerath later."

"Blinker is their Achilles' heel," Giacomo said. "It controls a lot of things around Leviathan. We think we can use noach as a weapon against Blinker. If we can persuade Blinker, it'll be like their turning our ships into anti em, only much more powerful. Wormwood was deliberately primitive, compared to Leviathan. That's what I've told Hans, and the moms seem to agree. They're making noach weapons right now. I don't think we'll have time to test—"

"What can they do?" Martin asked.

"We might survive Blinker if it tries to attack us. Our neutronium weapons are probably useless. They can nullify them, even… I'm not positive about this, Jenny, but the momerath says they can convert our bombs to the limits of the system, or even after they enter a planet.

"That's the glory of Leviathan. Just lookingat these planets long enough, we can think of a thousand new things, a thousand possibilities. The ships' minds are working all the time. All our weapons and delivery systems are being redesigned."

Hans entered and sat next to Giacomo, facing Martin across over nine billion kilometers. Martin was shocked by how thin and wiry Hans appeared, as if he had lost all unnecessary flesh to prepare for some intense conflict. His eyes focused on Martin's chin, then drifted down to his neck.

"Martin and I need to be alone. Jennifer, whoever else is there but Martin, and the Brothers… leave now," he said. "They can talk science in a few minutes."

Giacomo withdrew. Jennifer swore under her breath and left Double Seed'snoach chamber. Hakim followed after he was sure the transmission was stable. Martin nodded to him apologetically. Eye on Sky continued to confer with Stonemaker in two-part Brother language, clicks and violin sighs.

"You actually went down there, had a one to one?" Hans asked, unable to project more than a hint of feeling.

"We did. Twice," Martin said.

"Face to face with the enemy." Hans shook his head in dull-eyed wonder. "That's something, Marty."

Martin's eyes grew moist but he did not reach up to wipe them. Even now, when his instincts told him something horrible had happened, even Hans' flat and listless approval meant something.

"We've had shit up to our necks here," Hans said. "Giacomo's probably told you some of it already."

"No details."

"Twenty-one of our crew mutinied. They tried to elect their own Pan. I told them there couldn't be any proceedings until the Job was over and the crews were reunited, but Jeanette Snap Dragon and a few others kept at it until they broke the others down."

Martin doubted that was the entire story. "What about the Brothers?"

"They're going to take Shrike, leave us with Greyhound. I've agreed to that."

"They're not doing the Job with us?"

"We'll coordinate, but they've decided not to be on the same ship."

Martin shook his head in disbelief. "What in hell happened, Hans?"

"Rex is dead," Hans said. "He killed himself a tenday ago. He confessed to killing Rosa and said he couldn't live with it."

"Why did he kill her?"

Hans leveled his gaze on Martin. "Necessities. She took him in as her lover. Something happened. Has Giacomo explained what the moms are doing?"