"Not at the moment," Beach said grudgingly. "But I think Drusni is coming over to talk to him."

"Never mind her," Liadof growled. "Just get him moving."

Beach seemed to sigh. "Yes, Arbiter," he said, reaching again for the McCarthy panel.

"And put them on the speaker," she added. "I want to hear what they're talking about."

Finally, thankfully, the battering of the Protectors trailed off into silence. Raimey shook himself once, his whole body throbbing with pain at the movement, before turning carefully to look around him.

All that shoving had ended up pushing him well beneath the cage. Rolling onto his back, he looked up.

Directly above, the forest of spikes were pointed down at him. Beyond that, up along the side, he could see the Protectors continuing their attack. And between him and them he could see the group of Protectors who had driven him away, hurrying back to their places in line.

He rolled over onto his belly; and it was only then that his dazed mind caught on to the fact that he was back in control of his body again. Somehow, the humans' control over him had been broken.

That, or they'd simply decided he was of no further use and had tossed him aside.

Something bumped against his side, sending a ripple of pain through the already tender skin and muscle. He tensed, waiting for another round of Protector beatings—

"Manta, what were you doing?" Drusni demanded. "You weren't helping them—you were stopping them."

"I know," Raimey said, shying away from her touch.

And not just because of the pain. He had betrayed her. He had betrayed everyone. All he wanted now was to turn and run, as fast as possible, as far away as possible.

To run, and hide, and then to die. There was nothing else left for him now.

"What happened?" she asked. There was no anger in her voice, or accusation either. Only bewilderment and fear and concern.

"I don't know," he said with a tired sigh. "All of a sudden, I couldn't control myself. All I can think of is that the humans must have put something in my brain to control me."

"But how could they do that?" Drusni asked. "The parts of your brain and spinal chord that were once human were replaced by your Qanskan body a long time ago."

Raimey stared at her in astonishment. "How did you know about that?"

She hunched her fins. "I've learned a lot about you in the past one and a half dayherds, Manta," she said quietly. "After you... left... I made it part of my life to talk to everyone who knew about you. I even got Counselor Latranesto to come up to Level Four and talk with me."

She stroked his fin gently. "I never realized just what you went through to be a part of our lives. Will you forgive me for whatever I may have done to hurt you?"

Raimey took a deep breath, the last core of painful hardness in his heart melting away. "You don't have anything to apologize for," he told her. "All of it was my overreaction. When you told me about you and Pranlo—I'm sorry, Drusni. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just—"

"It's all right," she said softly. "You're my friend, Manta. You always have been. You always will be."

Faraday let out a quiet sigh. Not until that moment did he realize just how heavily the rift between Raimey and Drusni had been weighing on him for the past eighteen months. "At least that's resolved," he murmured.

"I'm deeply touched," Liadof growled. "Mr. Beach, why isn't he moving?"

"I thought we could at least let them have a couple of minutes together," Beach said hesitantly.

"Did I authorize a couple of minutes of togetherness?" Liadof snapped. "Or did I give you a direct order to the contrary?"

"A few minutes isn't going to make any difference, Arbiter," Faraday put in. The thought of yanking Raimey away from such a personal moment and throwing him back into the fight...

"And the Protectors aren't making any progress against the cage," Milligan added. "There's plenty of time."

"Well, isn't this precious," Liadof said contemptuously, looking around the room. "Closet romantics, the whole lot of you."

Faraday felt his face flush with warmth. "This isn't a matter of romanticism—"

"But we're not here to smile and cry with Raimey and his girlfriend," Liadof cut him off. "We're here to free humanity from this Solar System. Anyone who can't remember that is free to return to his quarters. Is that clear?"

No one spoke. "Good," she said. "Now. Any new damage to the cage, Mr. Milligan?"

"None registering," Milligan reported sullenly.

"What about the spy probe?" she asked. "Is it in position to observe yet?"

"Mostly," he confirmed, peering at another bank of displays. "It's still a little far, but we can keep an eye on Raimey with it."

"Then switch Omega's sensors to long-range mode," Liadof instructed him. "See if you can spot any sign of the Counselors and Leaders."

She turned to Beach. "And you, Mr. Beach, get Raimey moving."

Raimey's first warning was the sudden light-headedness and the glazing over of his vision. "Oh, no," he breathed. "It's happening again. I can feel it starting."

"You can't let them do this to you," Drusni insisted. "You have to stop them."

"How?" Raimey pleaded. "How can I fight it when I don't even know how they're doing it?"

"Well, how could they be doing it?" Drusni said. "You know how your people do things. Is it some kind of thing like that?" She flipped her tails up toward the probe and cage.

Something electronic? "I suppose so," Raimey said doubtfully. "I mean, it has to be something like that. But you're right; my whole brain has changed since I got here. Unless it was specially designed to work with Qanskan biochemistry."

"I don't know what those words mean," Drusni said. "But there must be a way to stop it."

"No," Raimey said. He could hear his voice trembling now. "Putting wires and microequipment into someone's brain is a complicated business. If they went to that much trouble, they'd have made sure I couldn't break out of it."

"I can't accept that," Drusni said firmly. "Please, Manta. Please. You have to find a way."

And then, as if coming from the clouds above, Raimey heard a voice. A vaguely familiar voice, speaking in soft tonals as if fearful of being overheard.

"It's all in your mind, Raimey. It's all in your mind."

"It is all part of your thoughts, Raimey," the translation came over the Contact Room speaker. "It is all part of your thoughts."

"What the hell?" Liadof barked, leaping to her feet. "Who said that? Who said that?"

No one answered. No one even moved. "Hands in the air," she ordered, striding up to the curved control board, her eyes darting back and forth between the techs. "I said hands in the air, away from your boards. Now!"

"Arbiter, what's the matter with you?" Faraday cut in, scrambling to his feet. "Those were Qanskan tonals."

"And whoever it was called him Raimey, Colonel," she snarled back. "None of the Qanska ever call him that. Someone here sent him that message, translated through the computer."

Faraday winced. He'd hoped she wouldn't pick up on that. "I can't see what difference it can possibly make—"

"Dr. Sprenkle," Liadof said, her voice suddenly glacially calm. "Your microphone switch is on."

Sprenkle didn't say a word. His hands still held up in the air, he stood up and turned to face her.

"Guard," Liadof said, her voice still quiet as she beckoned to one of the Sanctum cops. "Take him to the station brig. The charge is treason."

"What?" Faraday demanded. "You can't be serious."

"Ms. McCollum clearly acted under your orders, Colonel," Liadof said as the cop stepped forward, pulling a set of wristcuffs from one of his belt pouches. "Dr. Sprenkle just as clearly did not. The charge is treason."

"I protest," Faraday said sharply as the cop pulled Sprenkle's arms behind his back and secured them. "This is illegal, and I will not stand for it."