"Anything for a survivor of the 6th," Brennan said, saluted Creek, and sat back down.

"That's service," Creek said. "Remind me to note that on the ratings slip at the end of the tour."

"The crew members who served know all about you being on the ship," Lehane said.

"That sounds ominous," Creek said.

Lehane smiled. "I doubt that," he said. "Let's just say that you're likely to find a substantial number of your drinks on the house."

"Thanks, but I prefer to pay," Creek said. "All the other guys here fought in the same battle I did."

"I was hoping you might say something like that," Lehane said. "It's good character. Have you been enjoying your trip so far?"

"We have," Creek said. "My fiancee and I just got back from visiting Caledonia. New Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful. Debbie is thrilled our luggage got lost because it's giving her an excuse to stock up." Creek wasn't entirely sure Robin would be thrilled at the picture he was painting of her as "Debbie," but there was no reason to stick too close to the real-life script.

"Caledonia is beautiful," Lehane agreed. "A lot of tourists are disappointed because New Edinburgh isn't tropically located, but it's my favorite stop on our itinerary. It's sad that we have to cut short our stay here—and at Brjnn, too—in order to get Chagfun into the schedule. We only have a day at each, and just one day at Chagfun as well. Although that doesn't bother me terribly."

"You don't sound very excited about Chagfun," Creek said.

"I'm not," Lehane admitted, in a rush that felt as if he were allowing a dark secret to be pulled out in the open. "It's a terrible place, you know. Bad things happened to us. Bad things happened to the rebels. And in both cases the Nidu were to blame. They're still there, of course. The idea of taking one of our spaceships back into that space knots my gut."

"And yet Ned says you lobbied hard for the Neverland to take these men to Chagfun," Creek said.

"I did," Lehane said. "If anyone's going to bring these guys back into Hell—even for a vacation—it should be someone who's been there before. And who knows the way back out again."

"I think I like you, Captain Lehane," Creek said.

"The feeling's mutual, Mr. Toshima," Lehane said. "You're a survivor of the 6th. I imagine you know what it's like to take men out of Hell."

"I do," Creek said. "Some of them, anyway."

Brian let his consciousness float before the informational edifice that was the Church of the Evolved Lamb's computer network and tried to figure out the best way to break in.

Earlier in the day, Brian had noted with satisfaction that his older brother had swatted back the Nidu attempt to reclassify Robin Baker as property and rammed the ruling right down their lizardly throats. Brian had burst with fraternal pride as he read the judge's ruling; Ben had always been the smart one in the family and had a special knack for sneaking up behind people in an intellectual sense and then whacking them in the skull, which is exactly what had happened here. But Brian didn't think the ruling was close to the end of it. People who were happy to argue that a human has as many rights as an alarm clock were not likely to be stopped by a judge. They'd be after Robin again soon enough, and Harry along with her. Brian felt that it was his mission to find out how, stop it if he could, or at least inform Harry about what to expect.

By dint of Harry's security clearance, Brian knew everything the UNE knew about the situation, which was not enough to help him extrapolate what the Nidu would do next There were two other players who had information Brian didn't have and that he needed: The Nidu government itself, and the Church of the Evolved Lamb, who through Archie McClellan had been keeping tabs on the entire situation.

Brian read up on both, which in this case meant accessing the complete information about both in his databanks, a process which took a couple of seconds. He was not entirely surprised to find two significant points of connection between the Nidu government and the Church. The first was that sheep was a breed of sheep designed by the Church (or more accurately, its genetics labs, which were part of the overall Hayter-Ross corporate structure) for the Nidu government at the behest of the UNE government. Even more accurately, it had been designed for the auf-Getag clan prior to their challenge for the Nidu throne years back. This was an interesting bit of trivia; it showed the UNE had placed their bets on the succession long before it actually went down. Designing an entirely new breed of sheep took time.

The second is that the construction of the Nidu computer network currently in use had been contracted out to the UNE—the auf-Getag clan's way of scratching the back of those who had scratched theirs. The UNE in return subcontracted the job to several companies—two thirds of whom, including the managing subcontractor LegaCen, were companies within the overall Hayter-Ross corporate umbrella.

The specifics of the computer system were not available (of course—they were Nidu state secrets), but the general gist of the computer system was that it allowed the Nidu Fehen complete access to and control of every network-enabled computer and appliance in Nidu space. And they were all network-enabled; by Nidu law, if it had a processor, it had to be attached to the network. Lesser but still Orwellian levels of access were provided by the Fehen to other Nidu higher-ups, who it goes without saying were entirely loyal to the Fehen. This was all in the service of total, centralized control; in this technologically centered age, a rebellion that relied on paper was not a rebellion that would get very far.

There was no way for Brian to access the Nidu computer network directly. From Earth, there were only two points of entry. The first was at the Nidu embassy, where the Nidu network-enabled computers and appliances were intentionally incompatible with standard Earth technology and used wired rather than wireless connections. Short of Brian physically breaking into the Nidu embassy and using Nidu input devices to access the network—unlikely as Brian was lamentably short of physicality at the moment—he was out in the cold.

On the other hand, LegaCen maintained a connection to the Nidu network as part of its continuing maintenance contract with the Nidu government. LegaCen, a subsidiary of Hayter-Ross, controlled by the Church of the Evolved Lamb. All the more reason, Brian thought, to break into the Church's network.

Brian was actually entirely filled with admiration for the Church. He'd read Dwellirt's prophecies and unlike the UNE and Nidu governments, who apparently saw only the Hayter-Ross corporate structure and not the religious entity behind it, Brian had come to the conclusion that the Church was working to hasten the end times hinted at in its own prophecies, and had well and truly maneuvered the governments of two planets to that end. Brian idly wondered what would happen if, indeed, the Church managed to reach its goal and bring forth the Evolved Lamb. He doubted very seriously that the Church would disband.

All of this was immaterial, however, to the salient point of entering the network and seeing what he could see regarding Robin, Harry, and the Nidu's plans for them. No time like the present, Brian thought, and with that extended himself into every conceivable nook and cranny of the Church's system, looking for a keyhole in.

This was not the smartest way Brian should have been doing his search. He'd've probably been better off beginning with a noninvasive survey of the system, wandering through the public areas to get an idea where to start poking around without signaling the network it was under a massive attack. But Brian considered that sort of slow-paced examination to be a luxury Robin and Harry couldn't afford at the moment. Anyway, he thought of himself as an Alexander type, cutting the Gordian knot in half while more cautious types fiddled with the rope end, futilely trying to figure out where to begin untying.