"This really isn't the Arlington Mall," Schroeder said. "We're in Nidu space. The Neverland will be floating in space. There's a damn huge Nidu gunship ready to blast the thing to pieces. If the Nidu Marines don't kill Creek dead, he'll be dead when the Neverland gets turned into dust"

"I'll believe it when I see it," Acuna said.

"Believe it, Rod," Schroeder said. "Now relax. That"s an order." Schroeder waved in the direction of a corner. "Look at your flunky over there. He's relaxed. Take a page from him."

Acuna glanced over at Takk, who had his face jammed in the same book he'd been reading for the last couple of days, the one he'd gotten off the geek before he ate him. Acuna had mocked Takk earlier for taking a souvenir; Takk had just looked at him with a flat, expressionless stare that Acuna figured wouldn't have been out of place on a cow. He hadn't actually been aware Takk could read, or read English, in any event.

"He's relaxed because he's got the IQ of furniture," Acuna said, and walked back over to the strip of manufactured crystal that served as the deck's window. The limb of Chagfun was visible at the bottom left. "I can't believe I'm back at this shit hole," he said.

"That's right, this is where the Battle of Pajmhi was," Schroeder said, in a tone of voice that exactly expressed his total lack of interest in the topic. Acuna glanced over at him and not for the first time wondered what it would be like to crack that smug head like a melon. Acuna wasn't the sort to get "band of brothers" emotional, but even he treated the battle with something that approached (for Acuna) grim and quiet contemplation. Schroeder's casual obliviousness to it was insulting.

Acuna shook it off. Regardless of how much Schroeder could benefit from a metal bar across the teeth, if one were applied to him, Acuna wouldn't get paid afterward. And it certainly wouldn't help him in his desire to serve it up to Creek.

"There she is," Schroeder said, and stood up to look out the window, where the Neverland had just popped into existence a second earlier. "Right about now their captain should be noticing that his communications are jammed, and in about a minute the Nidu are going to tell him to stand down and prepare to be boarded."

Acuna was lost in thought for a moment. "That ship is here to do some sort of ceremony, right?" he asked Schroeder.

Schroeder shrugged. "You tell me, Rod," he said. "It was your little newsletter that brought us here."

"Yeah, they were," Acuna said. "They were going to do some sort of memorial service. That's why they're here in the first place."

Schroeder glanced over, slightly annoyed. "So?"

Acuna walked back over to the window. "Landing shuttles, Jean," he said. "Prepared and ready to go. Creek isn't stupid. Once he figures out what's happening, he's going to look for a bolt hole. He's got one waiting. You better hope those Nidu marines are good at their job. If you give him a chance to get out, he's going to take it. And if he gets away and gets down to the planet, they're never going to find him. He survived this fucking rock when 100,000 of these reptilian bastards had guns and rockets pointed at his head. He'll survive it again."

Harry picked up the communicator on the third ring and glanced at the hour as he flipped it open: 3:36 a.m., ship's time. "Hello?" he said.

"Creek," Captain Lehane said. "You and your friend have trouble coming."

Harry felt cold. "How do you know—" he said.

"I've known since Caledonia," Lehane said, cutting him off. "There's no time to talk about it now. We're being boarded by Nidu marines, Creek. They're jamming our outbound transmissions and they've told me to stand down while they take your friend off the ship. They say they're at war with her, whatever the hell that means. You two need to get moving. If they're jamming our transmissions that means they don't want to let anyone know we're here. I think once they take your friend they mean to blow us out of the sky. The longer you two stay away from them, the longer I have to think of a way out of this. Get going. Good luck." Lehane switched off.

Creek shook Robin, who was dozing in her bunk. "Robin," he said. "Wake up. We're in trouble."

"What?" Robin said. She was groggy.

"Come on, Robin." Creek sat her up. Robin had been sleeping in her sweats; they would have to do. Creek switched on the light and opened the wardrobe to get out their shoes and also pants for himself. "Wake up, Robin. Wake up. We have to get moving."

"What's going on?" she said, still not entirely awake.

"Nidu marines are on board," Creek said, slipping on his pants. "They're coming for you. Once they have you, they're probably going to destroy the ship. We have to get moving and hide from them. Come on, Robin. No time to talk. We have to move." Pants on, Creek slipped his shoes over bare feet and then helped Robin with hers. She stood up.

"What's going to happen to us?" she said.

"They want you alive," Creek said. "No matter what, you're going to be fine for now. It's the rest of us who have to worry. Are you ready?" Robin nodded. Creek went to their cabin door and opened it a crack.

The hallway was clear in both directions. Creek glanced at the deck plan attached to the door. They were on one of the smaller, lower decks. There were stairwells at each end of the deck. An elevator lay recessed from the hallway near the center of the deck. Their own cabin lay near the fore of the deck, close to one of the stairwells.

"I'm going to call the elevator," Creek said to Robin. "Stay here until I call you. Then run like hell."

"We're taking the elevator?" Robin said, slightly incredulous.

"They'll be taking the stairs," Creek said. "There's probably a lot of them and they're probably carrying a lot of stuff. They won't fit in elevators. Here I go." He slipped out the door, padded quickly to the elevator, and pressed the "up" button. Shuttlebays were two decks below; it was the logical place for the Nidu to enter the ship. Up was better.

Cruise liner elevators are designed for comfort, not speed, and to move large numbers of passengers bloated by cruise buffets. It took its sweet time dropping down from the Galaxy Deck.

After nearly a minute, the elevator doors opened. Creek yelled at Robin to run as he heard the clunk of the stairwell door handle being depressed. Robin heard it too and did not need further encouragement to run like hell. Creek let go of the elevator door just before Robin reached it and yanked her in to keep her from resetting the doors. He jammed the button for the Promenade Deck, the highest passenger-accessible deck on the ship. The elevator started moving.

"Do you think they saw us get in the elevator?" Robin asked.

From below them they could hear pounding.

"Yeah," said Creek.

"What are we going to do now?" Robin said.

"I'm thinking,'' Creek said. The Neverland had five full decks of passenger cabins plus four full and partial decks primarily for shops and entertainment; crew and cargo decks and shuttlebays were below passenger decks. The entertainment decks were filled with places to hide, but it was early morning ship time; doors would be closed and locked. Passenger decks offered places to hide if they could convince someone to let them into their cabin. But once in they were likely to be trapped; a room-to-room search would take time but eventually they would be found. No matter where they went on the ship it was just a matter of time before they were tracked and caught.

"We need to get off the ship," Creek said.

"Harry," Robin said, and pointed to the elevator's button panel. "Look."

In decks above and below them, elevator buttons were flashing on.

"Shit, they're moving fast," Creek said. They were about to pass two deck, the second deck of cabins; Creek jabbed at the button for the deck.