This warning four months old.

Aleas read it twice. WarAvocat said, "That's not out of my fevered imagination. Gemina analyzed the action at Objectives Sixty through Seventy-Five. There's been a shakeup in the enemy high command. Chicken or egg, dramatically different goals have been adopted. They're preserving their best and maximizing our losses. To me that says they're preparing something they think will rock Canon and galvanize its enemies. They're getting ready to bet everything on one pass of the dice."

"I can't contradict you." Aleas was troubled. She looked at him oddly, decided to speak her mind. "You think the Ku is directing them."

"That's possible. It's also possible they've learned how to run a war."

She did not bite at the disclaimer. "And you're sure he'll take a shot at Starbase."

"That's a possibility, too. But not the only one. There's the operation he was planning when he got the rug yanked by the Ku Surrender."

"I'm no student of the times. Illuminate me."

"He was going to try Capitola Primagenia."

Aleas frowned.

"It's an easier target. Imagine the impact Outside. Imagine the civil chaos. He might prefer Starbase but he's a realist. He doesn't try to do something when he doesn't have the resources."

"You might suggest that an attack on Capitola Primagenia could be coming, but don't mention the Ku. Some of the Deified think you're as screwy about him as Makarska Vis."

WarAvocat snorted. When the hour came, he would bet his immortality on his intuition. He would use all his power to do what had to be done.

Meantime, there were worlds to conquer.

— 117 —

Lupo looked up as Two came in. "What did they think?" A fraction of the take from the Hemebuk Neutrality had arrived. T.W. and one of the Valerenas had introduced the Directors to the undistributed pile. Two had gone along disguised as one of T.W.'s assistants.

"They were impressed. T.W. told them there would be more. I didn't hear much grumbling about how we shut them out."

"Simpletons. As long as they can afford to indulge themselves, they don't care what we do. It was worth the investment for the little time we need."

Lupo Provik had embezzled the majority of the Outsider payoff. He'd already bought the shell and assets of a dying colonial corporation from artifacts who had hoped to establish their own closed society. He had gotten a bargain by agreeing to maintain their social goals.

Now he was shopping for independently held, financially troubled, potentially profitable star systems, preferably with the foundation infrastructures in place. Given those, he could put together a new House. With capital left over.

It would not be House Tregesser, but it would be safe.

It would be a veil behind which he and his could vanish. If the dam just held till he cobbled it together.

Two said, "There's something going on out there in the shadows."

"Uhm?"

"Somebody is going to try something. A couple of the Directors had that slinky feel. And there are tensions down below. Like people sense a storm gathering."

Lupo leaned back, frowned, wondered who and why. "Anything concrete?"

"No."

"Any ideas?"

"Not unless the Worgemuth faction thinks it's a good time to unforget and forgive about Myth."

"I can't buy that."

"I don't either, really."

"What's T.W. say?"

"She feels it but she hasn't found anything. I told her to keep an eye on everybody since there's no sane reason for anybody to try something."

"Tina too?"

"Even Tina. What the hell are you messing with? You've been at it for two days."

"Putting together specs for a star chart like we had in the end space. I figure if we're going into business on stolen money, we ought to buy at least one toy while we're at it."

— 118 —

It took a week to get loose. The Pioyugovs had to do some fancy talking and, Jo suspected, had to grease a few palms. Station could get away with screwing aliens easier than humankind.

At P. Jaksonica 3 they collided with bureaucracy grinding its finest, for reasons not immediately clear. Station said that since Jo and AnyKaat had no documentation, they could not be permitted egress from the Traveler. But hundreds of people ought to be able to identify AnyKaat. And Station Master Magnahs and STASIS Director Otten should remember her. But Admin played the game as though what mattered was not people but papers. They wouldn't even let AnyKaat see her mother or son. Wouldn't notify them that someone claiming to be AnyKaat had arrived.

The people responsible bulwarked themselves behind a claim for need of a clearance from Sector General Secretariat.

Jo's patience cracked. She established herself in the Traveler's lounge, told a steward, "Tell Amber Soul I want to see her as soon as possible."

Amber Soul came immediately.

Jo had found she could communicate with her more completely than she could with Seeker. They had Merod Schene in common. Emotionally Jo shared little with Seeker but goals.

She told Amber Soul, "I've lost patience with these dinks. They're tearing AnyKaat apart. I want to go twist some arms. I want you to go along and scare the shit out of anybody who gives me any grief. Can you do that?"

Yes. As simple as that, understanding bridging the gulf.

"Let's go." The opposite of bureaucracy. Decide. Do it.

Jo did not see what Amber Soul showed the STASIS guards dockside. They took off howling. What if somebody got scared and did something stupid and lethal?

They had no trouble reaching the hub, and got there fast enough to catch Gitto Otten as he was sneaking away from his office. Amber Soul put a fear in him that welded his feet to the deckplates.

Jo said, "I came up to deliver a message. We're pulling out on the tenth. Headed for Starbase. I estimate a max thirty-two day turnaround. You recall how Guardships get about respect? I think you'll see one here about the twelfth of next month. Unless something really upbeat happens here before the tenth. You get my drift?"

Otten gulped, looked over her shoulder, over his own and found no help there. "Are you threatening me?"

"Damned straight."

Otten sputtered.

"Think about it. Get advice from Master Magnahs. You don't have much time." She headed back to the Traveler.

AnyKaat's son and mother reached the Traveler twelve hours after Jo visited Director Otten. The boy was pale and anxious, probably armed with only the vaguest memories of his mother. With them came a nervous Admin clerk who handed over "emergency" documentation for AnyKaat and Jo. He delivered a hasty, mumbled admonition about getting final approval from Sector General Secretariat, then fled.

Jo hung around as long as it took to be introduced, then withdrew. She took a lot of pain back to her cabin. After calling Otten and delivering a polite "Thank you," she lay down in the dark to stare at an overhead she could not see, wondering why that reunion filled her with hurt when she should be pleased for her friend.

Next day AnyKaat took advantage of her new mobility to go in search of friends. Jo watched her go. She looked troubled. Like she had not found what she wanted with her mother and son.

Jo knew. You could not go back. She had been through that time warp. A bad case of divergence shock awaited her now. She had evolved since last she was aboard VII Gemina.

The Guardship would not have changed.

That face of the future terrified her.

Amber Soul caught her at the exit hatch, in her dark musing. Seeker would consult with you, Jo Klass.

Startled, Jo grunted, recovered. "Of course." He must be getting impatient.

It was her first visit to the suite the aliens shared. The smell hit her like a blow, made her eyes water. It was like a place overpopulated by untrained pets.