“Commissioner Kelly, I cannot argue with you. You, as well as J’merlia, Kallik, and E. C. Tally, have been drawn into a situation of great danger, for no better reason than my desire to bring Louis Nenda and Atvar H’sial to justice, and to satisfy my own curiosity. That is unfair, and it is also unreasonable. I intend to continue to explore Glister. I hope to find Nenda and H’sial, and also Hans Rebka and Darya Lang. But that is not your responsibility. As of this moment you are officially relieved. You, E. C. Tally, J’merlia, and Kallik are all free to return to the surface. Take the Summer Dreamboat, go back to Opal, and report. Leave the other ship for my use, and for the others if I can find and rescue them.”

It was a better answer than Birdie dreamed of getting. He stood to attention. “Yes, sir! Kallik, J’merlia. E.C.? All ready to go?”

But the embodied computer was shaking his head. “Go, Birdie Kelly, as soon as you are prepared. However, I cannot accompany you. I was sent to the Dobelle system with a mission: Find out what happened at Summertide, and learn why Captain Rebka and the others elected to remain there afterwards. Full answers have not been provided, and my query registers remain unfulfilled. I must go with Councilor Graves.”

Which left the two aliens. Even as Birdie turned to them, he suspected that he was going to be disappointed. Kallik was hopping up and down, emitting the chirps and whistles that told of high excitement.

“The masters are alive! The masters are alive! J’merlia says that they are conscious, and somewhere within Glister. Honored humans, please grant us permission to seek them and offer again our services.”

“You still want to go after those two crooks?” Birdie did not have much hope after that speech, but he tried. “Kallik, they deserted you and J’merlia and left you to die on Quake. They ran away from you here, when you were still stuck in the Lotus field with no idea when or how you’d get out. They don’t care what happens to you. You don’t owe them anything.”

“But they are the Masters! Our true and wonderful and only masters.” Kallik turned to Graves. “Revered Councilor, please grant us permission to accompany you. We will obey any orders that you choose to give us. Let Commissioner Kelly go home — but please do not send us with him to Opal. Let us remain with you and seek the masters.”

Hearing her, and looking at J’merlia and E. C. Tally, Birdie had his own moment of truth. They were all suggesting that he should try to fly — alone — through that blizzard of murderous Phages. Without Kallik to help as navigator, his survival chances were close to zero. And then if by some fluke he did not make it, he would have to fly all the way to Opal facing the bitter fact of his own lack of courage.

What a choice: a fool, or a coward. And the coward had a near-certain chance of being killed as he tried to fly away from Glister. Birdie might be safer here.

He sighed. “I was just joking. I’d rather find out what happened to the others. Lead on, Councilor. We’re all in this together.”

“Wonderful. I am glad you will stay. You are a great asset.” Graves gave him an admiring smile.

Birdie cringed. If there was one thing worse than being a coward, it was being mistaken for a hero.

Kallik’s lonely wandering through the interior of Glister before the others arrived was paying off. As she moved the Hymenopt had mapped out in her head a rough plan of many of the chambers and corridors. She already knew that the lower levels were high-gee environments, unsuitable for human or Cecropian habitation. And she was also fairly sure that there was no way they could reach the surface, other than the one she had created with the field inhibitor. To reach that, Nenda and Atvar H’sial would have to pass again through the chamber with the Lotus field. Since they had not done so, they must still be somewhere in the lower levels of Glister’s interior.

Julius Graves led the way, followed by the two aliens. Tally was next, still holding the reel of neural cable that Birdie had rewound. There might be no more Lotus fields in the interior — Kallik knew of none — but it was best to take precautions.

Birdie came last. The rear was no safer than anywhere else, but he wanted to be alone to think. He was still brooding over his decision to stay on Glister. He had blown it. It had occurred to him, too late, that he ought at least to have gone back to the surface and taken a look at what was going on there. For all he knew, the Phages had wandered away to seek other targets. He might have had a clear ride home. And even if they had not gone, he could have come back here and been no worse off than he was now.

They had been descending steadily, through a succession of corridors, sliding ramps, and chambers of all shapes and sizes. At this point Birdie was not sure he could find his own way back, but that did not matter too much because E. C. Tally would have every turn and twist recorded in his inorganic data banks.

Birdie bumped suddenly into the back of the embodied computer. Graves, in front of the others, had paused, and Birdie had not been paying attention.

The councilor turned. “Something is ahead.” His deep, hollow voice was reduced to a hoarse whisper. “There are peculiar sounds. You wait here. J’merlia and I will proceed. We will return in five minutes or less. If we do not, Commissioner Kelly will be in charge of all subsequent actions.”

He was gone before Birdie could object. All subsequent actions. He was being promoted from peon to president, with no idea what he ought to do. “How do I know when five minutes is up?” he asked E. C. Tally.

“I will keep you informed. My internal clock is accurate to the femtosecond.” Tally held up one grimy finger. “Since Councilor Graves’s final words to you it is exactly… forty-six seconds. Forty-seven. forty-eight. Forty-nine. Fifty.”

“Stop that, E.C. I can’t think when you keep on counting.”

“Indeed? How strange. I have no such trouble. I offer condolences for your restriction to serial processing.”

“Talking like that is just as bad. Keep quiet. Just tell me when it’s every minute.”

“Very well, Commissioner. But one minute has already passed.”

“So tell me when it’s two.” Birdie turned to Kallik. “You have better ears than we do. Did you hear any sounds from in front of us?”

Kallik paused to reflect. “Sounds, yes,” she said at last. “But nothing remotely human. Wheezing, and groaning. Like a venting Dowser.”

“Now come on, Kallik. There can’t possibly be a Dowser here — it would fill up the whole planetoid. Were there any words?”

“Possibly. Not in a language that I am able to comprehend. But J’merlia is a far better linguist than I am, perhaps you should ask him.”

“He’s not here — he’s with Graves.”

“When he returns.”

“But if he returns, I won’t need—”

“Two minutes,” Tally said loudly. “May I speak?”

“My God, E.C., what now? I told you to keep quiet. Oh, go on then, spit it out.”

“I am concerned by our immediate environment. As you may know, the functioning of my brain requires shielding from electromagnetic fields. As a result, the protective membranes contain sensitive field monitors. The corridor in which we are standing contains evidence of field inhibitors, and that evidence becomes stronger the farther that we go.”

“So what? Don’t you think we have more important things to worry about?”

“No. Assuming that the field inhibitors are functional, and that the interior structure of Glister relies upon the same methods as the surface for its stability, we would experience a significant change in environment were the field inhibitors to be turned on. As they could be, at any time.”

“Change of environment. What do you mean, a change of environment?”