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available then. You couldn t do it. You d have to create the technology to
create the technology to construct the pulse accumulators. Right?
Sometimes I don t like you a whole lot, Tommy. Mouse grinned. I ll tell
the Seiner lady to be patient.
If the Captains will excuse me? The senior of their Marine custodians
approached them.
Yes, Sergeant? Thomas asked.
The Admiral s compliments, sirs, and he needs you back aboard ship
immediately.
What is it?
He didn t say, sir. He said to tell you it s critical.
Mouse looked puzzled. McClennon was very much so.
The news hit the busy chamber before they departed.
The starfish had had a brief skirmish with sharks. Hordes of the predators
had appeared. A continuous stream were still arriving.
Holy shit! Thomas said. I d forgotten about them.
They didn t forget us, Mouse grumbled. Damnation!
People swirled this way and that. The mood approached panic. Doctor
Chancellor rushed over. I heard you re going up. Take this to the Admiral,
just in case. He shoved a folder into McClennon s hands. Thank you. He
dashed toward the team working at the computer. They were trying to prepare an
instantaneous shutdown of the round-robin should the sharks attack.
They should tell the idiot box to scrub the problem for them, Mouse said as
they pulled away. What did he give you?
His notes. They look like a cross between a journal and regular scientific
notation.
Give me some of those.
Their driver flew around worse than he had coming the other direction.
Here s an interesting one, Mouse said. No furniture.
What?
The exploration teams haven t found any furniture. There goes your pyramid
theory.
He s right. I didn t see anything but machinery. The bodies are all laid out
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on the floor.
Maybe they re invaders too?
McClennon shrugged. Here s one that will grab you. How big do you think
Stars End is?
Uhm . . . Venus size?
Close. Earth minus two percent. But the planetary part is smaller than Mars.
The rest is edifice.
What?
His word. I ll give you the question. Since most of the structural volume
would be hollow, how come the place has so much gravity? It s a couple points
over Earth normal.
Mouse sneered. Come on, Tommy. Maybe it s the machines.
Nope. You re going to love it. According to this, the builders, before they
started building, took a little planet and polished it smooth. Then they
plated it with a layer of neutronium. The fortress structure floats around on
the neutronium, which may be a cushion against tectonic activity.
Whoa! Mouse clung to the truck as its driver made a violent turn. How did
they stabilize the neutronium?
Figure that out, and how they mined it in the first place, and you and me
will get rich.
What s the kicker?
He doesn t have one here. I think it s implied. I didn t see anything at the
Lunar digs or Three Sky that would suggest that level of technology.
So the little peopleare interlopers. Just like us.
Maybe. McClennon had an image of Bronze Age barbarians camped in the street
of a space age city.
Keep talking. I don t want to think about the fly up.
A Navy Lieutenant awaited them atMarathon s ingress lock. If you ll follow
me, sirs?
The Admiral awaited them on the bridge. Ah. Thomas. I was beginning to
wonder.
Is it critical, sir? We haven t slept for ages.
It s critical. But the Seiners say it doesn t look like it ll break right
away. Rest up good before you go over.
Over?
I m sending you toDanion. I want you to go into link and giveAssyrian
andPrussian a fire control realtime.
You have got to be kidding.
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Why? My calculations show them capable of cleaning up that little mess out
there. It s a chance to show Gruber what can happen if he gets tricky.
Point. Sir, you re over-optimistic. Sharks are super deadly. They throw
anti-hydrogen when they get mad. Second point. Why me? A Seiner mindtech could
do the job, and probably better. They re better trained.
I want you. I don t want some Seiner who ll adjust the data to make us look
bad.
I have to go?
It s an order.
Then make it another ship. I m liable to get lynched aboardDanion.
Danionis Gruber s choice. That s the ship we know. He has secrets too.
Thanks a lot. Sir.
Mouse stage-whispered, The ship s Legal Officer would back you if you want
to refuse. You don t have to work when you re under arrest.
I got troubles enough without getting the Old Man mad at me. Madder at me.
Beckhart glared at Mouse. You re going with him, son. Head bodyguard. Take
your two Marines. Tommy, if it will make you more comfortable, stay with the
Psych people till time to go.
I will.
Danionhad not changed except there were no friendly faces aboard now. Amy met
them at the ingress lock. A squad of grim-faced Security people accompanied
her. She installed the party aboard a convoy of small vehicles.
People spat and cursed as they passed.
Tell me something, Mouse said. How come everybody knows we re here?
This isn t Navy, Amy replied curtly.
You keep on and I won t make love to you anymore. Mouse laughed when she
turned to glare at him.
Easy, boy, McClennon said. We ve got to get out of here alive.
Something thrown whipped over their heads.
Did you see that? Mouse croaked. That was Candy . . . She wanted to marry
me.
Amy, have you shown people those tapes?
What tapes?
The centerward . . .
Mouse nudged him. I smell a little political skulduggery, old friend. A
little crafty censorship. Old Gruber is afraid he can t keep people cranked up
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if they find out what s really going on.
You re not to discuss that, Amy said.
Mouse grinned. Oh! The Saints forfend! Never, my dear. What are you going to
do about it if I do?
I saw Consuela yesterday, McClennon said, heading them off.
Amy softened. How was she?
Twenty years younger. Happy as a kid loose in a candy store. She s hoping
you ll come down.
You went?
Yesterday. It s interesting. But I don t think we ll get as many answers as
questions.
The convoy entered Operations Sector. A huge door closed behind them,
isolating them from the rest of the ship. Mouse wondered aloud why. No one
answered him. McClennon s former tech team, Hans and Clara, awaited him. Their
faces were not friendly, but were less inimical than any he had seen outside
Operations. Clara even managed a smile.
Welcome back, Moyshe. You even get your old couch.
Clara, I want you to meet somebody before we start. You never got the
chance. This is Amy.
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