‘You may, but I am detecting no incoming carrier signal.’
Dreyfus tried. Clepsydra was right. ‘He must still be attempting to contact Panoply for help.’
‘You’d better hope it comes quickly, in that case. Aurora almost certainly knows you’re here.’
‘Will she harm the sleepers?’
‘She may, if only to stop anyone else obtaining access to Exordium. ’ Clepsydra moved with panther-like speed and grace as they ascended the long thread of the docking connector. ‘But that would be the only reason. Lately she has bored of us. We’re a toy that won’t do what she wants.’
Dreyfus recalled something Clepsydra had told him earlier. ‘You said she punished you if you dreamed something she didn’t like. What did you mean by that?’
‘Aurora expected to glean certain truths from the future. When our prognostications conflicted with her expectations, she grew resentful, as if we were lying to her out of spite.’
‘Were you?’
‘No. What we told her was what we saw. She just didn’t like the message she was being given.’
‘Which was?’
‘That something bad is going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow. Not for years to come. But not so far in the future that it isn’t of concern to her. If I have learned one thing from the glimpses of her mind, it is that she is a cold and cunning strategist, profoundly concerned with her own long-term survival.’
‘And your message gave her something to be scared about?’
‘So it would appear,’ Clepsydra said.
‘Care to elaborate?’
‘Only to say that everything you cherish, everything you work for, everything you hold precious will have its end. You are very proud of this intricate little community of yours, with its ten thousand habitats, its ticking clockwork mechanisms of absolute democracy. And perhaps in your own small way you are entitled to some of that pride. But it won’t last for ever. One day, Prefect, there will be no Glitter Band. There will be no Panoply. There will be no prefects.’
They reached the viewing station where Dreyfus had first glimpsed the imprisoned ship. When they had both cleared the docking connector, he used the control panel to dim the lights and seal the silver door.
‘What disaster did you foresee?’
‘A time of plague,’ Clepsydra said.
Dreyfus shivered, as if someone had just walked over his grave. ‘What does Aurora think about that?’
‘It concerns her. In the thoughts that she lets slip, I’ve sensed a great plan being pushed towards reality. She fears the future we have shown her. She will fear it less if she controls it.’
‘In what way?’
‘For now she hides, flitting furtively from shadow to shadow, surviving by her wits. She lives in your world, but her influence over it is limited. I believe she means to change that. She means to become more powerful. She will rip control of human affairs from your fumbling hands.’
‘You’re talking about a takeover,’ Dreyfus said.
‘Call it what you will. You must be ready for her when she shows herself. She will move quickly, and you will not have much time to react.’
It did not take long to return to the sealed door, the one that had cut him off from Sparver and the corvette. It stood as intact and impervious as when he had left it.
‘This shaft goes all the way around the rock, doesn’t it?’
Clepsydra’s expression was blank. ‘Yes. Why?’
‘Because we’ll have to work our way around if we’re going to reach the shaft that leads to my ship. Assuming we don’t encounter any more obstructions on the way…’
Clepsydra closed her eyes, jamming them tight as if she was trying to remember the name of an old acquaintance. She raised her palm to the door, tensing the fingers slightly as if holding some fierce, slavering creature at bay.
Something clicked in the mechanism and the door hummed open.
‘I didn’t realise—’ Dreyfus began.
‘I said I could not tap into the optical architecture. I mentioned nothing of doors.’
‘I’m impressed. Can you all do stuff like that?’
‘Not all of us, no. Very small children need tuition before they have the necessary finesse.’
‘Very small children.’
‘It’s nothing for a Conjoiner. We feel the same way about talking to machines as fish do about swimming in water. We hardly notice we’re doing it.’ Then she cocked her head slightly. ‘There is a carrier signal now.’
‘Sparver?’ Dreyfus asked. ‘Are you reading me?’
‘Loud and clear. You must be closer than before.’
‘I’m on my way back up to the surface lock. I have a witness with me, so don’t be too surprised.’
‘I’m in the storage area just under the lock. I was coming back down to you with a plasma torch.’
‘No need now. You can meet us aboard the ship. Did you manage to get that message through to Thalia?’
‘I got a message through to Muang, but Thalia wasn’t answering.’
Dreyfus felt his spirits dip. ‘Did you tell him to keep trying?’
‘It’s worse than that.’ Sparver sounded genuinely sorry that he had to be the bearer of bad news. ‘Muang’s lost contact with her completely. He isn’t even receiving a signal from her bracelet.’
‘Did he have time to get any kind of message through to her?’
‘Nothing, Boss. But at least help’s on its way to us.’
‘Can you cope with a vacuum crossing?’ Dreyfus asked Clepsydra, preparing to fix his own helmet back into place. ‘Our ship isn’t mated with the exterior airlock. You’ll have to pass through a suitwall as well.’
‘I’d survive vacuum even if I didn’t have a suit. Worry about yourself before you worry about me.’
‘Just asking,’ Dreyfus said.
They were back aboard the corvette in less than five minutes. Sparver was waiting for them on the other side of the suitwall, his arms crossed in anticipation. Clepsydra’s suit stayed intact during its passage through the wall, but once she was inside the corvette she made a point of removing her helmet rather than simply folding it back into her suit, and pressed it against an adhesive area on the wall with a natural fluency that suggested she’d been on similar ships a thousand times before. Dreyfus could not help but interpret the gesture as indicative of Clepsydra’s provisional trust in her new hosts.
‘This is my partner, Deputy Field Prefect Bancal,’ Dreyfus told Clepsydra, introducing Sparver. ‘I don’t know what you’ve heard about hyperpigs, but there’s nothing you need fear from him.’
‘Nor does he have anything to fear from me,’ Clepsydra answered, her voice low and level.
‘Is she a guest or a prisoner?’ Sparver asked.
‘She’s a protected witness. She’s been through hell and now we have to safeguard both Clepsydra and her colleagues.’
‘How many more of them are there down there?’
‘A lot. But we can’t do anything for them right now, not until help arrives. I hope you impressed the seriousness of our situation on Muang.’
‘He got the message.’
‘There are nearly a hundred Conjoiners aboard that ship. When help arrives I’ll call Jane and get her to task some more assets. We’re going to need a Heavy Medical Squad as well. ETA, roughly?’
Sparver glanced through the flight deck passwall just as the console chimed. ‘Proximity alert,’ he said. ‘Guess that’s the help arriving. That was quick.’
‘Too bloody quick,’ Dreyfus said, a bad feeling brewing low in his gut.
Without seeking permission from either of her hosts, Clepsydra hauled herself across the cabin and through into the vacant flight deck. ‘This is the other vehicle from Panoply?’ she asked.
‘Hopefully,’ Sparver said.
‘Then why is it coming in on such a fast approach?’
‘Guess they’re in a bit of a hurry to get to us,’ Sparver said.
‘They’re in more than a hurry. Not even a Conjoiner vehicle could slow down from that kind of speed without
