evaporate without leaving any puddles.'
'I am aware of that fact.'
'Well, one of them happens to be carbon dioxide,' Jack said. 'Which happens to be one of the waste gasses we exhale when we breathe.'
Draycos's head lifted up. 'Someone is coming,' he said softly. 'Three beings. Perhaps the watchers.'
'Terrific,' Jack muttered, pausing at the edge of one of the stacks and peering carefully around the corner. No one was visible, but if he concentrated he could just hear the footsteps. 'Can you tell which direction they're coming from?'
'There,' Draycos said, lifting his snout up and out of Jack's jacket and swiveling his head to point back toward the tube area.
'Ha,' Jack said, ducking back into the maze of boxes and heading off at an angle. 'Looks like they've outsmarted themselves. They figured my ship would be in one of the closer pads, and I'd just walk straight into their arms.'
'You think they were waiting for you?' Draycos asked. 'You specifically, and not merely someone investigating the cargo disappearance?'
'Who else would care about Jack being in trouble?' Uncle Virge countered scornfully. 'Watch yourself, lad. Your friends back there reacted too fast to be any sort of cops I've ever known.'
'Braxton Security, then?' Jack asked, picking a new direction through the maze and taking another quick look around before heading off.
'Who else?' Uncle Virge said. 'Let me know when you're two minutes away from the ship and I'll start the engines.'
'No, leave them off,' Jack said quickly. 'Whoever they are, they're not going to be stupid enough to miss a ship revving for a liftoff.'
'You're certainly not going to try to hide out in a grounded ship,' Uncle Virge pointed out.
'You got that right,' Jack agreed, breaking into a jog. 'We're heading into the city.'
'You're what? Jack, lad—'
'I'm closing down,' Jack said, reaching up and pulling the comm clip off his collar. 'I'll talk to you later.'
'Jack—'
Uncle Virge's protest was cut off as Jack shut off the clip. 'Is there danger in the city?' Draycos asked.
'Probably,' Jack said, stuffing the clip into his pocket. 'But not as much as there is behind us. They getting any closer?'
He got five more steps before Draycos answered. 'They are not following,' he said slowly. 'I believe they are moving around the edges of the stacks.'
'Trying to cut us off,' Jack grunted, picking up his pace. 'Let's see if we can beat them.'
He broke into a flat-out run, hoping his pursuers were making too much noise of their own to hear him. Once, as he rounded one of the stacks, it occurred to him that barreling through a cargo maze infested with heenas might not be the most brilliant thing he'd ever done in his life. He would just have to hope that they'd learned not to mess with the kid in the leather jacket.
The open area around the outer warehouse wall was deserted when he finally emerged from the stacks. 'Draycos?' he asked softly, peering across the open area toward the wide doors where the main cargo monorail tracks came into the warehouse. Outside the doors the ground was well lit, with the lights of the city twinkling in the near distance. As far as he could tell, there was no one out there.
'No one is moving nearby,' the dragon said, flicking out his tongue. 'Nor do I smell anyone close at hand. This is perhaps our best opportunity.'
Jack made a face. And if no one was moving or breathing nearby, but a whole bunch of them were waiting outside for him to show up?
Still, if they were, there wasn't a lot he could do about it. Like their escape from Draycos's wrecked ship, all he could do was go for it and hope for the best. 'Right,' he muttered. 'Here goes.'
He had been mildly surprised back on Iota Klestis when more of the Brummga's friends hadn't been ready to pounce as he ran for the Essenay. He was even more surprised that no one was lurking in the shadows here as he crossed the graytop and ducked through the cargo entrance.
Once, as he ran across the lighted ground outside he thought he heard a shout behind him. But the sound wasn't repeated, and no one shot at him, and a minute later he was outside the range of the lights and into the comforting gloom of night.
Not that darkness alone was going to give him much safety. Darkness and distance, that was the combination he wanted. He passed the fence at the edge of the spaceport and turned down one of the streets heading into the city.
They'd made it six blocks, and Jack had changed streets twice, when Draycos spoke again. 'You are saying the box contained nothing except solidified carbon dioxide?'
'You got it,' Jack confirmed, pausing a moment to look around. The last turn had put him on a narrow, winding street lined with closely-packed two– and three-story buildings. A few of the buildings had balconies, which the residents seemed to use mostly for storing potted plants. The street itself wasn't very well lit, and the few pedestrians he could see walking along in the distance were too shadowy for him to make out even what species they were.
'I do not understand the purpose.'
'You said it yourself, back on the ship,' Jack reminded him, continuing down the street. A delicate aroma was drifting through the air from somewhere, reminding him of fresh-baked cinnamon bread. 'Someone wanted to frame
