The Third Lynx

'But none of them was the train Morse was heading for when he was clobbered.'

That one stopped her. 'What?' she asked, frowning.

'Think about it,' I said. 'If all the Modhri wanted was to get hold of Morse's data chips—or, rather, to get hold of my data chip—a simple trip plus maybe a light blow to the head would have done the trick. But instead, he hauled off and really walloped the guy. Why take that kind of risk unless he was desperate to keep Morse—and us—off that particular train?'

'Maybe his goal was to keep us from connecting with Ms. Auslander.'

I shook my head. 'He had three hours to figure out a countermove while she was sitting here complaining to Gerashchenko in the waiting room,' I reminded her. 'He certainly would have figured out we were the ones who'd snafued her schedule, and that we were on our way. But he didn't do anything, except make sure Gerashchenko couldn't talk her into going home. In fact, my guess is that he's pleased we're joining forces.'

'He'll be watching us, of course.'

'As long as that's all he does, I don't mind.'

She gave me a slightly strained look. 'I'll see what the Spiders can do.'

'And tell them to hurry,' I said. 'The Modhri mind segment here will be sending a message ahead. It would be nice to be in position before the segment on the Quadrail gets the message and dumps the Hawk somewhere else.'

I had envisioned some kind of sleek, private train out of a dit rec western or EuroUnion drama, perhaps not as luxurious as a Halkan Peerage car but at least to the level of the standard Quadrail compartment car.

The outside, at least, was a serious disappointment.

'You are joking,' Morse said as a pair of conductor Spiders escorted us across the last of the passenger tracks toward the short train that had been readied for us. 'Looks like a cattle car.'

'It's called a tender,' Bayta told him, a little stiffly. 'It's the only thing the Spiders could put together on short notice.'

'Looks like a pushmi-pullyu,' Penny commented, sounding as doubtful as Morse did. 'What's that?' Bayta asked.

'A legendary animal from an old dit rec musical,' Penny explained. 'It had a head at both ends.'

I gave the girl points—that was indeed exactly what our new transport looked like. It consisted of three windowless Quadrail cars with a small engine at each end facing opposite directions. 'What are these things used for?' I asked Bayta.

'They carry drones, drudges, and repair equipment,' she said. 'There's an engine on either end so they can go wherever they need to without first having to go to a station or siding to turn around.'

'I hope you reminded the Spiders that we need air to breathe,' Morse said. 'Not to mention food and water and rest facilities. Even a regular Quadrail takes over three days to get to Jurskala—this one's not likely to be any faster.'

'It's probably faster than it looks,' I offered. In fact, I knew it was. The loop gantries on the two end cars extended at least two meters higher than the standard Quadrail. Since a train's speed was determined by how close the closest bit of matter was to the Coreline's quantum thread, this thing could probably do close to double the usual light-year-per-minute if it wanted to.

Assuming that the wheels and structural integrity could handle such speeds, of course. Still, even a modest percentage gain should give us what we needed.

The Spiders ushered us to the center of the three cars, where my original trust in our hosts was fully vindicated. Inside, the car was set up like a double first-class passenger compartment, though without the extendable dividing wall between the sections or the mirror-imaged curve couches that were normally built into that wall.

There were a few other alterations, as well. Instead of the usual overbed luggage racks there was another permanently fixed bunk, giving us upper and lower berths on both ends of the car. There was also only a single half-bath cubicle instead of the usual pair that a double compartment would have, with the space that had been thus freed up given over to a food prep/storage area.

'Interesting,' Morse said, setting down his carrybags and making a quick circuit of the car. 'Looks like some kind of prototype.'

'It's not decorated as nicely as the standard compartment,' Penny seconded. 'No privacy, either.'

'Obviously, you've never ridden third class,' I said.

'We'll give you all the privacy we can, Ms. Auslander,' Morse said. 'It's only for a couple of days.'

'I was thinking about Bayta,' Penny said, lifting her eyebrows at Bayta. 'She seems more uptight about things than I am.'

Bayta's face darkened a little. 'I can handle it, thank you,' she said coolly.

For another few seconds the two women eyed each other. Then Penny shrugged and headed toward the rear of the car. 'Fine,' she said. 'Dibs on the lower bed.'

TEN :

The trip to Jurskala took just under two and a half days, and was every bit as awkward as it had looked going in.

The lack of privacy turned out to be not as big a problem as I'd feared. The problem of showers, more specifically the dis- and re-robing before and afterward, was solved by dousing the lights during the process. The food was decent enough, too, though for the life of me I couldn't figure out where it was from. My eventual best guess was that it was cuisine from the other end of the galaxy, Shorshian or Filiaelian delicacies that I'd never run across before.

The problem wasn't with the accommodations. The problem was Morse and Penny.

Somewhere midway through the first day Penny apparently got over the initial shock of Gerashchenko's death and started wondering what exactly had happened to him. Unfortunately, Morse got to her with his version of the story before I could get to her with mine.

It created an instant bias that no amount of subsequent explanation or damage control was able to alleviate. The sleeping arrangements, which had started out with Penny and Bayta at one end and Morse and me at the other, changed abruptly after the first night as Penny silently but firmly moved to Morse's end of the car.

After that, the whole thing took on a distinct Us Versus Them flavor. Morse and Penny would sit together on the lower bunk on their side of the car, facing each other from opposite ends and having quiet, earnest conversations. Every time I tried to penetrate the invisible wall they'd built around them all talk abruptly ceased and two pairs of studiously neutral eyes followed my every move until I retreated back to my half of the car.

They didn't think any better of Bayta, either because of her association with me or her mysterious influence with the Spiders.

Bayta spent most of the trip sleeping. I whiled away the hours lounging on my bunk and gazing at the earnest conversations going on at the far end, wondering what useful secrets they might be trading back and forth.

Still, I had some hard thinking to do. A little peace and quiet was just fine.

Besides, it wasn't as if Bayta and I didn't have a few secrets of our own.

I'd told Bayta I wanted to reach Jurskala at least half an hour before the train carrying the Hawk. She and the Spider driving the tender did me one better, getting us into the station nearly an hour ahead of Penny's friends.

'We have seats in the first of the first-class cars,' Bayta informed me as we worked our way through the mostly Jurian crowd toward our platform. Now that the tension of Penny's presence was gone, she was back to her usual cool, competent self. 'That's all I could get.'

'Any chance of switching later to a compartment?' I asked.

'Two of the members of Ms. Auslander's group have compartments which they'll be leaving at Ian-apof,' Bayta said. 'They're not connected, though. The stationmaster's still pulling the records for the other compartments. He'll