The Third Lynx

trickled down the outside of the crate.

I touched a finger to it. It was cold water. Very cold water. The kind of water Modhran coral liked to live in.

I looked at the three stacks of crates. Suddenly this was feeling like a very unhealthy place to be. 'Let's get out of here,' I muttered, letting the lid back down and taking a careful step back.

'What is it?' Morse asked.

'Tell you later,' I said, taking another step back and turning around. I half expected to see the Cimma and an entire group of walkers watching in silent anticipation of me pulling a Sleeping Beauty and jabbing my finger on the sharp coral. One scratch was all it would take to put me on the track to joining them.

But there was no one there. Having wound up his puppet—me—the Modhri had apparently just turned me loose.

I jerked as Morse suddenly gripped my upper arm. 'Not later,' he said flatly. 'Later has become now. My life's on the line here. So are Mr. Stafford's and Ms. Auslander's.'

'I suppose,' I conceded. 'All right. As soon as we hit Bildim and I can get a compartment and some privacy, we'll talk.'

We reached Bildim, swapped out the usual assortment of passengers, and started up again. There were no compartments available, but Morse and I were able to get seats in the first-class car directly behind the compartment car.

And as we pulled out into the permanent twilight of the Tube, he and Bayta and I settled into Bayta's compartment and I told him the whole story. Or at least as much of the story as it seemed advisable to tell him.

He was silent for a long minute after I'd finished. Apparently his standard bloody hell was inadequate to cover this one. 'And you can prove all this?' he asked at last.

'Prove may be too strong a word,' I conceded. 'But Deputy Director Losutu can certainly vouch for the parts he was involved in. You can talk to him when we get back.'

'I'll do that,' he said, a hint of challenge in his tone. 'In the meantime, we have Ms. Auslander as a hostage to these things—'

'This thing, singular,' I corrected.

'Right,' he growled. 'Group mind. Even the bloody grammar is scrambled with this thing. As I was saying, our first priority has to be getting Ms. Auslander away from him.'

'Agreed,' I said. 'We'll have a couple of hours at Trivsdal Station when we change Quadrails for Laarmiten. I'll just wander the platform muttering message for Modhri until someone takes notice.'

'Sounds like the opening of that classic Hitchcock dit rec drama North by Northwest,' Morse commented. 'A mistaken connection with the telegram boy launches the hero into danger and intrigue.'

'Yes, I remember,' I said. 'Let's hope life doesn't end up imitating art. Anyway, once a walker comes forward I'll tell him about the change in plans.'

'What if he can't get the message to the walkers holding Ms. Auslander in time?' Morse asked. 'Or what if the Modhri doesn't go for it? He's bound to be suspicious about you resetting the rendezvous for the system where he's collecting the rest of the sculptures.'

'That's his problem,' I said. 'Both are his problem, actually. If he wants the Lynx badly enough, he'll just have to play by our rules.'

'Or else write up a set of his own,' Morse warned. 'The thing with you and the coral back there looks suspiciously like a recruitment effort.'

'He's tried to get me to touch coral before,' I said. 'I'm not worried about it.'

'Maybe you should be,' Morse said, standing up. 'Anyway, conspiracy stories make me thirsty. Join me?'

'Maybe later,' I told him. 'Bayta and I first need to discuss some of the details of the Laarmiten plan.'

'And to talk about me, no doubt,' Morse said, smiling slightly. 'Fine. I'll be in the bar or my seat if you need me.'

With a nod to each of us, he left the compartment. 'He's right, you know,' Bayta told me. 'Maybe you should be concerned.'

'What, about the Modhri sleepwalking me to the baggage car?' I shook my head. 'That was never about me touching the coral.'

'Mr. Morse seems to think it was.'

'Mr. Morse is wrong,' I said flatly. 'He said himself that I was just standing there staring at the crates when he snapped me awake. I hadn't even gone for my multitool yet to try to open one of them. And when I did, I could barely get a corner of the lid open. I'd have had to cut the safety webbing and pull down a crate full of water and coral, and I know I wouldn't have stayed asleep through all that. No, I think all the Modhri wanted was for me to know what was in there.'

'But why?' Bayta asked. 'Was it a threat? A warning?'

'Neither,' I said grimly. 'I think he was offering me a trade.'

'A trade?'

'You see, I now have two choices,' I said. 'I can go to Laarmiten and make the exchange for Ms. Auslander, with whatever scheme he suspects I've got lurking up my sleeve. Or I can leave that task to Stafford and Morse, played straight with no tricks, while I follow this colony to wherever he's sending it.'

'Why would we want to follow the coral?'

'Because moving this much coral at once implies it's going somewhere important,' I said. 'It's possible he's started some new campaign and decided he needs a bigger baseline presence there.'

Bayta was silent a moment. 'We know where the crates are headed,' she said slowly. 'We could stay with Mr. Stafford and send word ahead to the Spiders to watch the crates. They could let us know whether they leave the Tube and go into the system or whether they're transferred onto a different Quadrail.'

'Actually, we don't know where they're headed,' I said. 'That's the point. All we know is what their current labels say. Unfortunately, there's nothing to stop the Modhri from sending a team of walkers back there the minute we're off this train and changing the labels, maybe even moving the crates somewhere else in the car. No, if we want to see where the coral's heading, we'll have to sit on it the whole way.'

'So what do we do?'

I shrugged. 'I don't think we've got a choice,' I said. 'Finding out where they're moving this outpost would certainly be interesting. But if the Modhri's got a trick of his own up his sleeves I don't want to be the one to tell Stafford that his girlfriend has slipped through our fingers again.'

'His fiancee.'

'Whatever.' I glanced at my watch. 'I need to find Fayr and bounce this latest change of plans off him. Any idea where he's sitting?'

Bayta shook her head. 'Second class somewhere,' she said. 'I didn't spot him when I was heading back to third to get you.'

'He's probably changed his facial stripe pattern again,' I said, standing up. 'I'll find him.'

'There is one other possibility,' Bayta said from behind me as I turned toward the door. 'Instead of starting a new campaign, it could be the Modhri has found a new prospective homeland and is starting to move his coral there.'

'That's definitely a possibility,' I agreed.

'I just wanted to make sure you understood the full implications here,' she said.

I turned back to face her. 'Are you suggesting we just throw Penny to the wolves?' I asked.

Her lip twitched. 'I'm still wondering how your feelings for her might be affecting your judgment.'

Somehow, I'd never noticed before how much quiet pain there was behind her eyes when she talked about Penny. It sent a ripple of guilt through me. 'Any feelings I might or might not have for Ms. Auslander have nothing to do with my decision,' I said. 'Okay?'

'If you say so.'

'I say so,' I said. 'I'll be back later.'

I headed out into the corridor, some lingering guilt and shame heading out with me.