The Third Lynx

mind.'

'Such as?' she asked.

'Such as renting a torchyacht and seeing if we can get to Parrda ahead of them.'

'Following them from in front, in other words?' Morse suggested.

'Something like that,' I said. 'People with guilty consciences tend to focus their attention over their shoulders.'

'I'm in,' Stafford said firmly, digging a cash stick out of his pocket. 'The rest of you can do whatever you want. Where do we go to hire this torchyacht?'

In the end, we all decided to go. Even Penny, who was equal parts aghast that we would pull such a bonehead stunt and adamant that she wasn't going to head back to Earth alone.

I'd never been inside a torchyacht before, and was rather surprised by both its roominess and the plainness of its decor and furnishings. But then, this one was a Nemuti craft, and the Nemuti as a species weren't especially noted for their love of ruffles and flourishes.

Stafford didn't have a pilot's license—probably one of the few university majors he hadn't gotten to yet—but Morse and I both had current military-grade certificates that covered civilian craft this size. We got ourselves checked out on the torchyacht's control systems, drained a hefty up-front fee and an even heftier deposit out of Stafford's cash sticks, and headed out.

The universe was an incredibly beautiful place. Beautiful and lonely both. It was something I tended to forget sometimes, traveling inside a cozy Quadrail Tube or flying cross-system wrapped up in a torchliner with a thousand other people, with only the occasional visit to an observation lounge to remind me of what things looked like outside.

But from the cockpit of a torchyacht, with the stars and nebulae spread out in front of me through a wraparound canopy, it was all very clear. And very humbling.

Morse, whose license was more up-to-date than mine, handled the job of maneuvering us away from the transfer station. After that I took over, feeding in the positioning data and keying in our course. Laarmiten was currently on the far side of its orbit from the Quadrail station, which translated to a twenty-day trip. Fortunately, torch vessels scooped their own fuel from the interplanetary medium around us, and even a ship as small as a torchyacht routinely packed enough food, drink, and air for trips three times that long.

Even more fortunately, I had no intention of taking us all the way to Laarmiten.

I gave it two hours, just to be on the safe side. Then I changed course, locked in the autopilot, and headed back to the dayroom.

Stafford and Penny were seated together on a small couch, holding hands and talking quietly but earnestly together. Bayta was reading in a chair a quarter of the way around the room from them, while Morse was at the center table, splitting his attention between a Scotch and something he was writing. 'Your report to ESS?' I asked as I came over to him.

'The latest version, yes,' he said, taking a sip from his drink. 'I don't think I've ever been on a job that required such a massive rewrite every third day.'

'I wouldn't worry about it,' I said, sitting across the table from him, resting my right hand in my lap out of his sight. 'From this point on, I think the report's pretty well finished.'

He frowned. 'How do you figure? We still have to get to Laarmiten and find the Lynx—'

'Or rather,' I said quietly, 'you're pretty well finished.'

Across the room, Penny and Stafford stopped talking. Bayta laid aside her reader. 'So I was right, after all,' Morse said into the silence. 'That story was nothing but the truth turned inside-out, wasn't it?'

'What story?' Stafford asked.

'He spun me a tale about some villainous group mind called the Modhri,' Morse said, his eyes locked on me. 'They supposedly arose during a war—'

'Yes, I know the story,' Stafford interrupted. 'What do you mean he turned it inside-out?'

'He claimed that vanished Quadrail train a few months ago was him and UN Deputy Director Losutu foiling a plot by this Modhri group mind,' Morse said. 'Only I think it was the other way around. I think he's the one who's gone over the side, and it was Colonel Applegate who was trying to stop him.'

A shiver of memory ran through me. Colonel Terrance Applegate had once been my superior in Westali. He'd subsequently become my ex-superior, and later my deadly enemy.

My reaction to his name must have shown on my face, because Morse gave me a faint smile. 'Oh, yes, I knew the colonel,' he said 'Quite well, in fact. I met him after he left Westali and started working for the UN Directorate. He recognized my potential and helped me start climbing the ESS ladder. I returned the favor by recommending he be offered a job with the Service.' His face darkened. 'And then he stepped aboard a Quadrail train with you and Losutu and disappeared.'

'I guess that explains why you hate me,' I said as the final piece of Morse's personal puzzle fell into place. 'It also explains how you came to be a Modhri walker.'

'A what?' Penny asked, sounding bewildered.

'An unsuspecting member of the Modhri group mind,' Stafford told her, his eyes on Morse. 'You sure about this, Compton?'

'I'm positive,' I said, watching Morse closely. Somewhere along here the Modhri colony within him would realize the jig was up, take over his body, and make a fight of it. 'Applegate was probably the one who got Morse infected.'

'Ridiculous,' Morse spat. 'I've never touched Modhran coral in my life.'

'I'm sure you don't remember,' I said. 'The Modhri's been working on keeping a very low profile, especially on Earth.'

'So you therefore argue from silence?' Morse snorted. 'What dazzling logic.'

'No, I argue from my knowledge of the Modhri and how he works,' I said. 'Particularly how he uses thought viruses to carry subtle suggestions between friends and trusted colleagues. Which is how I know for certain you're carrying a Modhran colony beneath your brain.' I gestured to Penny. 'You really shouldn't have tried to make me fall in love with her.'

Beside Penny, Stafford stiffened. 'What?' he asked carefully.

'It started aboard our private train to Jurskala,' I said. 'Morse spent those couple of days filling Penny's mind with suspicions about Bayta and me. That naturally drew the two of them closer together emotionally, enabling the Modhri to slide in his thought viruses.'

Stafford looked sideways at Penny. 'What kind of suggestions was he making?' he asked.

'Don't worry, they're pretty short-lived.' I focused on Penny. With her fiance sitting there beside her, I knew, this was likely to be awkward. But it was important that she hear this. 'You haven't had any sort of feelings of attraction toward me lately, have you?'

The tip of her tongue swiped quickly across her upper lip. 'It wasn't the way you make it sound,' she said. 'I was just grateful to you for your help in finding Daniel. That's all.'

'Of course,' I said, looking into her eyes. Backpedaling and spin-drifting it for all she was worth.

And with that, the last faint lingering hope within me finally died a quiet death. The last lingering Modhri- counterfeited hope. One more reason, I reflected, for me to hate him. 'The point is that you switched your opinion of me just a little too quickly,' I told her. 'Especially after all of Morse's horror stories.'

I looked back at Morse. Still none of the telltale signs of a Modhri takeover. 'At the same time, the Modhri inside him was also working on me.'

'Only you claim thought viruses need a line of friendship between the two parties,' Morse said acidly. 'I don't think you and I exactly qualify.'

'I said they work best that way' I reminded him. 'But whether we personally liked each other or not, we were still colleagues who'd been thrown together on the same case. That relationship also lowers emotional resistance walls. Besides, the Modhri didn't need to make me do anything outlandish, at least not at the beginning. All he wanted was to tweak my emotions a little.'

'Why?' Stafford asked, clearly not happy with this line of conversation.

'To distract me, of course,' I said. 'The Modhri wanted my mind on Ms. Auslander instead of focusing my full attention on the problem of finding you and the Lynx and getting you out of his reach.'