"Floyd! Are you all right?" shouted Auger.

"I'm fine-but I just lost one of the boxes."

He heard her swear, then bite down on her anger. "Can't be helped. But this whole structure feels as if it's about to give up the ghost. Must be the weight of the ships."

Lightning strobed the horizon, brighter than before.

"That looks like a bad electrical storm," Auger observed. "I'd really like to get out of here before it arrives."

"Me, too," Floyd said with feeling, standing up. "I've seen enough of the view for one lifetime. It gets old real quick."

Caliskan's ship had slid a little closer to them before its movement had been arrested by the obstruction of the ruined elevator shaft, its truncated iron cage pushing up through the floor. From this angle, Floyd made out a stepped ramp folded down from the silver barb of the ship. A suited figure leaned out at the top of the ramp, beckoning them closer with a gloved hand. Then the figure started down the steps, meeting Auger halfway. She handed him the first of her two boxes, then waited while he loaded it into the ship and took the second from her. Then she crossed back to Floyd and helped him with his one remaining box. He joined her on the laddered ramp, recognising the face of the man in the s.p.a.cesuit as the one he'd seen on various Slasher screens. It was Caliskan.

He directed them aboard into a small double-doored room the size of a pantry. The outer door closed, silencing the storm like the needle being pulled from a record. The boxes were piled up in one corner,

like so much junk waiting to be thrown out.

When they had pa.s.sed through the inner door, Caliskan removed his helmet, indicating that they should do likewise. "You made it," he said, palming his white hair back into some approximation of order.

"That was a little touch and go, wasn't it?"

"Can I speak to Ca.s.sandra?" Auger said. "I want to tell her to get out of here."

"Of course." Caliskan ushered them into the narrow forward section of his little ship. It was all exposed

metal, pipes and spars, about as warm and snug as the inside of a midget submarine. "The link is still open. I'll see her actions receive appropriate recognition once this mess is sorted out."

"Ca.s.sandra, can you hear me?" Auger said.

"Loud and clear."

"Save yourself. We can take care of ourselves from now."

"Can Caliskan get you out of there?" she asked.

Caliskan leaned into the field of view of the camera. "I'll take care of them, don't worry."

Now that he was seeing Caliskan in the flesh, Floyd felt more certain than ever that he had met him-or

possibly his brother-before. Still wearing most of his s.p.a.cesuit, Caliskan leaned down to peer through a circular porthole in the side of his ship. "Why isn't she lifting off? Doesn't she know how unstable this structure is?"

Lightning flashed again, painting Caliskan's face with harsh highlights, like a retouched photograph.

"That storm's getting closer," Floyd observed.

"Ca.s.sandra," Auger said, a.s.suming that the link was still open, "is there a problem?"

There was not even a crackle of response. The screen was blank. With a worried look on his face,

Caliskan settled into his flight position and started throwing controls, methodically at first but with increasing urgency. "Something's wrong," he said, after a minute of this.

"Fury infiltration?" Augur asked, alarm clear in her voice.

"No...the counts all looked low."

"And now?"

"Everything's dead, including the monitors. The ship's switched to reserve power-basic functions

only." He nodded towards the porthole. "Given the age of that ship you arrived in, Ca.s.sandra may be experiencing the same difficulties."

"But if it's not furies..." Augur began.

There was another flicker of lightning, brighter and closer and more violent than before. A metallic

rumble shook the observation deck, transmitting shockwaves through the parked ship. It felt like a

pa.s.sing freight train.

"I don't know what's happening out there," Auger said, "but we have to get out of here before that storm hits, or this tower collapses, or both."

"We're not going anywhere for a while," Caliskan said. "I don't think those are lightning flashes."

"If they're not lightning flashes..." Auger began, her mouth suddenly drying up with fear.

When Floyd caught a glimpse of her face, her expression was enough to put the fear of G.o.d into him.

"What is it?" he asked, reaching out to her.

"Scorched earth," Auger said. "It's begun. Missile bombardment from orbit."

"I fear she's right," Caliskan said. "Those flashes look rather like nuclear strikes to me. Hundreds of

kilometres away...but they seem to be coming closer. That may or may not be deliberate."

Auger buried her face in her hands. "As if we haven't screwed this planet up enough as it is."

"Let's worry about the planet later," Floyd said. "Right now our necks have priority. How do we get off

this thing?" Why aren't the ships working?"

"Electromagnetic pulse damage," Caliskan said. "These ships are Thresher designed, with a heavy reliance on electrical subsystems. They're not built to tolerate that kind of thing."

Floyd had no idea what Caliskan was talking about, but he a.s.sumed it was serious. "Will they fly again?"

"I don't know," Caliskan said, continuing to work the controls, as if they might come back to life at any

moment. "Some of the systems are trying to revive themselves, but they keep falling over because the other systems aren't awake. If I can juggle the reboot sequence..." His fingers danced with manic speed across a keyboard, while pale numbers and symbols marched in columns across a ceiling-suspended screen.

"Keep trying," Auger said, jamming her helmet back on. "I'm going to see if Ca.s.sandra's having any more luck."

"No need," Floyd said, looking back through the porthole at the other ship. "She's on her way over."

"Are you sure?"

"See for yourself. She must have decided it was too risky to stay aboard."

Ca.s.sandra had donned one of the other standard-issue s.p.a.cesuits from the shuttle's emergency inventory. Either the angle of the deck had worsened or the gale had intensified, because she was almost unable to walk, leaning like a bent-backed old woman, placing each footstep with aching deliberation.

Every now and then, some jagged piece of metallic debris slid across the deck or sliced through the air, narrowly missing her.

"Careful..." Floyd breathed. He looked around the tight confines of Caliskan's ship, trying to imagine

how they were all going to fit inside, in the unlikely event that the machine could be persuaded to fly.

"Looks as if the nuclear strikes have eased off a bit," Auger said, watching proceedings from the other porthole. "Maybe there's still somebody up there with an ounce of sense."

"Don't count on it," Caliskan said.

The observation deck lurched again, its angle becoming even steeper. Floyd felt the horrible beginnings of a slide as Caliskan's ship lost traction against the metal plating.

"We're going over," he said, a sick feeling churning in his stomach.

But then suddenly they were still again, and the angle of the deck seemed to level out. He looked at

Auger, and then at Caliskan, but saw nothing in their faces to indicate that they understood what was happening, either.

"Ca.s.sandra's nearly here," Floyd said. "Lower that ramp again, will you?"

But then Ca.s.sandra slowed her approach. With obvious effort, she stood up straight against the roar of the gale and looked at something to her left. Floyd followed her gaze as far as the restricted angle of the porthole allowed, and saw what had brought her to a halt.

"You really need to see this," he said.

"What?" Auger replied, from the other side of the cabin.

"Come here and see for yourself."

He waited until her face was jammed next to his, looking through the same porthole.

Beyond the edge of the observation deck, something enormous was rising ponderously into view. It was

huge and bulbous and aglow with mysterious lights, arranged in curves and coils and cryptic symbols that suggested the luminous markings of some t.i.tanic, tentacled sea monster, rising from the deeps to tower over some hapless little ship. Ca.s.sandra stood silhouetted against this moving mountain of light, her arms slightly outspread as if in welcome-or prayer.

"Caliskan," Auger said, "I think help's just arrived."

Caliskan looked back over his shoulder, while his hands continued to work the controls. "What did you say?"

"There's a significant chunk of Slasher hardware hovering off the side of the tower."