'General, General.' Trader swam yet closer. A formidable fighter Desire might be, yes; but the General was old, and had seen little in the way of direct action for several centuries. 'Neither of us is important in the grand scale of things, because all that matters is the survival of the Hegemony, and of the Shoal. If you try to prevent those mines from activating at the appropriate moment, I will hunt you down, and the rest of your miserable cadre, and kill you all. And if by chance I fail in that, I will make sure your conspiracy is exposed in full detail to the Hegemony'

Backing away a little, he took on a more conciliatory tone. 'You have a case of last-minute nerves, General, that's all. It's a momentous occasion. The Emissaries are our greatest challenge and, if you allow me to do my work, they will will be beaten back. They're a race of congenital idiots - psychotic, murderous and swayed by some irrational religious impulse possibly only they themselves understand. They simply had the luck to stumble across a Maker cache - haven't you read the reports? It's the perfect demonstration of what enormous power can mean when it's placed in the hands of primitives who barely understand what they have. The chance they would have held back from revealing some secret advantage this long is ridiculous, given their brute-force tactics up to now.' be beaten back. They're a race of congenital idiots - psychotic, murderous and swayed by some irrational religious impulse possibly only they themselves understand. They simply had the luck to stumble across a Maker cache - haven't you read the reports? It's the perfect demonstration of what enormous power can mean when it's placed in the hands of primitives who barely understand what they have. The chance they would have held back from revealing some secret advantage this long is ridiculous, given their brute-force tactics up to now.'

'Trader, let me be more explicit. Within certain ranges, the Dreamers are failing to predict anything anything whatsoever. There are blank areas within the current probability ranges - possible outcomes that are completely whatsoever. There are blank areas within the current probability ranges - possible outcomes that are completely unknown unknown to us. And amongst the range of probabilities is this - that the Hegemony may suffer irreversible damage if the extent of our conspiracy should be revealed. There is a good reason, after all, why to us. And amongst the range of probabilities is this - that the Hegemony may suffer irreversible damage if the extent of our conspiracy should be revealed. There is a good reason, after all, why you you are expected to bear sole responsibility if you are uncovered.' are expected to bear sole responsibility if you are uncovered.'

'I placed the mines, I provided the means, and my signal activates the network. I will be entirely to blame. I took this burden on willingly, General, so why remind me of that now? Are these waters getting too deep for you to swim?'

Desire said nothing in reply, simply floating there in the darkness, and waiting. 'We were always in agreement that war is inevitable,' Trader continued. 'All we can do is try and control the place and the time to our own best advantage.'

'You've served us well, Trader, but you've grown inflexible. That could be dangerous.'

'If war is inevitable, General, then let it come now, for I won't allow such a pivotal moment to pa.s.s without acting on it. We'll be heroes, Desire. We'll be remembered long after our conscious matrices have been given to the Dreamers.'

'And, yet,' Desire concluded, 'consider the risks - if you fail.'

'But I won't fail. The nova war will be limited in scope, and will not greatly affect the Hegemony as a whole. Some worlds will die, but not as many as otherwise might; and the Emissaries will be driven back for ever. I've worked too long towards this moment to believe any other outcome is possible.'

'For your sake, Trader,' Desire replied, preparing to thrust himself back up out of the deep well, 'I hope, with the deepest sincerity, that you're right.'

Twenty-one.

Honeydew was waiting for Corso when he returned to the upper level of the docking bay. The Piri Reis Piri Reis was now silent and still. was now silent and still.

'Do you have the complete protocols?' Honeydew asked, stepping forward. A group of armed Bandati warriors stood nearby.

'Like I said, I've got about enough to rebuild-'

Honeydew punched him hard, and Corso folded under the a.s.sault. The alien next gestured to two of the warriors, who stepped forward, lifted him by the arms and held him upright. Honeydew punched him again, and Corso felt bile surge in his windpipe.

It hurt. A lot.

The two Bandati then released Corso and he collapsed, curling up on the deck. Despite his pain, he was once again amazed that a creature so relatively small and fragile-looking could be so strong.

'You have been lying to us, Mr Corso,' Honeydew declared, his synthesized voice maintaining the same unchanging contralto. 'Therefore the Piri Reis Piri Reis will now be handed directly over to the Emissaries.' will now be handed directly over to the Emissaries.'

The two warriors once more grabbed Corso under the arms and dragged him inside a ship-to-ship shuttle that was locked into a nearby cradle. The rest of the Bandati warriors followed them inside, as did Honeydew himself. Corso was forced down and secured into a gel-chair, while nearby a viewscreen built into a bulkhead showed an image of field-shielded bay doors opening wide.

Corso found himself face-to-face with Honeydew, now locked into the gel-chair opposite. He found he wanted to look anywhere but into the alien's deep, dark eyes.

Moments later, they were in s.p.a.ce, and pushing away from the Bandati dreadnought with enough speed to take Corso's breath away during the first seconds of hard acceleration. The view on the screen rapidly changed as the shuttle rotated, showing the vast, dark curve of a ringed planetary body a gas giant, Corso judged from the dense striped pattern of its clouds.

He studied the viewfeed, fascinated despite his confined circ.u.mstances. He noted how the gas giant's atmosphere was being sucked upwards like a whirlwind in reverse, a thin column of gas visibly rising upwards and disappearing into a brightly flickering point of light, like a tiny star that orbited the planet.

It was quite shockingly beautiful, but the image soon rotated back out of sight as the shuttle swung around. He spotted the Bandati warship slipping into the distance with alarming speed, but beyond it loomed a far larger vessel one bearing a distinct resemblance to the ship from which KaTiKiAn-Sha had emerged.

When the gas giant came back into view a minute later, it was noticeably larger, and growing larger by the second.

Corso twisted in his restraints, leaning forward to try and see better where they were heading as much as to avoid Honeydew's implacable, unflinching gaze.

At first he had a.s.sumed they were heading for the tiny star-like object orbiting the gas giant, which he then realized with a shock, might actually be a black hole. If it wasn't for his more pressing predicament, he'd have been endlessly fascinated. He realized he was almost certainly the first human being ever to witness a black hole up close.

Corso looked back down and saw how every single one of the Bandati around him was staring at him in silence. He felt himself flush and quickly fixed his gaze on the viewscreen again.

Suddenly, out of the silence, Honeydew resumed his questioning. 'Explain the Piri Reis's Piri Reis's unusual behaviour.' unusual behaviour.'

Corso lowered his gaze and realized Honeydew now gripped a pain inductor in one hand. Sweat broke out on his brow and he worked his mouth, trying to come up with an answer the Bandati agent might find acceptable.

'I don't know,' Corso replied eventually. 'I . . .'

Honeydew reached out the inductor and Corso was. .h.i.t by a sudden jolt of pain that made him spasm. He bit his tongue hard and tears came to his eyes. He blinked them away, listening to the sound of his heart hammering.

'We scanned the Piri Reis Piri Reis while you were on board just now, and picked up sonic vibrations consistent with human speech. Who were you talking to?' while you were on board just now, and picked up sonic vibrations consistent with human speech. Who were you talking to?'

Corso looked away from his tormentor and said nothing, not so much out of bravery as the inability to devise a reply that might spare him further punishment. He waited for the inevitable.

Honeydew struck him with the inductor a second time, and the pain was even worse. This time, Corso cried out and began choking and retching once the pain started to fade.

He could now see an orbital station coming into view on the screen: a central spindle positioned at the centre of a dozen rings. It might have been just a few kilometres away, or much more, since it was hard to judge its size without the benefit of a horizon to stand on, but at a guess the hub alone was several kilometres in length. Orbital mechanics was far from being Corso's strong point, but he knew enough to guess that it had been placed in an L4 orbit relative to both the black hole and the gas giant.

'We require the correct protocols, Lucas. You have been lying to us.'

'I swear I wasn't.'

'Then listen. We compared your protocol-fragments with research carried out on the Ocean's Deep derelict, over many thousands of years, and we found a match. We've had the means to translate all along; but the significance of what we had was not understood, and was then lost until now. Our AI stacks have already created an initial set of fully functioning protocols, and these have now been handed over to the Emissaries.'

Corso took a moment to absorb this news. 'Then you don't need me any more.'

'Something is wrong, though,' Honeydew's bundled wings twitched sharply. 'The Emissaries ceased all communications with us a few minutes ago. They have attempted to order our fleet back to their G.o.dkiller without any explanation. We have also lost contact with the ships of our fleet that are still docked within the G.o.dkiller. Why would that be?'

Corso shook his head. 'What? You're asking me?'

'If we cannot understand precisely why the Emissaries are now behaving as they are, then we may all die here. Do you understand that, Mr Corso?'

'Look, I have no idea what you're talking about,' Corso stammered. 'If you've got working protocols now, then . . . I just don't see the problem.'

'They brought us all this way, Mr Corso, and yet they broke off communications with us the instant instant we gave them the means to communicate with, and possibly control, the derelict. Why would that be?' we gave them the means to communicate with, and possibly control, the derelict. Why would that be?'

Corso licked suddenly dry lips. 'I swear, Honeydew, I have no idea.'

'My Queen has ordered me to investigate the possibility of sabotage on your part. Given the evidence the bizarre behaviour of Dakota Merrick's craft, your own obvious attempts at evasion sabotage of some form seems the most likely answer, does it not?'

Corso glanced at the pain inductor, still firmly gripped in Honeydew's hand, and felt a tug of deep, primal terror.

'Maybe,' he replied, 'they just don't need you any more now they have most of what they wanted.'

Honeydew was silent for a long time. 'That is possibly the case, and yet I may be able to preserve my Hive's honour.'

'I don't understand,' said Corso.

'We will continue to our destination. This time, you will provide us with a copy of the protocols that is not sabotaged, and we will then attempt to reopen negotiations with the Emissaries.'

Crazy, thought Corso. thought Corso. They're all completely crazy. They're all completely crazy. 'You want to know the truth, Honeydew?' he yelled. 'I 'You want to know the truth, Honeydew?' he yelled. 'I destroyed destroyed most of the protocols and that's about as far as the sabotage went. If what you gave the Emissaries is wrong in some way, then it's nothing to do with me, so blame your own scientists.' most of the protocols and that's about as far as the sabotage went. If what you gave the Emissaries is wrong in some way, then it's nothing to do with me, so blame your own scientists.'

He fell back, feeling exhausted and spent. The orbital s.p.a.ce station now filled the viewscreen.

'I should kill you,' said Honeydew, the electronic tone of his voice as flat and dry as ever, but Corso couldn't help but imagine he heard a note of resignation in the words. 'I knew knew you were deceiving me and, by accepting that truth in one part of my mind while not allowing it to influence my decisions, I have failed my Hive and my Queen.' you were deceiving me and, by accepting that truth in one part of my mind while not allowing it to influence my decisions, I have failed my Hive and my Queen.'

He paused, as if in thought, then continued: 'And yet circ.u.mstances dictate that I must a.s.sume that you are still still lying to me, and therefore a version of the protocols that would prove acceptable to the Emissaries must exist. There isn't enough time to pry your mind apart and leach what we need directly from your neurons, but your entirely personal interpretation of the protocols may be key. My actions from this point are therefore highly regrettable but unfortunately necessary. And if the Emissaries still do not accept what we give them, then we must endeavour to steal the derelict for ourselves.' lying to me, and therefore a version of the protocols that would prove acceptable to the Emissaries must exist. There isn't enough time to pry your mind apart and leach what we need directly from your neurons, but your entirely personal interpretation of the protocols may be key. My actions from this point are therefore highly regrettable but unfortunately necessary. And if the Emissaries still do not accept what we give them, then we must endeavour to steal the derelict for ourselves.'

'I was telling you the truth truth!' Corso screamed.

'Yes, you might well have been. Yet my duty to my Queen and also the apparent evidence of sabotage indicate that my actions now must be other than you might prefer. Otherwise there is the very real risk that the Emissaries may turn on us.'

Honeydew's eyes remained wide and impa.s.sive as the shuttle began to decelerate for its final approach to the station.

'Tell me, Mr Corso, are you familiar with a species known as "maul-worms"?'

Dakota felt her consciousness bloom outwards in a sudden rush. In a brief moment of astonishing clarity, before her mind snapped back to the here and now, she was aware of:

the ebb and flow of data within the Shoal coreship she had just departed

the Emissary G.o.dkiller, with a fleet surging from its ports like wasps from a nest

three Consortium frigates accompanying a smaller fleet of Immortal Light a.s.sault ships

and, most shockingly, the grazing contact with another another machine-head on board one of the frigates . . . machine-head on board one of the frigates . . .

Someone she knew.

Her eyes snapped open, her heart fluttering arrhythmically deep within her chest, a sudden spike of adrenalin giving her a sensation like freezing cold water surging down her spine.

She became aware that Days of Wine and Roses was watching her closely.

'I'm all right,' she told him, though feeling anything but.

'Your biomedical displays suggest otherwise,' Roses replied, nodding towards one of the scout-ship's external views.

A while after she'd been left to her own devices in the viewing chamber, Roses had come for her. She soon found herself crammed alongside the Bandati agent in a tiny unarmed vessel originally designed to carry only one pa.s.senger. She had been far from rea.s.sured to discover that, just prior to their boarding this craft, significant chunks of the life-support systems had been stripped out in order to make enough room for the two of them.

The coreship that had brought them to Ocean's Deep was already half an AU behind them, and growing ever more distant by the second.

On the other hand, they weren't entirely defenceless. Tiny defensive drones flew alongside them, fanning out to cover an area almost a thousand kilometres across, but all centred on the scoutship. These drones were all armed with field-generator weapons, pulse-cannons, and even old-fashioned nuclear-tipped missiles. A tach-comms network linked them all into the scout-ship's strategic systems, so if any one part of the network went down, the rest of the drones could adapt accordingly.

Since they'd departed the coreship, Roses had approved a drone-submitted plan to move through the densest part of an asteroid belt scattered across the s.p.a.ce intervening between the coreship and Darkening Skies' secret colony. The hope was that the Emissaries might write the scout-ship off as merely one of many thousands of unmanned intelligence-gathering devices now scattered throughout the Night's End system and even if this strategy failed, the presence of several thousand asteroids would hopefully make targeting them in any offensive action extremely difficult.

Well, pretending they were just another unmanned drone clearly hadn't worked, for it became clear to Dakota that a large number of enemy drones were gradually converging on them the deeper they moved into the asteroid region. She glanced over at Roses, not an easy proposition given she was wedged deep into a gel-chair. She caught sight of her own reflection in expressionless eyes like obsidian mirrors.

'Dakota, can you do what you did back at Ironbloom? Can you take direct control of this ship?'

'Maybe . . . I don't know. I needed the derelict to do that.'

'I was under the impression that your implants did the work.'

'Yes, but I wiped them back in Nova Arctis.'

'Why?'

'Too long, too complicated. After that, the derelict the one that brought me to Night's End replaced the wiped software with its own version.'

'And the derelict in this system? Can you use that?'

Dakota curled her fists in frustration and kept her voice level as she replied. 'Listen, if I could control it, I would, and this time I'd tell you, but . . .'

'Yes?'

'But it's like it won't talk to me.' She tried to affect a helpless shrug, but that was impossible in her tight restraints. 'I can . . . I can feel feel it out there, and sometimes I can see through its eyes, different objects scattered all throughout this system but that's it. It won't respond when I want it to actually do something for me.' it out there, and sometimes I can see through its eyes, different objects scattered all throughout this system but that's it. It won't respond when I want it to actually do something for me.'

'Then we are lost already.'

'No, it knows I'm here. I just . . . I just have to figure out how to get it to listen to me.'

Dakota closed her eyes and felt the same sudden outwards rush she'd felt only seconds before. And, as her consciousness bloomed again, she once more had a sense of something ancient lost in the darkness but somewhere much, much much further away than the Ocean's Deep system. It was like swimming down into the sea until the light was gone and a heavy black pressed all around you . . . and you suddenly realized you weren't alone. further away than the Ocean's Deep system. It was like swimming down into the sea until the light was gone and a heavy black pressed all around you . . . and you suddenly realized you weren't alone.

Following that first fleeting contact made on their arrival, the Ocean's Deep derelict had fallen silent, manifesting now as little more than a brooding, dimly sensed presence. It made Dakota feel like some medieval pauper seeking shelter in a castle, only to find the drawbridge raised and the windows darkened.

'Well, in any case, our defensive drones are more than capable of dealing with an attack,' Roses was explaining when she opened her eyes again. She wondered which one of them he was trying to rea.s.sure.

'From what other other Bandati drones? Those things hunting us are Emissary. Last I heard, they're on a technological par with the Shoal. Have the Bandati ever taken on something like that?' Bandati drones? Those things hunting us are Emissary. Last I heard, they're on a technological par with the Shoal. Have the Bandati ever taken on something like that?'