'Come on, Jodi. I played it straight with you. Level with me."

The seconds ticked away. Finally she swung her eyes back on to his and held them there. Defiantly. 'Did Dave tell you he doesn't want to go back either?"

They both turned to look at Kelso. He read Steve's face in the half-light and spread his hands apologetically.

Steve greeted the news with a nod then looked away, as Jodi had done, over the bows. Ahead of them to starboard was the foaming wake from SideWinder's boat. He wondered how the big mex was making out with Cadillac and Clearwater. And whether he realised they knew he wasn't a real lumphead. He began to think of Mr Snow. And how Mr Snow had made him think really think about the world around him and his part in the great scheme of things.

What a mess! So many promises to so many people.

Whichever way it went, someone was bound to end up getting shafted.

The face of Roz, his kin-sister, appeared before his inner eye. He drove everything else from his mind and concentrated on the image in an effort to make contact. Despite the barriers he had erected, her voice had sometimes found a way through. Like on the shuttle to Grand Central when he'd been under escort and on trial for his life.

Come on, brain! TR Y! If it hadn't been for Roz, you and I wouldn't be in this jam!

A delicious coolness filled his skull as he and Roz broke through to each other. He was conscious of weightless, formless, wraith-like bodies embracing, merging. His and hers. He was both observer and partic.i.p.ant. The contact had never been as strong as this before. Her voice whispered directly into his brain. Not a single word was spoken, but as he listened, he understood what he had to do. A deep, soothing calm replaced his mental anguish.

He straightened up and found Jodi shaking his shoulder. 'Hey! Are you okay?"

'What? Oh, yeah, sure."

'You had me worried."

Steve grimaced. 'Just thinking things over."

'And...?"

'Would it come as a big surprise if I told you I felt the same way?"

Jodi stared at him in disbelief. 'You playing some kind of game with me?"

'Nope. I'm serious. Where were you planning on heading?"

'Wyoming,' she said, cautiously. 'We, uhh -we want to try and get back with Malone and the other guys."

'Couldn't be better. I'm going the same way."

Jodi scrambled back to Kelso and broke the news. He beckoned to Steve to join them and raised his voice above the noise of the motor.

'How're we gonna do it?"

'There's five of us and three of them. Shouldn't be too difficult."

'How about asking your friend Clearwater to help?"

Steve shook his head. 'Mute magic can't be turned on and off like a tap. Besides which, it's too risky. You saw what happened at the Heron Pool. Those planes nearly jumped off their trolleys. We don't want her shaking all the wires loose in those Sky-Riders."

'So what d'you have in mind?"

Steve laid a hand on the canvas tote-bag. 'Don't ask me why I didn't throw 'em away. It must be Fate. But in here are five face-masks and..." he reached inside his tunic and pulled out a grey canister '... I've also got one gas grenade."

Kelso lifted it neatly out of his hand as Jodi screamed with delight and threw her arms round Steve's neck.

They both ended up in the bottom of the boat. She hugged him cheek to cheek, then planted a couple of robust kisses on his mouth.

'Jodi! Your face is like a block of ice!'

'So's yours. Never mind. You're a really great guy.

Y'know that?"

'Listen, it's nothing. I owe you - remember?"

Long Point turned out to be an inhospitable strip made up almost entirely of windswept sand dunes whose crowns were held together by ragged tufts of long gra.s.s.

Following Side-Winder's directions, they dragged the inflatables up on to the beach. He then paused to get his bearings and concluded they were some 400 yards east of where they should be.

As he grasped one of the carrying handles of his boat, Jodi and Kelso stepped in and gave him a hand, leaving Steve, Cadillac and Clearwater to shift the other. Steve briefed them on what was going to happen as they proceeded down the beach behind the others. They each took a face-mask from the bag, stowed it inside their tunics and did their best to look as downcast as they'd been before.

Side-Winder found what he was looking for: a large watertight compartment whose lid was concealed beneath a cunningly arranged mat of pebbles and small rocks which matched this particular area of the beach.

This was no temporary set-up: it was a transit point for people going in and out of Ne-Issan.

After removing the power units and fuel tanks, they let the air out of the inflatables and stowed everything inside the cache. Side-Winder pulled out a hand-set, a fire-can, a mess-pot, an ice-pack to melt down for hot drinks, a six-pack of moulded foam cups containing sachets of Java and Sweet 'n' White and a flask - which he pa.s.sed directly to Cadillac. They replaced the lid, kicked a few loose pebbles back round the edges, then carried their baggage and breakfast up over the dunes.

A little way in from the beach they found an area of gently undulating gra.s.sland. At some time in the recent past, a visitor had obligingly mowed a wide strip down the middle of it. Side-Winder set up the fire-can, pulled the ignition strip, then put the ice cubes in the mess-pot. A few minutes later, he and the three other Trackers were warming their hands on hot cups of Java.

Side-Winder, who had now dropped all pretence of being a Mute, inhaled the aroma contentedly. 'Ahh, yes.

This is the real stuff, all right. Reminds you of all the things you've been missing!" 'Sure does,' said Kelso, busily thinking of all the goodies he would plunder from the beach store before leaving.

Side-Winder turned to Cadillac and Clearwater. Both Mutes were crouched over the fire-can. Clearwater was warming her hands, Cadillac was fondling the open flask of sake. 'Good stuff, eh? Just like I said - right?"

Cadillac nodded and took another swallow.

'Get your friend to try some,' urged Side-Winder. 'Go on!" he said to Clearwater. 'It'll warm you up faster than that fire-can will!'

Clearwater took a trial sip and clutched her throat as she was seized by a fit of coughing.

'It's okay, it's okay!" said Side-Winder. 'Always happens.

Keep going. The second one will make you feel a whole lot better." He watched her tip the flask up again and take another swallow. Then another. 'That's it.

Y'see? Practice makes perfect."

Clearwater lowered the flask and put a hand over her face as she started to giggle. She swayed against Cadillac and almost lost her balance. 'Oops!"

Side-Winder reached over and grabbed the flask 'Careful! Don't want to spill any of this." He offered up the flask to the others. n.o.body responded. 'No talkers?"