He tapped a snout at the dataset, initiating a call, but with the sounds shifted way up into frequencies so high that they came close to interfering with thought. Such squeaking would never penetrate the quilts that surrounded Ut; no chance that dear Tycoon would be bothered by inadvertent relays.

"Vendacious here," he said, squeaking soft and super-high himself. Oliphaunt dataset had Tinishly good hearing. Somewhere inside, it transformed Vendacious' voice into digital (whatever that was) and boosted it out to Nevil. Vendacious' heads hurt when he tried to imagine all the things the dataset did automatically. Somewhere out among the stars, there were things worth fearing.

Some seconds passed. Was he going to have to leave a message?

Then Nevil's upshifted voice came from the dataset: "Why in hell are you flying so low, man?"

Vendacious suppressed a snarl. Aloud, he made a noncommittal human noise.

"Never mind," the maggot continued. "We've got a problem. You told me Johanna was out of the picture."

"Of course. Torn to pieces." But suddenly Vendacious had a very bad feeling.

"She was on your frigging fleet!"

"But I saw her die. You were listening yourself."

"Well, I just saw her alive through trusted video. Now we know why we haven't had contact with the rafts. Powers on High, Vendacious! How could you?"

Vendacious' jaws snapped. If the maggot had been physically present, he would have lost his one and only throat. "You think I arranged this complication?" he said.

"I, no." Nevil's voice was choppy, as if he were trotting or climbing stairs; humans were such simple animals that they couldn't disguise that sort of thing. "Look, things are a bit dicey here. If we bring this off, Woodcarver will be so discredited that she won't dare grab power. My sisters and brothers will be safe. We can make something of this miserable exile-with your help of course. You can have all this damn world when we are done with it, but-"

Vendacious' spies often reported that Nevil was wonderfully persuasive with his fellow larvae. That was very difficult to believe. The maggot had never sounded like anything but a crude manipulator to Vendacious.

In a way, that was comforting. Vendacious let Nevil rattle on for a moment more. When the maggot came to a natural pause, Vendacious had something reasonable and constructive to say: "All agreed, of course. The question is, what should we do about this unpleasant surprise?"

"Well, I've already done what was necessary. That's one reason I'm so pissed." Nevil explained how he had blasted Johanna and a crowd of maggots into superheated steam. "The beam killed six of my brothers and sisters. We Children count, Vendacious! I need every one of them to work with me." He was silent for a moment.

Was he inviting a reply? Vendacious couldn't think of anything non-sarcastic; finally, he responded, "So this has damaged your credibility."

Nevil gave a sour laugh. "I'm not an idiot. Used this way, beam gun targets just explode. You know, like a bomb. I've made a big deal of the terrorist factions within the Tropicals-it's what today's 'peace treaty' meeting is all about. So the story is, Tinish dissidents on the barge fleet tried to sabotage Tycoon's generous gift. There are rough edges, but I can make it work. If anything, this will strengthen our current position-but that's not the point!"

"Indeed not," said Vendacious. "So you actually saw Johanna die?"

"Ah..." the human had the grace to acknowledge the irony. "Okay, not exactly. It looked like the guys on the pier were walking someone toward shore. And the instant I fired, Oobii lost contact with that broken radio we'd been tracking."

"That sounds even less certain than what I managed in the Tropics." Vendacious had hated Johanna Olsndot for so long. In a very real sense, she was responsible for the debacle of ten years ago. Tycoon might be surprised to learn that Vendacious hated Johanna even more than Tycoon did-and for much better reason. "Nevil, I think our problem may be more serious than explaining a little gunfire. At least we should plan for the possibility that Johanna is still out there, actively seeking allies."

Nevil was silent for a moment. It sounded like he had just moved out of doors or turned up one of his mechanical sound-dampers. Then: "Yeah ... Bili made pretty much the same point. He thinks we should switch over to my backup plan."

Vendacious shrugged angrily and put a certain bluff irritation into his voice: "Nonsense. That's defeatism." Without Ravna's technical support, and now with Woodcarver's active opposition, Nevil's position in the Domain had become steadily more difficult. In some ways that was good; it made the maggot easier to manipulate. Unfortunately, it also meant he had increasing interest in his "backup plan." That scheme might make sense in the long run-for Nevil-but it would render him almost useless to Vendacious.

"Nevil, I, um, beg you to stick with our grand plan. Let's think on other options we can exercise if problems arise."

"Okay, suppose Tycoon lands and behaves even more the fool than usual. Suppose he insists that Bergsndot and Jo's little brother accompany him on stage, in front of all the Children. And then-"

"Yes, that would be bad, but-"

Nevil's voice rode over his words: "-and then suppose Johanna has miraculously survived and teamed up with Woodcarver? She could upstage us all-and I can't kill everybody!"

Vendacious gave a derisive hoot. "Johanna couldn't speak a single syllable before Tycoon would rip her throat out." Nevil simply didn't understand Tycoon's hatred for that particular two-legs.

"Worst case, Vendacious, I'm talking worst case. I know the Ravna bitch is an idiot; she couldn't convince a friendly audience that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. And Jefri Olsndot is just a follower. But they've had several days to chat up your idiot, right?"

Vendacious ground his teeth as he replied, "I've been following that; I'm in control of the situation."

"You're betting a lot on that assessment, my friend. What are we going to do if Tycoon gets turned?"

Vendacious didn't have to think too hard on that. "Ultimately, Tycoon is simply a tool, a very very valuable tool. If he ever figures out the full truth of things, then he must be immediately destroyed.... Um." And what would that mean in the present situation? "If you and I coordinate on this ... we could cover all the possibilities. If I determine that Tycoon has gone bad, I will immediately tell you. So if your 'worst case' materializes-"

"Then I would fry them both?... Okay. I could say I was trying to protect Johanna but that Oobii glitched. The weapons Down Here are so crude I might be able to make that story work."

"Fine. But remember, killing Tycoon is truly a last resort. We need him more than I think you know. Even if Johanna pops out in front of him, don't just kill Tycoon. I'm confident he will quickly destroy her, but I'll signal you otherwise."

"Ah. So you're going to come out of hiding then?"

Sigh. "Indeed. I'll circle overhead in honor of this historic meeting of our races."

They briefly chatted about details, and Vendacious mentioned Tycoon's demand to speak with Nevil.

"Yeah, I noticed he was pinging me." Nevil was silent for a moment. There were human-sounding voices in the background. Nevil continued: "I don't want to talk to that shithead now. I've got to get on stage myself. What does he want to talk about anyway?"

"I think he wants some kind of last-minute reassurance about the situation with Woodcarver and Flenser."

"The idiot! There is no last-minute reassurance; that's why getting this meeting right is so important. Okay. I'll talk to him when I get to the stage area." And then Nevil signed off. At least that was what the symbol on the dataset's display indicated. As far as Vendacious could tell, the dataset did not covertly transmit to the two-legs. Given that Oliphaunt was Johanna's toy and it had never been in Nevil's hands, Vendacious was inclined to think it was not corrupted by him. With the two-legs' gadgets, you never knew for sure. When Vendacious did things Nevil must not know, he locked the dataset away and used the Radio Cloak network. He had ten years of evidence that the starship could not snoop on mindsounds.

Speaking of which, he should talk to Tycoon to claim credit for Nevil's upcoming call- The thought was interrupted by whistling cries of anticipated pain. The Cargomaster dragged Amdiranifani into the space below Vendacious, then fastened the pack's neck collars to the garrote stands that ringed the bow hatch. As the Cargomaster left the area to bring in the other prisoner, Vendacious leaned down a head to inspect Amdiranifani. The eight heard him and shrank back.

Vendacious smiled. Intelligent victims were always entertaining. They thought they could outwit their torturer-and after you broke them, their own imagination became your best ally. Without a doubt, Amdiranifani was the most brilliant victim Vendacious had ever had. This eightsome had come a long way down. In the first day or two, it had actually tried to suborn crew and radio with covert speech, echoing threads of sound that evaded Vendacious' hearing. The arrogance of the eight, to think it could bring off such a scheme. Vendacious had let Amdiranifani hope for three full days. Apprehension had been sweet, the punishment tuned to the victim: Vendacious had gouged out two of Amdiranifani's eyes. Just two, just eyes-and then he had called on his victim to imagine how much worse the punishment could be. For this pack, with its imagination, the effect was as devastating as cracking half its tympana, or killing a member outright. And the mild punishment left so much more for Vendacious to work with....

Amdiranifani was making little squeaking noises, fighting within himself for the courage to speak.

Vendacious raised the tip of one nose, a gesture that normally preceded harsh punishment during interrogation. Amdiranifani froze into terrified silence.

"Ah, my dear Amdiranifani. So sorry for the poor view you have down there. Don't worry, you may yet hear some interesting things. Here's something very important: Think quietly. Remain speech silent, except where I give you leave to speak." He raised a second nose, also a signal he had used during interrogations, when an absolute order was given. There was nothing this creature could say that would make any difference, but Vendacious wanted any screams of pain that leaked across the radio net to be under his own control. "If you disobey-well, I think you know where you're standing." Vendacious gestured at the bow hatch in the middle of Amdiranifani. "Take that as your suspended sentence. I would just as soon have you be seven or six or even five. It would be a pleasure to throw some of you to the winds, and I could tell Tycoon you were trying to escape and overreached yourself. You have no doubt of me, do you?"

Here and there, Amdiranifani's heads dipped in trembling acknowledgment. Just last night, Vendacious had thrown one of his own crew's members out that hatch-and made sure that Amdiranifani had witnessed the discipline. Whether dealing with a single member or a whole pack, Vendacious always enjoyed such punishment. Usually the victim was a prisoner, but killing an occasional malingering bit of crew did wonders to encourage good performance from the rest.

Cargomaster was bringing in the foursome, all that was left of my lord Steel. This prisoner was not so manageable. It was enraged beyond fear, and not very intelligent-ordinarily not an entertaining combination. This remnant of Steel had become steadily more killing crazy as the days passed, perhaps recalling its old hatreds. Its insanity exploded whenever it came within ear- or eyeshot of Amdiranifani. The four bounced off the walls of its cage, searching for some way out, shrieking murder at the eightsome. Remnant Steel and Amdiranifani's own imagination kept Amdiranifani forever at the edge of collapse.

If only I had this strong a hold on the humans with Tycoon. Vendacious eyed Amdiranifani speculatively. Avoiding Nevil's "worst case" might come down to whether maggots Jefri and Ravna would keep silent if the alternative was to see pieces of their dear friend raining from the sky.

Now Ravna could see Newcastle town and Oobii. Both Tycoon (with his telescopes) and Jefri claimed there were crowds on the heather southeast of town.

"I have them in sight, too," came Vendacious' voice. His airship was rapidly catching up. "That's where the great meeting is to be, my lord. Nevil has constructed a stage there and cleared a landing field, just as we agreed."

"And he'll call the moment he arrives?" said Tycoon.

"Yes, my lord, direct to your ordinary radio. Do you have-"

"Hello? Hello?" That was Nevil's voice, coming from an analog radio by Tycoon's thrones. In the background there were human voices, and the sound of whipping wind.

Tycoon leaned toward the radio box and said, "Greetings, Lord Nevil." The portentous words sounded incongruous in his frightened little girl voice.

"Yes. Well ... Greetings to you, too." Nevil's voice clipped in and out. She heard snippets of confident-sounding advice he was giving to someone near him. Ah. Nevil must be wearing the single remaining HUD, using it to maintain two conversation streams. "Okay, I'm back. Everybody can see your airships now. They're waving. I'm about to go up on stage, give everybody a pep talk. Woodcarver is already up there, but she's cooperating. Too many other people really want this alliance. Everything is under control and per our previous discussions." Ravna almost smiled. She had never heard Nevil Storherte sound, well, frazzled. "So, um, are you ready for our meeting, sir?"

"We are on schedule as well," said Tycoon, "but I have several questions."

"Yes, sir?"

"First, are you hiding Johanna Olsndot?" The whole pack was watching Ravna and Jefri.

"What? No!" Nevil's voice clipped out for a second. "Why in heaven's name would you ask me that? Haven't I-"

"You've been very helpful on this issue in the past. I thank you for that." Tycoon was still watching Ravna and Jef. "But at the same time I know you were-mutually promised? sex-involved?-with Johanna. Even humans must have some forms of loyalty, so I wanted to ask."

"Mister, I assure you that after what Johanna did, I have no loyalty towards her!"

"Very well then. I just wanted to ask."

"Are your other questions as interesting?"

"You can be the judge of that," said Tycoon, and proceeded into the fine points of who would be seated where onstage, and where Woodcarver might have security packs, and how they were armed. Vendacious would circle overhead while Lord Tycoon was on the ground. Finally, Tycoon said, "This all sounds very good, my lord Nevil. Thank you. I will see you on the ground in a few minutes."

"Yes, sir," said Nevil, "I look forward to making our alliance official." He was sounding something like his normal diplomatic self. "Ah, one other thing, my lord Tycoon. For best effect, I recommend that you not speak with your human voice. Use Tinish. More dignified, don't you think?"

Tycoon cocked his heads. "My use of your language is poor?"

"Not at all!" protested Nevil. In fact, Tycoon spoke better Samnorsk than most Starship Hill packs. Nevil must be worried about the Geri voice; that by itself would betray Nevil's lies. "It's just that ... um ... speaking Tinish will seem so much more dignified. More powerful, too."

Vendacious put in, "I'll be happy to translate, anonymously of course."

Tycoon admired himself for a moment. "Yes ... I see your point. Very well."

"Excellent. I must go onstage now. Talk to you in person soon."

After a moment, the little analog radio emitted background static; no one was transmitting to it. Two of Tycoon picked up the device and a third head punched a button in the side; even the static ceased.

Tycoon set down the device and looked around the command deck. "Of course, he's lying about Johanna."

"Huh?" said Jefri. Vendacious gobbled similar surprise, and some kind of question.

"Yes, Vendacious. Well you might ask." Tycoon's stare returned to Ravna and Jefri. "You see, since we've had specimens, I have become a great student of human nature. In fact, understanding them is not that difficult; they are such simple creatures, with such simple motivations. While I was talking to Nevil, I was watching these two here. Both realized that Nevil is lying." He spoke with the confidence of a real expert-or a revenge-obsessed nutcase.

"See?" He waved at Jefri. "The Johanna-brother is speechless. I have found him out yet again. And you, Ravna. Can you honestly say that Nevil was telling the truth?"

How would I know? I'm not sure I've ever heard Nevil telling the truth. Hope and fear chased around in her head, and she was as silent as Jefri.

Vendacious was not so shy. "My lord, I would never have guessed, but it ... it could be so. These next few hours, I will watch for signs of other lies."

They were about ten kilometers from Starship Hill. Ravna had flown over this area often enough-both with Pilgrim, and in recent times on Scrupilo's little airboat. Below were the merged farms of the Margrum River Valley. To the west, the edge of the sea cliffs was obvious now. Just on this side of the edge, the town houses stood along the Queen's Road. Newcastle town sprawled to the north, climbing right up to the marble dome of the castle itself.

Tycoon's attention was spread across several tasks, talking on the speaking tubes with his pilots, watching ahead, occasionally chatting with his advisors. Vendacious claimed to have Amdi on his ship's command deck, and had persuaded him to cooperate in providing information. "I'll trust the pack for nothing critical of course," said Vendacious, "but he's lived near Starship Hill all his life. And he knows that lying will be strictly punished."

"I don't know," Tycoon replied, even as he continued to talk to his own crew via speaking tubes. "I wouldn't trust a prisoner's word at a moment like this."

"Ah, but I also have agents on the ground."

"Dekutomon?"

"He's the most important, my lord. He's near the landing spot and he is with the radio cloak Fyr."

"Good! I had wondered what you did with Fyr! So Nevil can't hear what Dekutomon is telling us?"

"Indeed, my lord."

Tycoon gobbled something that meant oops, and made some hasty correction to what he was saying to his crew of pilots. In Samnorsk he said, "Very good, Vendacious. Now I should concentrate on this landing." Tycoon looked mainly forward, with two of himself on the binoculars. Apparently he intended to manage the landing directly, using the speaking tubes to specify every smallest detail to the real crew. It was typical Tycoon foolishness.

Mercifully, Vendacious and the other various advisors were silent for a time. There was just Zek, every fifteen seconds or so, calling out range information in precise Samnorsk units: "Altitude 750 meters, range to touchdown 3300 meters."

"Altitude 735 meters, range to touchdown 3150 meters."

"Altitude 720 meters, range to touchdown 3005 meters."

None of Tycoon looked around, but he made an approving sound. "Very good, Vendacious! Your ranging information is making this much easier."

Ravna had seen no evidence that Tycoon's operation had any location technology beyond the natural sonar Tines were born with. Where were those numbers coming from?

Jefri gave her a little nudge and nodded in the direction of Zek. The singleton was looking back at them. It turned, stared for a moment at the landscape ahead- "Altitude 705 meters, range to touchdown 2850 meters."

Then its eyes were back on Ravna and Jefri. The creature was all but quivering with tension, as if to will them to understand something more than the numbers. What was behind those eyes? The two airships must be less than a kilometer apart, so Zek and Ut were essentially together. Dekutomon's Fyr was probably closer than it had ever been before. That meant that Mr. Radio was at least a threesome. There were likely two others fairly close, one that had been used for long-range relay to Fyr and one at the head of the chain to the Tropics. Right now the radio pack could easily be a fully-connected fivesome, perhaps even smarter than the night it had linked them with Amdi.

Maybe such a pack couldn't run a full Man-in-the-Middle, but all it had to do was not relay all it heard from here. If it was willing to risk its life.... She glanced at Jefri. He was as pale as he could be, stricken. He gave her a nod, understanding.

Meantime, Zek still looked at them, intent. The creature had made a brave offer. Okay. Ravna nodded at him, and quietly asked something that might be innocuous even if it were relayed to listeners up and down Mr. Radio's network: "How many are you?"

"I'm between five and eight," Radio replied. "depending on sky bounce reception. We must be quick."

Tycoon was preoccupied with his speaking tubes and binoculars, but now one of him glanced up, curious at the strange conversation. He gobbled a query wrapped around the Tinish for "Vendacious."

Zek shrank back on his perch, but his reply was Samnorsk: "Not Vendacious at the moment, sir. This is myself, Radio."

Another head came up. "So you're really all of one mind? Remarkable. What does Vendacious think of this?"