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Tse-Mallory considered. “They may kill us.”

“Certainly they may.” Leaning back so that he stood only on his four trulegs, the Eint Truzenzuzex stood as tall as evolution allowed. “What happens to us does not matter. We are nothing. The process Flinx hopefully has inaugurated is everything. The longer we can keep these people busy, the more time it will give him to rouse—something.”

Tse-Mallory nodded slowly. “Well, death is an old acquaintance.” He smiled fondly. “Almost as old as you, bug.”

Truzenzuzex trilled a thranx laugh. “I will issue the invitation. Up the universe, pulpskin.”

Tse-Mallory offered an appropriately acerbic rejoinder as the philosoph turned to the nearest visual pickup.

There was nothing noteworthy about the appearance of the shuttle that detached from the new ship and made its way toward the Teacher. It was automatically guided into the appropriate bay. Then there was nothing for the two scientists to do but wait.

The visitors arrived on the bridge within moments. A dozen men and women, they were armed with neuronic weaponry that was not only viciously efficient but could safely be employed inside a ship without any risk to the integrity of its hull. They were also, Tse-Mallory reflected as he sized them up one by one, a somewhat motley-looking group. While a few individuals moved with the ease and grace of those who have had martial training, others appeared unsure of themselves and in questionable physical condition. The control chamber had become crowded, reducing the advantage of numbers in any conflict. Mentally, he started listing options. Doubtless Truzenzuzex was doing the same. He and his friend were old, but in a fight an elderly well-trained soldier is always a better bet than a young and inept civilian.

Then one more figure stepped into the room and everything he had been thinking was overturned.

The woman was tall and striking, with close-cropped blond hair and jet-black eyes. Tse-Mallory would have said that those corneas offered a window into her soul, except that he did not perceive the existence of one. Though she moved with the animal authority of a Qwarm and projected a barely contained ferocity, there was nothing else to indicate whether she might be a member of that murderous Guild. Certainly her attire was far removed from that favored by the professional assassins.

Those who had preceded her made way for her. As they did so they exhibited a deference that went beyond what was normally accorded a leader or chief. It took Tse-Mallory a moment to categorize the reaction he was observing.

They were afraid of her.

Halting, she stood silently as one of the armed but patently less threatening men stepped forward to confront the two scientists.

“We are of the Order of Null,” he announced calmly.

Tse-Mallory kept his expression unreadable. “I know you people. You're the ultimate nihilists.”

The man smiled slightly. “We have our beliefs, yes.” Looking past man and thranx, he indicated the glowing red sphere that was visible through the foreport and beyond the great disk of the Teacher's Caplis generator. “We require, nay demand, the death of the person presently within that scarlet orb.”

Truzenzuzex could no longer stand the not-knowing. “How are you aware of his presence there, sil!!ak? How do you know his name? And how did you find the means for traveling to this place?” His wing cases fairly shook with frustration. “You could not have tracked this ship all the way from the depths of the Blight! You could not have tracked it the instant we initiated changeover and entered space-plus. Such a thing is not possible!”

At his words, the striking woman came forward. Tse-Mallory noted the deference the much larger and stronger speaker displayed as he stepped aside for her. The sociologist also noted, perhaps even more significantly, that among all the boarders she alone was not armed.

“You're right, insect.” She employed the insult casually, as if unaware of its import and