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Then Tekton saw the Commander become very still, as though shocked into immobility. After a long, uncertain moment, he cleared his throat.

‘Kill the pair of them,’ Lasper told his men. Then he pointed to Bethany. ‘And lock her in her cabin – for now.’

BALBAO

Debris from Belle-Monde battered their lifeship. With each collision, Balbao’s desire to survive grew stronger. Chunks of flight instruction broke free of his long-term memory and floated into the present, and he began frantic res-shift preparations: check buffers, trajectory parallels, co-ordinate sequ— His hands shot out of virtual arrangement as the ship shuddered under the impact of something large.

He righted himself, snatched the vessel back into position and began acquiring damage feed. The view outside the ship showed a frightening minefield of flotsam between them and the Geni-carrier.

We must stay unnoticed long enough to make shift. That meant … No! A sliver of panic crept in. I – I can’t … pilot as well as …

A thin-fingered hand touched his knee. His eyes refocused on Ra.

‘What is it, Balbao?’ asked Ra. ‘What do you need?’

‘With no moud, I must prepare for shift manually.’

‘And?’

‘The Geni-carrier will detect us if we don’t use the debris to hide.’

‘You need someone to pilot while you prep?’

Balbao nodded.

Ra unclipped his safety net and teetered across the small space. His light frame fell against Balbao’s as the internal gravity fluctuated wildly.

‘Strap me in with you,’ said Ra. ‘I am able to pilot without a moud.’

‘How so?’ asked Balbao, fumbling to secure them both.

Ra’s strange segmented eyes rippled as if lit from within. ‘Sole’s reward. Release the backup.’

Balbao banged a panel to his right, and a sensor piece dropped out. Ra slipped it across his forehead and pressed the interface point to the back of his neck. He lifted his hands above his lap and waited for the virtual field to activate. ‘I will keep us as well hidden as I can.’

His fingers began to twitch and twirl. Almost immediately the buffeting stopped.

‘Thank Sole!’ Miranda exclaimed with relief. ‘What can I do?’

‘Start thinking,’ said Balbao curtly. ‘Work out what the hell is going on and, if we survive, what we should do about it.’ He didn’t bother to look at her. ‘And for Crux sakes do it quietly!’

With half an eye on Ra, Balbao fell back to his task. Only a tiny portion of his mind registered Ra’s manoeuvres, but enough that he would remember his skill for ever. However long that turned out to be.

His own virtuals showed him that the remains of Belle-Monde were spread in a shining metallic landscape across Mintaka’s outer system. The lifeship’s EM scanners were giving similar information for the space between them and the shift station. He double-checked his coordinates. Min Minor, the closest planet, wasn’t where it should be. Instead, there was a giant expanding dust cloud.

‘Fuck,’ said Balbao, with full Balol anger intonation.

Ra didn’t pause or react.

Labile Connit did. ‘Bad news?’

‘Min Minor,’ said Balbao. ‘It’s gone.’

‘Gone? A planet can’t be gone.’ Miranda lifted her head from whispering in Jise’s ear. Her face was puffy.

Balbao might have been disgusted by her appearance, had he not been distracted with his own fury. He wanted to bellow and break things to vent his upset. ‘The fucking planet is fucking gone!’

‘It’s the Extros … My God, they’ve wiped out a planet,’ said Connit.

‘Fifty million sentients,’ said Jise. ‘Fifty million.’ He spoke slowly, as if trying to absorb what it meant. ‘That can’t be. It just can’t.’ He banged his head back against the seat.

‘Fifty million and five, if we don’t get out of this system,’ said Balbao. ‘Ra?’

They waited a long few moments before the Godhead answered. ‘I can keep us hidden for a few more hours, but on this trajectory we’ll soon encounter the worst of the dust from Min Minor. I’m not sure the ship will withstand it.’

‘Can we go around the worst of it, Ra?’

‘Not without finding clear space and being noticed.’

‘Then what do we do?’