for the last six years. He’s Changed to

become

Kraiklyn. I imagine your real leader is dead. Horza probably killed him, or at least left him

somewhere in or around Evanauth.

“I’m very sorry." She looked around the others, including the small drone. “But unless I’m much mistaken we’re all taking

a little trip to a place

called Schar’s World. Well, you are, anyway. I have a feeling my own journey might be a little shorter—and

infinitely longer." Balveda smiled

ironically at Horza.

“Two." the drone on the table said to nobody in particular. “I’m stuck in a leaky museum-piece with

two

paranoid lunatics."

“You’re not," Yalson was saying, ignoring the machine and gazing at Horza. “You’re not, are you. She’s lying."

Wubslin turned and looked at him. Aviger and Dorolow exchanged glances. Horza sighed and took his feet off the table, sitting

a little

straighter in his seat. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, his chin in his hands. He was watching,

feeling, trying to gauge the

mood of the various people in the room. He was aware of their distances, the tension in their

bodies, and how much time he would need to get

to the plasma pistol on his right hip. He raised his head and looked at all

of them, settling his gaze on Yalson. “Yes," he said, “I am."

Silence filled the mess room. Horza waited for a reaction. Instead the sound of a door opening came from down the corridor

through the

accommodation section. They all looked at the doorway.

Neisin appeared, wearing only a pair of grubby, stained shorts. His hair was sticking out in every direction, his eyes were

slits, his skin was

patchy with dry and moist areas, and his face was very pale. A smell of drink gradually worked its way

through the mess. He looked round the

room, yawned, nodded at them, pointed vaguely at some of the still uncleared debris

lying around and said, “This place is nearly in as big a

mess as my cabin. You’d think we’d been maneuvering or something.

Sorry. Thought it was time to eat. Think I’ll go back to bed." He yawned

again and left. The door closed.

Balveda was laughing quietly. Horza could see some tears in her eyes. The others just looked confused. The drone said:

“Well, Mr. Observant there is probably the only person on this mobile asylum with an untroubled mind at the moment." The machine

turned

on the table, scratching the surface as it faced Horza. “Are you really claiming to be one of these fabled human impersonators."

it asked with a

sneer in its voice.

Horza looked down the table, then into Yalson’s wary, frowning eyes. “That’s what I am."

“They’re extinct," Aviger said, shaking his head.

“They’re not extinct," Balveda told him, her thin, finely molded head turning briefly to the old man. “But they’re part of

the Idiran sphere now;

absorbed. Some of them always did support the Idirans, the rest either left or decided they might as

well throw in their lot with them. Horza’s

one of the first lot. Can’t stand the Culture. He’s taking you all to Schar’s World

to kidnap a shipwrecked Mind for his Idiran masters. A Culture

Mind. So that the galaxy will be free from human interference

and the Idirans can have a free run at—"

“All right, Balveda," Horza said. She shrugged.

“

You’re

Horza," Yalson said, pointing at him. He nodded. She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I’m starting to come round to the

drone’s

way of thinking; you’re both crazy. You took a nasty blow to the head, Kraiklyn, and you, lady"—she looked at Balveda—“have

had your brains

scrambled by this thing." Yalson picked up the stun gun and then put it down again.

“I don’t know," Wubslin said, scratching his head and looking at Horza as though he was some sort of exhibit. “I thought the

captain seemed

a bit strange. I couldn’t imagine him doing what he just did in the GSV."

“What did you do, Horza." Balveda said. “I seem to have missed something. How

did

you get away."

“I flew out, Balveda. Used the fusion motors and the laser and blasted out."

“Really." Balveda laughed again, throwing her head back. She went on laughing, but her laughter was a little too loud, and

the tears were

coming too quickly to her eyes. “Ho ho. Well, I am impressed. I thought we had you."

“When did you find out." he asked her quietly. She sniffed and tried to wipe her nose on her shoulder.

“What. That you weren’t Kraiklyn." She played her tongue along her top lip. “Oh, just before you came aboard. We had a microdrone

pretending to be a fly. It was programmed to land on anybody approaching the ship while it was in the Smallbay and take a

skin cell or hair or

something away with it. We identified you from your own chromosomes. There was another agent outside;

he must have used his effector on

the bay controls when he monitored you starting to get ready to leave. I was supposed to…

do whatever I could if you appeared. Kill you,

capture you, disable the ship: anything. But they didn’t tell me until too

late. They knew somebody might overhear if they warned me, but they

must have started to get worried."

“That was the noise you heard from her kitbag," Horza told Yalson, “just before I zapped her." He looked back at Balveda.

“I got rid of the

gear, by the way, Balveda. Dumped it all through the vactubes. Your bomb went off."

Balveda seemed to sag a little further in her seat. He guessed that she had been hoping her gear was on board. At the very

least she might

have been hoping the bomb had still to be triggered and that, while she would die, she would not die in vain,

or alone.

“Oh yes," she said, looking down at the table, “the vactubes."

“What about Kraiklyn." Yalson asked.

“He’s dead," Horza said. “I killed him."

“Oh well," Yalson tutted, and rapped her fingers on the table surface. “That’s that. I don’t know if you two really are mad

or if you’re telling the

truth; both possibilities are pretty awful." She looked from Balveda to Horza, raising her eyebrows

at the man and saying, “By the way, if you

really are Horza, it’s a lot less pleasant to see you back than I thought it was

going to be."

“I’m sorry," he told her. She turned her head away from him.

“I still think the best thing to do is to head back for

The Ends of Invention

and lay the whole thing before the authorities." The drone rose

fractionally above the surface of the table and looked round

at them all. Horza leaned forward and tapped its casing. It faced him.

“Machine," he said, “we’re going to Schar’s World. If you want to go back to the GSV I’ll gladly put you in a vactube and

let you make your

own way back. But you mention returning and getting a fair trial one more time and I’m going to blast your

synthetic fucking brains out,

understand."

“How

dare

you speak to me like that!" the drone bellowed. “I’ll have you know I am an Accredited Free Construct, certified sentient

under the

Free Will Acts by the Greater Vavatch United Moral Standards Administration and with full citizenship of the Vavatch

Heterocracy. I am near to

paying off my Incurred Generation Debt, when I’ll be free to do

exactly

what I like, and have already been accepted for a degree course in

applied paratheology at the University of—"

“Will you shut your goddamn… speaker and

listen.

" Horza shouted, breaking into the machine’s breathless monologue. “We’re not on

Vavatch, and I don’t care how goddamn smart

you are, or how many qualifications you’ve got. You’re on this ship and you do as I say. You want

to get off. Get off now

and float back to whatever’s left of your precious fucking Orbital. Stay, and you obey orders. Or get junked."

“Those are my choices."

“Yes. Use some of your accredited free will and decide right now."

“I…" The drone rose from the table, then sank again. “Hmm," it said. “Very well. I shall stay."

“And obey all orders."

“And obey all orders…"