'When Helots die,' Reed intoned, 'it is their final freedom. For some it is all the freedom they ever know. But out loyal friends, Barro and Ione, Enru and Challis...for them freedom was tasted for a brief while before their deaths, as they served the greater cause.'

He talked on, moving away from the tribute to the fallen soldiers of the Talon to more practical matters. The ship they had escaped in was called The Peace of Resistance, which, as a pun, wasn't at all funny given the circumstances. Campillo had used it mainly to gallivant around the solar system. It wasn't as luxurious as some space yachts, but modern and practical enough to be a tribute to Campillo's ill-gotten wealth.

Reed had known of the ship's existence for some time and had planned its use as an escape route should the need arise. Whether his benefactor had been aware of this intention wasn't revealed. How he had obtained the access codes was also something he didn't disclose.

While the man talked, Maddy checked that Geranium was all right. The girl snuffled quietly, tears drying on her face. Maddy had seen Sarti take the bullets intended for her mistress, and had tried to say a few words of comfort. But Geranium didn't seem to be listening.

Both of them were confined to seats against the bulkhead of the main cabin. The craft wasn't large—few spaceships ever were—but it could perhaps contain six people with some degree of comfort. There was even a separate main sleeping cabin, which Reed had secured for himself, and a bathroom that didn't intrude on anything else. A separate navigation cubicle allowed another place of privacy for those seeking such a thing.

Not that she or Geranium were permitted that.

Marshall broke out some provisions and prepared four meals. The aroma of hot food quickly permeated the cabin and Maddy realised it had been ages since she'd eaten.

Reed floated through the cabin and hovered before the two women, gazing at them for a long time.

'It would be interesting,' he said eventually, 'to have your opinion about the recent events.'

'What do you want to know?' Maddy felt Geranium stir beside her, as if drawing back from the presence of this man.

'I know many things. It isn't the first time I've had to retire from operations. A former terrorist like yourself—well, you might have much to gain from advising the police of our whereabouts. Did you?' His eyes bored into hers. Like all Helots, he had prominent ridges above his eyes, which normally made it look as if he were permanently frowning. But his eyes were so bright they stood out sharply, penetrating her mind.

'No.'

The gaze rested on her for a moment longer. 'All right. I believe you.' He stared at Geranium, who kept her head down, unable to look him in the eye. 'As I suspected, the fault lies with this one, this precious daughter of the Elite, poking around in the affairs of my business partner.' He sneered and reached out to touch her. Geranium flinched, turning her head aside. His hand rested on her cheek.

'Leave her alone,' Maddy gritted between clenched teeth.

He seemed not to have heard. 'I've met many high-born nobles in my time. Some I was able to work with. Some I hate.' He snorted through his nose. 'Noble! Her kind considers itself above others because they own shares in the great and glorious Syndicate.' He took his hand away and rubbed his fingers together as if wiping dirt from them. 'Her stupid father refused to pay!'

Geranium snapped her head back to look at him directly for the first time.

'He refused to pay for his own daughter. But he would pay for slaves! So the police raided my headquarters. They suspected where we were of course, and they suspected the slave market of having connections with us, but left us alone until we transgressed what they considered appropriate behaviour. And now we are on the run once more.'

He drew back his head and seemed about to spit on her, but paused when the girl flinched.

'Weak Sape shit!'

'What are you going to do with us?' Maddy asked quickly, trying to draw his attention away.

He pushed himself through the cabin over to the table that Marshall had let down from the wall to serve the food. The scowl remained on his face but Maddy could feel Geranium relax a little beside her. 'I've been thinking,' said Reed, 'over the last five days of your captivity. That information you found on the ghost, that data that something will happen regarding an asteroid...it is genuine?'

'I believe so.'

'It might not be a trick by the Elite to fool us, to lure us into a trap?'

'Why should they? They don't even know you have the ghost, do they?'

He nodded, as if she had cemented a decision in his mind. 'Can you find out where this ship, the Shepherd Moon, is now?'

What was the man's game? After locking her up for five days, threatening her at gunpoint, allowing Geranium's slave to die, along with so many of his own men, he now wanted her help?

And yet, there was something in that ghost data, something big. She had to know what it was just as much as Reed.

She shrugged. 'Perhaps I can. I'd need to search through the ghost's database. It'd depend if there had been specific mention of a course or actual co-ordinates. Or any subsequent communications since it was last accessed.'

Reed glanced at Marshall, who had sat down in one of the control chairs and was making adjustments to the ship's course. The craft had become unsteady, its usual smooth journey through Void now more like riding over a rough road. Reed put out one hand to steady himself as the ship rocked.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'We went Void while we were still within the Martian atmosphere,' replied Marshall, 'You're not supposed to do that. We're dropping out of Void.'

Maddy's knowledge of Void was limited, but she knew it was a delicate balance of physical forces and the chance of drop-out increased with time spent in Void, or if any of the required conditions, such as being far away from high gravity, were not met.

'Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?' Reed's hand gripped an anchor bar hard.

'Of course I do! I've flown it before, with Campillo. But we won't be in Void much longer. Nothing I can do.'

'Is it dangerous? Dropping out?' Reed pushed away from the table and grabbed the back of one of the flight chairs to strap himself in. Maddy fastened her seat belt and gestured to Geranium to do the same.

'It won't be pleasant if we come out near a solid body or intense source of radiation. But the chances of that are negligible. We should still be somewhere near the solar system.'

There was a brilliant flash of white light and ship became steady again. Marshall opened the shutters on the front window and dimmed the cabin lights. The vista of a billion stars could be seen. The ship's AI chattered away to itself to find out where they were.

'Everyone safe?' asked Reed.

'There's enough power to go Void again soon, as soon as the potential builds up,' said Marshall. 'Only we should decide where we're going this time'

There was something in Marshall's voice that made everyone go quiet. The man rose from his seat and faced Reed.

'You're a fool,' he said. 'I mean it, Reed. What kind of terrorist are you? Your whole cell wiped out in one raid?'

Undoing the straps that held him into his seat, Reed let himself float up until he was higher than the Sape. 'No. Not wiped out. My soldiers will re-group. We have other safe houses. The Talon survives. It is just...separated.'

'Scattered, you mean. And you ran away.' Marshall unbuttoned his uniform jacket; there was sweat on the shirt beneath. The flushed colour in his face started to fade. 'All right. I'm not saying it wasn't the thing to do in the circumstances. The whole of the Albany police force would have been against us. The thing is, what are we to do now?'

Reed nodded. 'All right. I understand. We'll stay here for the time being if we're safe. We can't be tracked through Void. We need time to think, time for the rest of the cell to reach safety, then we regroup.' He looked at Marshall, who nodded after a moment.

Maddy found herself breathing again.

Half an hour later they had settled enough to have a meal. Maddy and Geranium were allowed to use the table, but only after the others had dined. Reed watched them while Marshall checked the ship's location.

'Make a big meal,' Maddy whispered to Geranium. 'You don't know when you'll get to eat again.'

'What are they going to do to us?' the girl replied, stuffing pasta into her mouth. 'My parents know I've been kidnapped. They'll be...' She stifled a sob. Maddy touched her hand gently. 'They'll hear about the raid and know I wasn't found! They'll think I'm dead.'

'Not unless they find your body. It means they'll look elsewhere for you. Your father's powerful enough to make sure the authorities do a good job.' She smiled, but the girl just looked down at her plate. 'Eat!' continued Maddy. She wanted to remind Geranium that her mother the Marchioness had spent a month locked in a small cabin and even gained weight because all she had to do in that time was eat and get high, but she refrained. This wasn't the time to bring up the topic of the Marchioness's own captivity.

'We're in the Oort Cloud,' announced Marshall to Reed. 'But not far. About two thousand five hundred AU.'

The ship was now just one of about two trillion objects orbiting the Sun, not far from home, but well hidden. Few ships bothered to visit the Cloud on their way to and from the solar system, bypassing it in Void.

'All right,' said Reed, and returned to the table where the women were finishing their meal. 'Listen up. The Talon is scattered for the time being. But until we can contact them again I have other plans. Maddy Hawthorn has news about the ship called Shepherd Moon. If they carry their plans out—whatever they are—then maybe people will die. Helots will die. Such an attack would draw down the ultimate reprisal of the Sapes upon all Helots. Even asking a ransom for this girl destroyed our cell.'

Marshall looked bored.

'Maddy will locate the Shepherd Moon, and we will go to it, wherever it is. I shall contact the terrorists on board to find out their intentions, for the sake of all Helots.'

He leaned over Maddy, gripped her shoulders with both hands.

'I am not a monster. I want freedom for my people, not their destruction. Do you understand? This is the time that the Talon shall prove itself.'

Yes, she understood, but said nothing. The Talon right now consisted of just Reed and Marshall, who strictly speaking wasn't even a member, just a hired thug. And wherever the Shepherd Moon might be back there in the solar system, it wasn't going to be easy to find unless she was smarter than she'd ever been in her life.

And right now, her life wasn't worth shit.