Spinneret

"Positive, sir. Perez's hand wasn't in position to even palm something small."

"All right. Let me know if Perez goes anywhere but the docks; otherwise just go back to normal duty. And that was a nice bit of observation, Sergeant; expect to find a commendation logged on your record for it."

"Thank you, Colonel," the other said, pleasure clearly evident in his voice. "Just doing my job, sir."

"Carry on, then. Out."

He clicked off the phone, his irritation at Perez somewhat mollified. For everyone like Perez, there's at least one more like Sergeant Wynsma, he decided … and for the moment, at least, Astra's military force seemed pretty solidly on his side.

Of course, if things started getting tight, some of that loyalty could wear a little thin.

Carmen, sitting by the two aliens, must have been keeping at least half an eye on him, and as he lowered his arm she nodded. "All set, sir," she said. "Beaeki nul Dies na can get the tanks to us by the day after tomorrow—their mining base on the i

"Excellent." Meredith looked at Beaeki. "You've considered the fact that our plants will be very different chemically from yours?"

"We have dealt extensively with carbon-based life," the Rooshrike said. "The tanks will be perfectly compatible with your flora, especially as the lower temperatures here will make the tank materials even more inert."

Meredith nodded and turned his attention to the glass-enclosed Pom. "Waywisher, we're under no illusions as to how much rental of your ship will cost. Are you aware we can offer payment only in Spi

"We have need for vast amounts of your cable," the Pom's deep-voiced translator said. "We are happy to assist you in this matter as a way to defray the costs we will soon be incurring."

"I see," Meredith said, feeling a brief flicker of uneasiness. Aside from their spacecraft, the Poms supposedly built little if anything requiring great structural strength. Were they embarking on some large-scale space project, such as an orbiting habitat? Or were they pla

He put it out of his mind. The Rooshrike had thus far proven themselves to be accurate sources of information, and they'd never given any hint that the Poms were anything but peaceful. "Well, then," he said to both aliens, "we'll be ready with our end of the project by the time you deliver on yours. I believe, Beaeki nul Dies na, that your first load of metal will be delivered about the same time as the tanks?"

"Yes," the Rooshrike said. "One hundred ten metric tons, for a cable fifty kilometers in length. I trust you can make one that long?"

"I'm sure we can," Meredith said, trying to sound confident. Well, Spi

Chapter 23

The Rooshrike hydroponics tanks actually wound up arriving a day late, but as Astra's microbiologists took that long to get their cultures of gene-tailored algae going anyway, Carmen wasn't inclined to press the point. The Rooshrike ship captain, apparently used to stricter insistence on contractual fine print, seemed greatly relieved at Carmen's leniency. She accepted his thanks gracefully, but made a mental note to learn more about normal interstellar business practices as soon as possible. She didn't mind getting a reputation for fairness, but she didn't want anyone thinking they could get away with murder, either.

The metal delivery was another matter entirely, and clearly under the command of someone who knew what he was doing. The heavy-duty shuttles dropped out of the sky with clockwork precision, each gliding down on its swing-wings to the new landing region north of Mt. Olympus, discharging its cargo of scrap metal, and lifting on repulsers in time for the next shuttle to take its place. The pile of boxes grew; and as it did so. Carmen worried alternately about what would happen if the leecher kicked in prematurely, and what they'd do if it didn't kick in at all.

Fortunately, the need to explain either never arose. The last shuttle was climbing into the sky, and workers were begi

There were some things that were universal.

In the Spi

Hafner nodded, his eyes sweeping the garish control board and trying to follow the changes in the pattern of lights. It was an u

The short-range radio crackled in his ear. "Got something on level ten," one of the other observers reported. "Whole bank suddenly lit up. Anything happening to correlate?"

"Hang on, I'll check." Hafner relayed the message to Barrier, then stood chafing as the other checked his own comm net. The most painful part of this, Hafner knew, was that he had originally agreed with Meredith's insistence that only a single longrange radio be allowed at each observation point. From a security standpoint it still made sense; but Hafner hadn't counted on the frustration such an awkward setup would generate. First a den mother, now an organic telephone relay, he groused inwardly, staring at the vigilant Gorgon's Heads flanking the doorway.

Why should we really care if someone gets a peek at the controls, anyway? How would they get in to do anything—bribe one of the Gorgon's Heads?

"The long coil's starting up," Barner a

Hafner's mind snapped out of its reverie. "You mean that solenoid that knocks flyers out of the sky?"

"That's the one." Barner listened a moment longer. "Hope it's all right—it's got a hum they can hear right through the wall, and the pitch has changed twice already."

Hafner frowned, raised his radio. "Stimmons? Have those lights changed at all?"

"Yeah: two of 'em have gone out. And listen—I just figured out what the light pattern reminds me of. It's almost like a periodic table with the top right-hand section chopped out—"

"All the nonmetals?" Hafner interjected.

"Yeah. But there's also three more rows of lights underneath where the actinide series usually goes."

Barner had moved close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. "I thought there were only a hundred and seven elements."

"Maybe the Spi

"So what is the coil doing, sorting out the metal that's coming in by element?"

"That'd be my guess," Hafner said, a little surprised at Barner's quickness. "They could be ru

"Mm. You know, this whole place is using up one hell of a lot of power. You had any indication yet where it's coming from?"