Empire of Light

'Except that the cameras don't cover the whole ship,' Martinez pointed out. 'Just the main passageways and bays.'

'But including every access point leading directly to the hold,' said Corso, nodding in agreement. 'Except we haven't caught him on camera yet, which means he – meaning Trader – is staying away from the parts of the ship under surveillance.'

'Then he must still be hiding somewhere on board the ship,' said Dakota.

'Listen,' said Perez, 'there's something else you have to keep in mind before we go ru

'Dan's right,' Dakota said to Martinez, 'and I understand you want to let the spider-mechs hunt for Whitecloud on their own and free the rest of us up for essential work, but we've still got a much better chance of catching him if you let me or Ted run the spiders. No amount of repair work is going to make a damn bit of difference if we don't have the Mos Hadroch when we reach that cache.'

Martinez closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath before opening them again. 'All right, fine. I guess we don't have any choice.' He fixed Dakota with a look. 'As long as you understand we're ru

Dakota nodded gravely. 'I understand. But maybe once we've got enough spider-mechs out and looking for Whitecloud, we can flush him out sooner rather than later.'

Chapter Thirty-four

‹Got him,› Lamoureaux sent to Dakota, just a couple of hours later. ‹We just picked him up making for an ancillary airlock on Deck D. That's the good news.›

Dakota herself was standing in the entrance of a deserted engineering bay close by the main hold, watching as three spider-mechs boosted themselves through its echoing empty space on puffs of gas, their lights swinging from side to side, reflecting off bulkheads and machinery, making the shadows around them seem that much deeper by contrast.

You're saying there's bad news too?

‹We're picking up traces of Emissary tach-net communications that are definitely in our neighbourhood. Small, scattered but numerous.›

Shit. Scouts?

‹Can't confirm yet, but that's my guess. Don't know if they've spotted us yet, but we're going to make the next jump before they do. I'm forwarding the video-capture of Whitecloud to you now.›

She saw Whitecloud making his way rapidly down a corridor, a heavy satchel slung over one shoulder. A sign pointing towards an airlock facility was visible behind him as he passed the hidden security lens.

Where the hell's he going? she sent back. That's nowhere near the main hold.

‹Ask him when you see him. You're closer to that airlock than any of the rest of us. Do you think you can handle him?›

She turned her back on the engineering bay and grabbed a rung, using it to boost herself through the air, kicking off walls until she began to pick up greater speed. I've come up against things a lot worse than Whitecloud. How long before our next jump?

‹Twenty-five minutes.›

Got it.

‹Do what you can, Dakota. And good luck.› She made her way towards the bow, moving away from the hold until she reached the same passageway in which Whitecloud had been sighted. She barrelled her way towards the airlock complex at record speed, but it still took her a good ten minutes.

When she got there, she noticed a suit was missing from the racks. Whitecloud was already in one of the airlocks, but still cycling through.

She kicked off from a wall and landed square on the airlock door. She peered in through the glass panel and saw the back of Whitecloud's head. He was wearing a helmet, his bag slung over the shoulder of his suit.

She slammed her hand against the glass repeatedly until Whitecloud finally turned to look at her. Something in his face made him look eerily different. How long, she wondered, could Trader maintain his hold on him?

There was no way to override the cycle once it had started, so all she could do was wait until he had exited on to the hull, and the external hatch had swung closed again.

As soon as the safety light blinked on, and the airlock disengaged its safety locks, Dakota yanked the door open and climbed inside, initiating another cycle. By the time the outer hatch slid open once more, her filmsuit had spread out fully beneath her clothes.

She pulled herself out on to the hull but couldn't see Whitecloud. For one freezing moment she thought she had lost him, but then spotted him making his way rapidly through the forest of drive-spines, heading for the stern, his bag bouncing around as he moved.

Ty? Trader? Can you hear me? I'm right behind you.

Whitecloud stopped just long enough to glance back at her. He turned away again, and began to move more quickly.

She pushed herself along parallel to the hull. It was a risky manoeuvre to move this fast without the benefit of a lanyard to keep her attached to the hull itself. One misjudgement could send her spi

Trader, I know you're behind this.

To her surprise, he answered her.

‹Greetings, Dakota. I hope you are well.›

The words sounded wrong, issuing from Whitecloud's throat. She found herself unexpectedly recalling the ghost stories of her youth, those tales of spirits and possessions. Hearing Trader speak through a human being was more than a little disquieting.

I know everything, Trader, You killed Olivarri and Willis and now you're using Whitecloud to bring the Mos Hadroch to you. But you can't get to the cache without firepower to back you up, so why are you doing this?

‹You betrayed me, Dakota. Is that reason enough?›

What?

‹You lied when you told me Moss was dead. I have received reports that he is very much alive. What did he give you, I wonder, to persuade you not to put an end to him?›

Whitecloud disappeared momentarily behind the wide blade of a heat-exchange nacelle. Dakota kept pulling herself along one of the main plasma conduits, slowly gaining on him. But another fifty metres and the conduits would terminate; after that, she would be passing over the exterior of the main hold.

Fine, I admit it. I didn't kill him. Stop now, Trader, or I'll take over your yacht.

‹You don't have the means.›

You asked me what Moss gave me. He gave me the command structure for your ship. Stop now, or I'll never let you get inside it.

‹Make any such attempt, and Whitecloud will throw the artefact away from the ship. Your chances of recovering it will then be very low indeed, given that a large number of Emissary scouts are now approaching.›

She came to a halt at the nacelle, and worked her way carefully around it. Once she was on the other side, she saw Whitecloud making his way toward an airlock leading directly into a series of access tu

She saw him falter for a moment, standing there unmoving with one hand resting on the external hatch's manual release. She wondered if Trader's control over him was finally slipping.

She pushed towards him with renewed energy.

Ted, Whitecloud's entering the hold through a service lock.

‹Roger that. It looks like some of those Emissary scouts just jumped into our very near vicinity to check us out. You need to get back inside, Dakota. Now.›

I hear you.

She kept pushing herself towards Whitecloud. He seemed to have recovered now, quickly releasing the manual switch. She saw red light illuminating the front of his suit as the airlock hatch slowly slid to one side.

Trader! This is crazy. The Emissaries will blow you out of the sky if you try to go to the cache on your own.