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thrusters running quiet. With only the sky as a background, the Ketty Jay was a speck hurtling through an infinity of black. Only her thrusters gave her away, their blazing glow alien to the chill dark. But there was nothing to be done about that, except hope that nobody was sharp enough to spot them.
    Jez had dropped into a shallow trance as they flew. Her uncanny vision was something she didn’t have to think about, but it was only when she was in a trance that the full range of her Mane senses kicked in. Then she could sense the wind, calculate it, as if its turbulence was something visible and easy to predict. She was aware of Ashua’s heartbeat, fast and nervous, betraying her outwardly confident exterior. She could hear the workings of the aircraft, purring with health since it had been overhauled at Trinica’s expense. It had been a thank-you for saving the pirate captain from the Manes, the very creatures that had given Jez these gifts. They lurked on the edge of her consciousness these days, no longer calling to her as they used to, quiet presences like ghosts at her shoulder.
    She was a half-Mane. Once that knowledge had tormented her, but now she was beginning to settle into the idea. She no longer feared the ones who had made her what she was.
    Something tugged at the edge of her senses. A disturbance in the desert winds. She frowned, and tracked its source.
    ‘Malvery!’ she called through the doorway. ‘Five o’clock high! You see anything?’
    The Ketty Jay was too bulky for the pilot to see behind the aircraft, which was why they often had a lookout in the cupola. After a few seconds, Malvery called back. ‘I see it. Sammie frigate. Bit of a way off.’
    ‘They coming towards us?’
    Another pause. ‘Reckon so. Reckon they’re coming at quite a clip, as well.’
    ‘Might be we’re just going across their flight path,’ said Ashua from the shadows at the back of the cockpit. ‘They might not have seen us.’
    ‘Change course,’ said Frey quickly, from the navigator’s station. Jez did so, turning the Ketty Jay to a new heading that would force the Samarlans to correct if they wanted to intercept. Minutes ticked by, counted by restless tapping of Harkins’ boot as he tried to contain the explosive hysteria building up inside him. When she judged that enough time had passed, she called again.
    ‘Doc?’
    ‘Still coming.’
    Jez swore under her breath. ‘They’ve seen the thruster glow.’
    ‘At that distance?’ Frey said. ‘There’s no way they—’
    He was interrupted by a flash and a deafening concussion. The Ketty Jay rang like a struck bell and slewed to port, sending Ashua and Harkins sprawling to the floor and almost knocking Frey out of his seat. Jez wrestled with the flight stick and brought the Ketty Jay back to an even keel.
    ‘Pretty sure they have, Cap’n,’ she said.
    ‘They’re lobbing artillery at us, the rude sons-of-bitches!’ Malvery yelled, outraged. ‘And now they’re putting out fighters!’
    ‘How many?’
    ‘Four.’
    A small frigate, then, if it was only carrying four fighters. But the odds were hopeless even so.
    ‘Better make ourselves scarce,’ said Jez. She hit the thrusters and the Ketty Jay roared as she surged forward.
    ‘Let me fly,’ said Frey anxiously, getting up from his seat. ‘I can—’
    ‘Greatest respect, Cap’n, but sit yourself down,’ she said with a casual firmness that stopped him in his tracks. ‘You’d be blind out there. And you can’t fly where I’m going.’
    ‘Where’s thaaaAAAA —’ Frey’s question turned to a yell as Jez dumped aerium from the tanks and pushed the Ketty Jay ’s nose down, sending her into a steep plunge towards the ground.
    ‘Dropping to the deck, Cap’n,’ she said. ‘Let’s see if they dare follow us.’
    ‘Without lights?’ Ashua cried. ‘Are you insane? You can’t fly that low to the ground when you can’t see it.’
    Jez spared a moment to look over her shoulder. ‘I’ve