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stiff and sore from the hours of sitting hunched over reports and compscreens.
    He walked the ten paces from his desk to the wet-bar and poured two-fingers of Hephaestian Scotch into a crystal goblet, carrying it back to his cluttered desk.
    Three of his teams had already left Hyperion XI. This last one was all he could afford to spend on the Esper Shadow project.
    He glanced through the report on FZ13. It was worse than he'd thought. The sector was almost completely unexplored. There was only one type 0, Band F star in the area, plus an Imperial Outstation. One of the stars had to be the location of the thieves' hideout. But there were rumors of Sire-Koval sightings in the zone. Could that be the cause of Janssen's contaminated gene-type? And to make matters worse, hostile attacks from Edorrian transports had made FZ13 a sector that many Core-dwellers chose to avoid.
    No, it didn't look good, unless Jamie Clamber could focus the search to a single one of those stars, and thus cut down the mission's exposure by one third.
    Turner took a deep drink of his Scotch and went back to scanning a readout on Clamber's psyche. Bright Law found him there when she came to remind him about the dinner appointment.
    * * *
    Dinner, served in the executive dining room on eighty-third floor overlooking the shimmering surface of Lake Bialer, consisted of sautéed burgers and rare Amthor wine.
    "So much for good taste," Kleg grumbled.
    Jamie thought it was rather unique.
    After the remains of the dessert had been cleared, Turner Werch rose to speak. "Zaxt has given me the results of this afternoon's training session. He seems delighted, and I must say that I'm quite encouraged."
    Jamie played with his water glass. This could either be very boring, or very interesting. The next few minutes would tell.
    "I know," Werch went on, "that by now you each have a good idea of the mission's goals." He gave a nod to Zaxt, who stood up and began to display the details of a flat sleek-looking ship on his chest screen. "This is the exterior of an Esper Shadow," the businessman said. "It's capable of +30 lightspeed, which means it can travel across the Core in under four days."
    Jamie leaned forward to get a closer view at the bot's screen.
    "While on route to FZ13, I want Karr and Clamber to become familiar with its operation. You just might need to know how to fly one to these single-seaters. You will each be part of a matrix management assignment, with Karr as pilot, Clamber as co-pilot and scout, and Devor and her crew of three Qestans overseeing navigation and system ops."
    Aura spoke up, "Neither Karr, nor I care for that part of the deal."
    A new image appeared on Zaxt's chest. Jamie quickly recognized the star map, even though he'd never been near the sector.
    Ignoring Aura's comment, Werch went on. "This is FZ13. It is fifteen LY's wide at the Core and stretches out to the Great Unknown. Unless Mr. Clamber can be more definite about his friend's possible location, you could be out there for a long time."
    The image on the bot's chest changed once more. This time it showed a shimmering gas cloud floating in blackness.
    "I think it's only fair to tell you that there have been several sightings of Sire-Koval in this sector. Little is known about these 'energy creatures'. They seem to communicate telepathically, travel at near light speed on their own, and deliver a powerful mental shock if provoked. Unconfirmed reports claim that they can assume human form."
    Jamie noticed that Kleg had stopped playing with his napkin and was listening intently.
    Werch finished with: "Are there any questions about this assignment?"
    Kleg pointed at Zaxt. "Why the bot-spy?"
    "I never spy," Zaxt answered.
    "So you say, shiny. If not, then why do we need him along at all?"
    "Zaxt is a diplomatic/public relations bot," Werch responded. "If you know anything about his design, you'll understand that he'll be a valuable asset during first contact or negotiations. Also, he'll