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afraid that she would put them to work.
    Hodges seemed only too happy to share. “Most wall climbing robots use suction cups or magnets, but those won’t work here. The stone isn’t magnetic and it’s too porous for a suction cup to adhere. I designed Shelob to work in chimney shafts and inside wet walls where the surface material would be unpredictable. Like her namesake—”
    “ I’m sorry, her namesake?” inquired Sanchez.
    “ Shelob is the giant spider from Lord of the Rings,” supplied Professor.
    Hodges nodded. “That’s right. She’s got eight fully articulated legs—two sets of four—which can extend in any direction. One set of legs will extend out to brace her in place between opposing surfaces while the other set reaches up or down, taking a step as it were. When those legs are braced, the other set disengages and takes the next step.
    “ Watch this.” Hodges slipped on a headset microphone. “Shelob, run diagnostic.”
    The metal rods abruptly unfolded from the thorax, which looked sort of like a tool box with a GoPro attached to one end, and began whirring and rotating until they made contact with the stone floor. The movements were mechanical and jerky, but it nevertheless looked very much like a silvery spider, though instead of a silk thread, it trailed a length of black coaxial cable that connected to a spool which was in turn hooked up to Hodges’ laptop. The display screen showed the view from Shelob’s camera. The robot went through a series of maneuvers, scuttling around chamber as if exploring.
    “ The legs can telescope out like the adjustable legs of a camera tripod,” Hodges said, “for a total reach of just over eight feet, which should be just about perfect for your tunnel.”
    As if on cue, the robot ’s legs began to lengthen, shooting out to their full length until it more closely resembled a daddy-longlegs than a spider, which in Jade’s opinion did nothing improve its appearance.
    “ Great,” muttered Jade. “Robot spiders. Nothing freaky about that.”
    “ You afraid of spiders?” Professor whispered in her ear.
    She ignored him. Despite his persuasive arguments in the cantina, she was far from happy about the way he ’d hijacked her dig. The only reason she hadn’t blown the whistle and told Acosta about it was that Hodges did happen to have a robot that would let her see the hidden chamber and she didn’t want to wait another week for Acosta to find someone else.
    I ’m not afraid of spiders, she thought grumpily. But robot spiders? That’s just wrong.
    If she had still been keeping score, that probably would have been strike three for Hodges, but she wasn ’t, not after learning about Norfolk.
    She had never regretted walking away from Tam Broderick ’s offer to join the Myrmidons. She was an archaeologist, not a secret agent, and besides, the last thing she needed was to be working alongside Maddock again. But that didn’t mean she was apathetic about the threat posed by the Dominion.
    Still, they weren ’t going to show up here. She was sure of that.
    “ Looks like it’s working just fine,” she told Hodges. “Send it in.”
    Hodges spoke into the mic again. “Shelob, end diagnostic.” The robot’s legs retracted and it crab-walked over to stand in front of its master. Hodges picked up one of two joystick controls wired to his computer and spoke again. “Initiate manual guidance.”
    The robot began moving again, only now it was responding directly to Hodges ’ will. It walked toward the small hole Jade had excavated and proceeded within.
    “ Shelob, light mode.”
    A light flashed on inside the rocky niche, and Jade saw the interior of the access tunnel appear on the computer screen. The robot continued forward at a plodding but relentless pace, and in less than a minute, reached the junction with the vertical shaft , which appeared as a dark hole in the center of the image. Jade had peeked through during her excavation but there had not