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map with a twitch of his thin hand, and among the branching, multicolored lines Zen saw one that he did not recognize. A rose-red line, which began at Sirius and went zigzagging through the center of the Network to a far-off station called Desdemor.
    “You’ve heard of the Dog Star Line ?” said Raven. “No? I’m not surprised. It was busy once, but the industrial planets it linked were mined out and all the important worlds it served can be reached more easily now by other lines. The corporate family who ran it went bankrupt, and it was closed down long ago. The rails are still here, though. Fuel, too, at some of the old depots. Enough to keep the
Thought Fox
running.”
    “So what’s this got to do with me?” asked Zen. He didn’t like Raven lecturing him like he was a kid in school. “Why are the Bluebodies after you? Are you a thief too?”
    Raven grinned. “I prefer to think of myself as a freedom fighter.”
    “You sent that girl after me. That Moto.”
    Raven smiled calmly.
Not a man to trust
, thought Zen.
Nor a man to offend.
    “So what do you want with me?” he asked.
    “I’ll tell you on the way.”
    “The way where?” Zen said, and sat down without meaning to, jolted off his feet as the
Thought Fox
began to move.

7
    “Hey!” he shouted as the
Thought Fox
carried him away through forgotten tunnels. “Where are you taking me?”
    “Away from Cleave,” Raven said calmly. “Railforce will be furious about what we did to their wartrain. If you stay in Cleave, you’ll get the blame. You’ll be much better off with me.”
    That was easy to believe. The seat that Zen had landed in was livewood, and so comfortable that it felt as if it had been grown especially for him. He sat there watching while Raven moved around, untroubled by the train’s movements, opening seamless hatches in the walls, fetching out glasses, bottles. Tunnels rushed by outside the windows, vanishing sometimes to give a glimpse of dimly lit caverns, abandoned freight yards. The music soared dreamily.
    “Is this
your
train?” Zen asked.
    “
Thought Fox
is the last of the C12 Zodiaks,” Raven said.
    “Wow!” Zen had heard of those. Some of the fastest, most beautiful locos ever to come out of the Albayek family’s engine shops on Luna Verde. “I didn’t think there were any left…”
    “I found the
Fox
abandoned on a siding. A derelict, left behind when the line was closed.” Raven poured a whisky for himself, a glass of purple juice for Zen. “Poor
Fox
. I helped it to repair. Now it consents to carry me to where I want to go.”
    “Its drone shot Uncle Bugs.”
    “Yes. Unfortunate. I’m afraid the
Fox
has anger management issues; something of an appetite for destruction. Don’t you,
Fox
?”
    The
Thought Fox
said nothing, but Zen sensed that it was listening. “I suppose nobody really
owns
a train,” he said.
    “Exactly.” Raven came back to the table and set the drinks down, then paused as the
Thought Fox
slammed through a K-gate. The carriage shimmered for a moment in the weird non-light, then they were hurtling across plains of blue-gray mud. Zen leaned forward, eager to see what world this lost line had brought him to. Mountains showed in the distance, and the skeleton shapes of dead buildings.
    “Tashgar,” said Raven.
    “What?”
    “This place. It’s called Tashgar. A former industrial world, much like Cleave, stripped out centuries ago. Most of the stations on the Dog Star Line are like this. It still runs through living places, too—Ambersai and Cleave, as you know, and Sundarban , and a few others, but the Dog Star stations are buried deep on those worlds.”
    They entered another tunnel, another gate. Roared through another dead station.
    “Why were you looking for me?” Zen asked.
    “You’re of use to me,” said Raven.
    “What sort of use?”
    “I need a thief. You’re going to steal something for me.”
    Zen liked the sound of that. So Raven
was
a thief like him. And with access