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determination Roche felt—partly a result of the food, partly the refocusing of her attention on the goals they all shared. For the first time in the hours since her rude awakening, she actually felt alert.
    When she reached the bridge, Cane occupied exactly the same position he had earlier, watching the expanse of the big screen with his arms folded.
    Maii sat not far from him. A strip of white cloth covered her empty sockets, matching the loose shift she wore in preference to Dato Bloc shipsuits. Roche automatically sent a smile her way, and when she saw the Surin return it knew that the ritually blinded girl was using Cane’s eyes for visual input. The only other person available to read was Roche herself—but that would have rendered the smile invisible to the epsense adept.
    Aloud, Roche asked: “Any news, Maii?”
    
    She grunted acknowledgment of the fact to herself, then added: “What if the system was camouflaged? Would it be possible for the Sol Wunderkind to block epsense as well?”
    Cane looked up. “The whole system?” he said. “Highly unlikely.”
    “But it is a possibility.” She turned to face him. “A remote one, I’ll admit—”
    “What I meant was,” Cane interrupted her, “if the system is camouflaged, then I doubt my sibling is responsible.”
    My sibling ... The words made Roche’s skin crawl. Sometimes it was hard to accept that Cane and the Sol Wunderkind that had effectively destroyed Palasian System were of the same breed—possibly even identical in every respect.
    “Why not?” she asked.
    “Because, tactically speaking, it makes no sense to be confined to a single system. If I were in his shoes, I would want to move on, taking with me only the resources needed to make my task easier at my next destination.” Cane’s shoulders lifted in a smooth and easy shrug, as though he were discussing a poor tactic in a barroom game, not the destruction of a whole system. “Also, to hide in such a manner would be tantamount to admitting defeat. Camouflaged or not, it’s only a matter of time before the system is found—if not by us, then by someone else.”
    Roche nodded. “It could be a decoy, then. Something to keep us occupied while he slips away.”
    “A lot of effort for little reward. However he did it, if he did it, it must have been enormously energy-expensive.”
    “Maybe. But what if—”
    Box’s soft, controlled voice cut across her own: “There’s really no point even trying to guess until we have more data, Morgan.”
    “Okay, okay.” Roche raised her arms in mock defeat. Sitting in her chair, she faced the main screen to check the status of the ship: it was about to emerge from the short slow-jump that had begun so awkwardly. Maybe when Haid appeared, they could discuss the situation in more detail.
     said Maii, continuing the conversation Cane had interrupted,
    Roche nodded, absorbing that fact without comment.
    “Emerging from hyperspace in fifteen seconds,” said Kajic, his voice issuing from the base of the holographic projector. Now that he had no crew to impress, he only occasionally bothered to manifest in physical form.
    The ship groaned back into reality as noisily as it had left. Roche held onto the edge of her seat as the floor writhed beneath her, seeming to melt for an instant as space transformed. Somewhere nearby, something clattered. When the ship stabilized, she forced her muscles to relax, then looked around.
    “Someone warn me next time,” said Haid from the entrance to the bridge. He held a tray in his new hand and, bending, used his other hand to pick up packages of food that had spilled during the disturbance.
    “Klaxons sound automatically prior to every translation,” said the