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known. But it was none of his
    business. “He’s gone. He had to leave very suddenly. His mother took very ill. And anyway, he wasn’t
    my boyfriend, just somebody I had a drink with a few times.” He hadn’t even said goodbye, just left a message on her comlink. She felt more than a little hurt but it wasn’t his fault.
    Sean grabbed her hand.
    “Ally… why don’t you move back in with me? You really are the only one I love. We were good
    together, Ally.”
    She stared at him. They had been. For the first few years it had been great. Great sex, fun writing clever software.
    “Come on, Ally. I miss you.” His hazel eyes pleaded.
    “What about the barmaid? Or did you fancy a threesome?”
    His eyes sparkled. “Would you?”
    “Oh…” She snatched her hand away. The very thought disgusted her. “Have a good time, Sean.”
     
    Ignoring his protest that he was only joking, she stormed off, back toward the mine, her boots ringing on the pavement. Her pace slowed as the anger drained. Now she thought about it, he must have known it
    was going to be a military grade InfoDroid. His explanation about the military was there, off pat. He could say what he liked; the whole set-up bothered her and she didn’t like the notion of being used to do something illegal.
    Back in her room she logged into the security system. If she was going to go exploring on her own,
    she’d better cover her tracks. The human resources system held data about all the workers and the
    sensors could be used to show each individual’s location within the mine using personal recognition
    algorithms as well as ID. The miners probably didn’t know how the security really worked. It meant
    leaving your ID somewhere wasn’t going to be enough to fool the system. In fact, anybody not wearing
    an ID generated an alarm in the control room and their name was displayed.
    By the time she’d finished, she could select a point where the IS would report her to be, such as the control room, her own room or anywhere else, regardless of where she really was, or she could elect not to be shown on the system at all.
    Next were the visuals, the cameras that recorded activity. It took a little longer, but Allysha was proud of her work, disappointed she wouldn’t be showing it to anybody. When the IS received the data from
    the cameras, if she had activated the tracking system functions she’d built, her image would be replaced with whatever the background was.
    One final chore. The main drive was permanently lit but most of the other tunnels used motion detectors so that the lights would only turn on when required. She programmed the lights the same as the cameras, so they wouldn’t switch on if she wanted to be invisible. A torch turned down to almost nothing would give her enough illumination.
    Good job, well done. She could make herself invisible in the mine. Unless she bumped into somebody. If nobody was going to tell her what they were up to, she’d find out for herself.

Chapter Eight
    Saahren paced through the tunnels, following the route mapped on the tablet he carried. He walked
    down a gradual slope toward the gleam of natural light. The gate, built of heavy-duty material capable of taking an electrical charge, fitted the opening almost exactly. The jungle loomed, dense and dark and steaming, maybe five meters away, beyond a cleared space that must have been regularly maintained.
    The damp heat prickled against his hands and face even here under the rock wall. Were they claw-marks he spied in the ground, gouges in the earth? They hadn’t been there yesterday. Ludovic did mention they encouraged the karteks, but why anybody would want to go out there was difficult to understand. He
    checked the locks and moved on.
    Next stop, the warehouses. Racks held protective clothing, helmets, boots, shirts and jackets, sonic
    picks, spare parts for diggers, utensils, medical packs and all the other pieces of material needed to run a mine. The explosives were