'Sane how?' asked Olivarri.
'Well, think about it,' Nancy replied. 'Why should someone who isn't prepared to pick up a gun to actively defend his or her society get to have a say in how that society is run?'
'Well… I'm not sure that the kind of people who are prepared to pick up a gun, based on an argument like that, are the ones I'd want running things for me.'
'Why?'
'Because they usually turn out to be exactly the kind of people I need protecting from in the first place.' Olivarri guffawed.
Nancy made a sound of disgust. 'You just don't understand.'
'What's not to understand?' Olivarri shot back. 'That's exactly why the Freehold were booted from world to world.'
'Leo, seriously. You have no understanding of the historical context. Our ending up on Redstone had nothing to do with our relations with the Consortium. The Freehold is about self-determination. It's about the right of the individual to defend herself and not to have to answer to any authority that wants to take away her basic human right to self-determination.'
Ty sighed quietly. Leo appeared bent on needling Nancy, and she appeared unable to resist rising to the bait every time.
'Okay,' said Olivarri, 'so what happened to all those ideals? That's – what – two coups you've had in a little over two years?'
'Because…' Nancy sighed. 'The wrong people are in charge, that's all.'
'Those people with the guns, you mean.'
Ty was deeply grateful when they all received an automated alert that the new drive-spine was ready to be locked into place. Nancy moved in close, obsessively rechecking the hull clamps and running a final systems scan. After a few minutes she stepped back, and they watched as the spiders slowly lowered the new drive-spine into its slot, the clamps snicking smoothly into place.
'Nice,' said Leo approvingly. 'Everything went right, just for once.'
But Ty reflected on how often the drive-spines were failing, and how many of them would need replacing before they reached the end of their journey. They were making long and frequent jumps that would take the Mjollnir a lot further and faster than it had needed to go on its maiden superluminal flight. At the rate they were going, they would end up having to cannibalize the ship itself for the necessary raw materials. Nancy was in an ebullient mood once they got back inside.
'C'mon, Nathan, come back up to the centrifuge with us. You can't hide away from the rest of us for ever.'
Ty stowed his helmet on a rack in the changing room and climbed out of his pressure suit, wrinkling his nose at the smell of his own stale sweat. He twisted his head around in a slow circle, hearing the crunch of tired muscles as he locked his hands together behind his head and stretched a little.
'Maybe,' he replied. But Nancy understood that maybe within the context of their developing relationship really meant definitely.
Ty glanced at Olivarri, who was pretending not to listen. He had no idea what the other man might report to Corso, though perhaps it was better to play safe. 'But not this time,' he added, for Olivarri's sake. 'Maybe next time.'
'What next time?' Nancy jeered, smacking him in the chest with a glove she had removed before tossing it into a bin below the helmet rack. She was grinning, but Ty recognized the uncertainty in her smile.
'Soon,' he mouthed at her, then glanced again at Olivarri to make sure he hadn't noticed. He would sneak up to Nancy's quarters only when he thought he was less likely to run into anyone else.
'Shower!' Olivarri shouted, pushing away from them and heading towards the washing facilities. 'I need a fucking shower.' With a thin, permeable mask covering his nose and mouth, Ty groaned with pleasure as needle-thin jets of hot water washed away the tension that had gathered between his shoulders. The water shut off after two minutes, and was rapidly vacuumed out of the sealed shower cubicle while he leaned against its door.
He looked down at where his skin was red and chafed from wearing a pressure suit for hours at a time. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was stars scattered across the void like diamond dust.
Ty glanced down at the ring he still wore on his right hand, as the cubicle door clicked open. That encounter with the avatar back in Unity felt more and more surreal, the further the Mjollnir got from home, and yet the ring was always there to remind him he hadn't just imagined it.
He grabbed a towel and pushed his way out, hastily drying himself before pulling on a set of clean clothes from the locker. How, he wondered, might he have gone about arranging that strange encounter, if he had been in the shoes of whoever was behind the avatar? What resources would he have needed?
Access to explosives, for a start. Ty brushed his fingers through his damp hair as he thought. Explosives wouldn't be too hard to get hold of, for someone determined enough. His time with Peralta had taught him how cheap fabricators could be hacked to mix the right chemical compounds. Unmanned taxis were equally notorious for being easy to hack. The imaging equipment the agent had used to speak with him was expensive, but standard; all that was necessary was to pay someone to install it in an empty office, no questions asked. One man could do it. In fact, given modern tach-net comms technology, one man could organize it all and not even have to be on the same planet.
Ty paused, his eye catching the glint of the ring. The avatar/agent had threatened to expose him if he didn't take the ring, but in reality he had already been exposed. For a start, Marcus Weil had recognized him, and he hadn't been quiet about it. Quite possibly Martinez and the other members of the frigate's crew were the only ones who did not know his true identity. All in all, it made a mockery of the avatar's threat.
Filled with a sudden decisiveness, Ty grasped the ring and started to pull it off. He would fling it into the void the next time he was outside the ship.
He tugged it as far as his knuckle and then froze, gripped by a sudden conviction that something terrible would happen if he took the ring off. He just stood there, bewildered by his own sudden reluctance.
'Hey.'
Ty spun around, his heart in his throat. It was Olivarri, and he had been so sure he was alone.
'Are you all right?' asked Olivarri. 'You were standing there staring into space like you'd seen your own ghost.'
'I'm fine. I was just…' Ty reached up and realized with some confusion that his hair was now bone-dry. How long had he stood motionless? 'I must be more exhausted than I thought,' he stammered.
'Yeah, I guess.' Olivarri nodded warily. 'Takes it out of all of us. Some of us haven't clocked this much time doing EVA in more than ten years.'
Ty realized all he wanted to do was get out of there. 'I guess so,' he replied, and stepped past the other man.
'Wait.'
Ty turned back in irritation.
'There's something we need to talk about,' said Olivarri.
He stepped over to open a locker, withdrawing a slim black box. He placed this on a shelf under a mirror, then touched a hidden switch on top. A single orange light on one side blinked into life.
Ty stared at the device in confusion. 'What is that?'
'It's a jamming device. I'm just making sure our conversation stays private, in case anyone's listening in.'
Ty looked around. 'What exactly is it you want, Leo?'
'You're going to help me make sure the Mos Hadroch gets into the right hands, Mr Whitecloud.'
Ty stared back at him. 'Who exactly are you?'
Olivarri spoke low and fast. 'I work for the Legislate, Ty. I can make sure you're safe when you get back to the Consortium. Nobody will ever find you, and that's more than Senator Corso could ever guarantee. As far as anyone's concerned, you'll disappear. If you cooperate, we'll give you a whole new life, and you'll never have to worry about anyone tracking you down again. All you have to do is agree to help me.'