The smile this time was very brittle. "I've been from one end of the Spiral tothe other, McKell," he said. "I say again: Nothing was recognizable."
I felt a lump form in my throat. "Terrific," I murmured. "I hope like hellwe're not poaching on someone else's territory."
"That could be unpleasant," he agreed. "Still, I've been here eleven days, andno one but you and your little pet here has shown up."
He frowned suddenly. "It has been eleven days since we landed on Potosi, hasn't it? Time rather blends together here."
"Yes, eleven's about right," I confirmed. "I take it this little side tripwasn't part of your scheme?"
He snorted. "Why, did you think it might be?"
"Considering all the rest of the finagling you and your daughter have done onthis trip, I thought it worth asking," I said pointedly. "So how exactly didyouwind up falling down the rabbit hole?"
He grimaced. "I slipped into the Icarus's transmission chamber a little whilebefore we left Potosi," he said. "Right after my encounter with the would-bemurderer. I worked through the wiring—"
"Wait a second," I interrupted, the back of my neck tingling. "What do youmean, would-be murderer?"
"The man who was apparently planning to poison one of your crewers," he said.
"Cabin Seven, down on the lower deck. Didn't you know?"
Ixil's cabin. "We knew something strange had happened there," I told himgrimly.
"But we haven't been able to make sense out of it. How about filling in theblanks?"
He shrugged. "There's not much I can tell you," he said. "Elaina told meeveryone was leaving to look for a runaway crewer—Shawn, I think she said, theone with the medical condition. I had already decided to temporarily relocateto the small sphere, so I waited until the ship was quiet and headed to the lowerdeck to pick up some extra food supplies."
"How did you get out of the 'tweenhull area?" I asked. "Through Cabin Two, Jones's old cabin?"
"That's right," he said. "Elaina told you about that, too, I see. I take itthat was you who chased me around the 'tweenhull area?"
"That's right," I confirmed.
"I thought so. At any rate, after you nearly caught me, I realized the'tweenhull area wasn't a safe hiding place. I also didn't think it safe tostaypermanently in Jones's cabin, which was why I'd decided to move into the smallsphere. But when I reached the lower deck, I found that all the overheadlightshad been turned off and there was a man with a small finger-light working onthe cabin door."
"Could you see who it was?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat pick up. At last, Iwas going to have a name to connect with Jones's murder.
The anticipation was premature. "Sorry," Cameron said, shaking his head. "Thefinger-light was set very low, and he was nothing more than a shadowy shapecrouching by the doorway. From what little reflected backlight I was gettingon his face, though, he didn't look familiar. Possibly someone from the port areawho'd sneaked aboard while everyone was gone."
I clenched my teeth in frustration. "Unfortunately, the hatch was locked whenthey all left the ship," I said. "Which means one of the crew had to have comeback to let him in."
"Ah." He peered closely at me. "Jones's murderer, you think?"
"I think having both a murderer and the accomplice of an entirely differentmurderer aboard a ship the size of the Icarus would be pushing coincidence abit far," I said sourly. "All right, fine, so our murderer has friends. Whodoesn't?
What happened next?"
"He obviously thought the ship was deserted, because he was so engrossed inhis work that I was nearly to him before he even realized I was there," Cameronsaid. "He'd gotten a big wrench wedged into the doorway to hold it open. Oh, Ididn't mention that part. The door was only opening partway—"
"Yes, I know," I interrupted him. "I was the one who gimmicked it that way."
"Ah." He gave me an odd look, then shrugged. "At any rate, he turned just as Igot within about two steps of him. I frankly didn't think I would make it therest of the way, but he froze just long enough before straightening up andgrabbing for the wrench. Fortunately for me, it was jammed in fairly tightlyand he didn't have good leverage reaching over his shoulder that way, which meantI was able to step in close and get in the first punch. Edge-hand blow to theside of his neck."
I glanced down at his arms. Still well muscled, but to my perhapshypercriticaleye they looked thinner than they had when I'd seen him on Meima. "I gather itworked," I said.
"Rather to my amazement, it did," he said. "Especially since his light wasdazzling my eyes at the time, which limited my ability to pick my target. Imade sure to hit him again a couple of times on his way down, just to make sure.
Again fortunately for me, he hit the deck and stayed there."
"It's so gratifying when they do that," I agreed. "Do you think you'drecognizehim if you saw him again?"
"I doubt it," he said. "I really didn't get a good look at him. Besides, Iimagine it's a moot point by now. He surely hightailed it off the ship as soonas he woke up. Unless you and the Icarus have suddenly picked up a newpassenger, that is."
"No, no new passengers," I confirmed.
He spread his hands. "So that's that," he said. "You have to admit it's a bigSpiral for a single man to lose himself in."
"I once thought it was a big Spiral for a single starship to lose itself in,"
I countered. "I don't think so anymore. So then what did you do?"
"After he was unconscious, I spotted the bottles he'd been working with on the floor and looked them over," he said. "Any doubts I'd had about hitting himvanished at that point; they turned out to be the ingredients for a cyanide- gasbomb.
"I knew I didn't have much time before he either awoke or all of you cametrooping back aboard the ship, and I didn't have anything I could tie him upwith, so I decided all I could do would be to thwart this particular schemeand call it a draw. The cabin door was still wedged open, so I resealed thebottles and put them as far inside as I could reach and then pulled the wrench out andlet the door slam shut. Then, just to make sure he didn't have time to tryanything else, I pulled the opening mechanism's control chip and added it tothe pile and smashed what was left."
"Leaving a very thorny mystery in your wake," I said. "We were going nutstryingto figure out what happened there."
"I'm sorry," he said. "All I can say is that it wasn't my intent to be somysterious. My plan was to hide out just for a day or two, until you'd had achance to thoroughly search the 'tweenhull area and confirm there wasn'tanyonein residence there. At that point I expected you to conclude that it had beenone of the crew you'd chased around, give up your search for stowaways, and Icould come back out. Then I'd be able to tell Elaina the whole story, and shewould have found a way to warn you about future incursions into the ship fromoutside."
He shook his head, his throat tightening visibly. "Only it didn't quite workout that way. I made it through that tangled mess of a decompressed-wiring zoneand found myself in a nice clear space. But then gravity came on, pulling me intoward the middle. I grabbed that striped arm to try to slow myself down, hitwhat I now realize was the triggering mechanism in the end, and here I am."
"A long way from nowhere," I said heavily, studying his slightly sunkencheeks.
"Not to mention out of delivery range of the nearest grocery store. I'm alittle surprised you haven't starved to death."
"My meals have been a bit sparse lately," he conceded. "I wasn't planning onbeing here very long, though of course I made sure to leave myself a widemarginfor error. Not quite this wide, though. That's not a water bottle you havethere with your pack, is it?"