Dragon and Judge

And paused. All her tools and disguised burglar equipment were there, right where she'd left them. But the bag she'd taken from Virgil Morgan's Semaline lockbox was gone.

She turned back to the chair, stifling a curse. So that was what had happened. Frost had sent one of his goons in to steal Morgan's papers, and Taneem had woken up and decided to give chase.

The flashlight didn't show much more than Alison's unaided eyes had seen. The duct was still empty, as far as she could see in both directions.

And with that, she had no choice but to conclude that Taneem was on her own. The ducts were too small for Alison to get through, at least not without making a lot of noise. She was actually rather surprised that Taneem had managed it, though she'd noticed that K'da seemed as compressible in some ways as Earth cats.

She would just have to sit here and wait for Taneem to come back. And pray that the K'da wouldn't get spotted along the way.

In the meantime, there was the matter of the detached grille to deal with.

An examination of the corners showed that Taneem had removed the plate by the simple method of slicing through the bolts holding it in place. The tail ends of the bolts were still there, in fact, their now headless ends poking rather forlornly from their holes.

Removing the sheared bolts would be the easy part. Alison's multitool included a small set of needle-nose pliers that would do the job quickly and easily.

The problem was going to be finding something to replace them with. Climbing off the chair again, she turned on all the lights and started a tour of her room. Somewhere, she had to find four bolts—or at least two—that would fit the grille.

Unfortunately, the sheer luxury of the room was working against her. In a freighter or even a normal passenger liner there would be exposed deck or bulkhead plates with plenty of bolts to choose from. Here, all that had been discreetly tucked away beneath softwall and thick carpets.

Fortunately, the bed had been bolted to its pedestal with exposed screws of the right size. Picking four that wouldn't affect the bed's stability, she unfastened them and got them positioned in the corners of the grille.

And with that, there really was nothing she could do but wait. Ship's morning was nearly seven hours away, with Frost probably not stirring for another half hour after that.

But Taneem didn't have nearly that long. She had just six hours from whenever she'd left Alison's skin to return.

Because if she didn't, she would go two-dimensional anyway, and vanish into nothingness, and die.

Putting her flashlight up into the duct to give the wayward K'da something to aim for, Alison turned out the rest of the room's lights and got back into bed. She would not, she suspected grimly, get much more sleep tonight.

Don't panic.

Draycos had told her that himself, Taneem remembered, amid the terror and confusion of that last mad rush through the Rho Scorvi forest. Disobeying her instructions to stay in the rear with Jack, she'd run ahead to the front of the pack, mindlessly trying to get as far away from the danger as she could.

She would have gone even farther, probably, all the way to the river and certain death. But Draycos had seen her, and come over to try to soothe her fears. Don't panic, he'd said. Panic freezes the will and darkens the mind and weakens the muscles. Remember this song.

She frowned suddenly. A song?

Yes. There had been a song, now that she thought about it. A simple little song he'd sung to her as they ran. How had that gone?

The fear of night, of black and gray,

Must never steal your heart away.

When you must face your fears just say,

"My heart is mine; it will not stray."

When danger lifts its evil head

And fills your heart with chills and dread,

Just say, before all strength has fled,

"My heart will go where I have led."

For fear is not a thing of shame,

It comes upon each person's frame

And lights the heart with strength and flame,

If you its power can but tame.

So hold your heart, stand fast and tall

And answer to your duty's call

And you can proudly say to all,

"I passed the test; I did not fall."

Yes, that was how it had gone. Odd that she'd forgotten about it until now. Maybe it was this fresh panic that had brought it to mind.

Maybe that was what Draycos had intended, in fact. That it would return to comfort her when it was needed.