He lunged at a padded neck rest of the pilot's couch, biting it so hard that his jaw throbbed. His body kept moving, until it gave a tremendous yank on his neck. Somehow he managed not to scream. To lose his grip was to die.

With his other head he tore open the pouch at the base of the couch and extracted the emergency pressure suit. Any other vacuum gear aboard, unprotected by the stasis field, would likely be in tatters and shreds-even if he could find it before his blood boiled from the vacuum.

He got a head, gasping, into a helmet and tongued a control. Air spewed. He felt a bit less muddled. Wriggling into a pressure suit floating in the dark, battered by debris, was the hardest thing he had ever done. With the last of his strength, he sealed the suit's seams. The roar of air in his helmets fell to a whisper. The suit heater kicked itself on.

And then, his chest heaving, Achilles blacked out.

Steeped in dread, Achilles jetted about the dead hulk. He used his compressed air sparingly, with no way to refill the propulsion tanks.

After overloading or outwitting the flare defenses, how long had the Pak laser cannon blasted Argo Argo? He could not tell. The pressure suit's chronometer had, like him, been frozen in time inside the stasis field, and he had not found a functioning clock amid the wreckage. But for a long while, surely. Long enough to sear most paint from the hull. Long enough to cut decks and overheads and bulkheads into scraps. Long enough to melt the hinges of the cargo holds' hatches. Long enough to dissipate the massive debris field that must have sprayed out when the first hatch blew.

So how long? Until, Achilles supposed, the Pak ship's deuterium tanks ran dry.

He raged, then, at the unfairness of life. He raged at the Gw'oth, the threat-and opportunity-who had brought him here. He howled at party leadership that was Experimentalist in name more than in deed, too timid to empower him, and even louder at the bungling Hindmost who ruled but refused to act. act. He cursed his New Terran minions, deservedly dead for their incompetence, and at Pak too stubborn to die before setting their cunning traps. He cursed his New Terran minions, deservedly dead for their incompetence, and at Pak too stubborn to die before setting their cunning traps.

He raged, above all, at injustice, and at everyone who had ever hindered him, and that he would die here, never having achieved the recognition he deserved. He He should be Hindmost. should be Hindmost.

Exhausted, his throats raw from screaming and his exposure to vacuum, Achilles finally slept.

Consciousness returned. Clarity of a sort slowly followed.

His one slim hope was to cross over to the Pak derelict, scavenge parts for a hyperwave radio and something to power it, and cross back before he fried. Argo Argo's hull still served as a radiation shelter. If he called for help, a rescue ship from the Fleet might reach him before the Pak.

The thought of a spacewalk made Achilles ache to withdraw into a catatonic ball, but that innate flight reflex only guaranteed tragedy. He forced himself around and around the hull, searching everywhere through the clear wall for the Pak ship. And when he failed to find that ship-drifted, who knew where, while he hung insensate in stasis-he did did collapse. collapse.

He barely managed to tie a tether before clenching himself into a ball of despair.

11.

"Let me share a bit of history," Ausfaller said. "It will save time."

An alien starship, a ramscoop, had plunged into Sol system in 2125. Its pilot had spent most of his life traveling from his home world, somewhere near the galactic core. He was looking for a long-lost colony of his own kind, responding to an ancient distress signal. The lost colonists had evolved, over the eons, into humans.

"I have have taken a virtual tour of the Smithsonian," Louis said at one point. As in: don't treat me like an ignoramus. "I saw the pilot's mummified body, recovered from Mars. I know he found a Belter prospector in a singleship and told the Belter his story, that his name was Phssthpok." taken a virtual tour of the Smithsonian," Louis said at one point. As in: don't treat me like an ignoramus. "I saw the pilot's mummified body, recovered from Mars. I know he found a Belter prospector in a singleship and told the Belter his story, that his name was Phssthpok."

"Good," Ausfaller said. "I've been off Earth for a long time. That's more background than the ARM had made public in my day. What else?"

"The aliens call themselves Pak."

"More like this." Ausfaller rearticulated the name while popping his lips. "It takes a bony beak to say it properly."

Whatever, Louis thought. That will be useful when I have a bony beak. "They're essentially early hominids, Homo habilis, Homo habilis, I think, except that the adults can morph into another life stage. If they eat some plant that didn't grow properly on Earth, which is why the ancient colony failed, they become protectors. Protectors are ruthlessly obsessed with protecting their bloodlines and they're scary smart." I think, except that the adults can morph into another life stage. If they eat some plant that didn't grow properly on Earth, which is why the ancient colony failed, they become protectors. Protectors are ruthlessly obsessed with protecting their bloodlines and they're scary smart."

"What else," Ausfaller prompted.

So am I a schoolboy to be tested on my lessons? Louis wondered. "The Belter was exposed to that Pak plant. Tree-of-life, was it called? He became a protector. Probably to protect his own family, he killed Phssthpok and disappeared. End of story." Louis paused. "There hasn't been any Pak War. People would have noticed."

Another comm delay, and then Ausfaller smiled wryly. "You think? If you are who I suspect you are, Louis, you grew up on Home."

"Yah," Louis conceded. His parents were less well hidden than they had supposed. Why hadn't Ausfaller come after them?

"The first colony on Home failed, didn't it? A suspected plague." Ausfaller did not pause for an answer. "Jack Brennan, that Belter turned protector, was responsible."

Louis started. Home's history went back only a few centuries. Of course course he had studied the lost colony while in school-only the collapse of that first colony was mysterious. Plague was just a guess. No pathogen had ever been found. No human remains of that era had ever been recovered, either, only cremated ashes. It seemed the original colonists had gone mad. he had studied the lost colony while in school-only the collapse of that first colony was mysterious. Plague was just a guess. No pathogen had ever been found. No human remains of that era had ever been recovered, either, only cremated ashes. It seemed the original colonists had gone mad.

A later group of settlers, expecting to arrive at an established colony, instead found every building had been blasted or burned to the ground. That was in an era before hyperdrive; the new colonists were on their own. By the time they had established themselves, the charred and weathered ruins were all but beyond study. The plague-or whatever had happened-never recurred.

That the ARM kept secrets did not surprise Louis. Still, a human protector would protect protect humans, wouldn't he? And while Brennan attacking Home-if, for some strange reason, he had-might fairly be called a protector war, it would not be a Pak War. humans, wouldn't he? And while Brennan attacking Home-if, for some strange reason, he had-might fairly be called a protector war, it would not be a Pak War.

Louis felt Nessus watching him. Gauging him? "All right, Sigmund. Why would Brennan attack Home colony?"

Ausfaller grimaced. "The plague was a variation of the virus in tree-of-life root. It's the virus that triggers the life-stage change in adults. I believe Brennan set loose the virus on Home to raise an army of protectors."

Louis remembered something else from that long-ago virtual tour of the Pak exhibit. "Tree-of-life doesn't affect Pak until they're old enough. Why did the virus affect the younger colonists on Home? Remember, no one no one was left." was left."

"If I'm right," Ausfaller said, "Brennan engineered his virus to kill everyone too young or too old to change. Without descendants to protect, the new protectors would lose their will to live-or they would adopt a bigger cause. Brennan's cause. A war against the Pak."

A world world exterminated to build an army. Louis felt sick. "Against a follow-up Pak fleet?" exterminated to build an army. Louis felt sick. "Against a follow-up Pak fleet?"

"That's our best information," Ausfaller said. "If so, it worked. But, as you said, you would have noticed a Pak War. And, no doubt, you would have noticed any survivors of that war, whether Pak or human protectors. That sounds to me like the two sides fought to a draw. And to the death."

And a few years later, a colony ship arrived and found no trace of plague. Because Brennan engineered his virus not to survive without hosts?

Horrific as were Ausfaller's speculations, Louis found himself believing. "It was bizarre enough that Nessus drafted me to help-"

"Our business does not concern Sigmund," Nessus interrupted.

But Ausfaller's business must concern Nessus. Every minute spent listening in normal space was a minute that, spent in hyperspace, would have brought Aegis Aegis about two million kilometers closer to the Fleet. about two million kilometers closer to the Fleet.

How had this started? A New Terran criminal had broken into archives of a Pak War. Why was that an emergency for Nessus? Why was Achilles interested?

Ausfaller resumed his history dump. Voice would be recording; Louis only half listened, trying to see the bigger picture. No one knew exactly when the Lost Colony fell, but it was around 2400. Close to four centuries ago. A battle to the death then between Pak and human protectors could hardly be cause for alarm now.

Louis broke into the recitation, even though it would take Ausfaller a while to notice. "So there's been another Pak invasion, this one threatening the Fleet or New Terra. That's the archive this Roland broke into."

"The new Pak advance threatened both our worlds," Nessus said, "but it has since been deflected. They are going around us. Sigmund, I do not understand your alarm."

"I'm almost there," Ausfaller said. "There is a final bit of background to cover. Brennan's cold-blooded slaughter on Home was not an isolated event. On the Pak home world, they had developed whole institutions around childless protectors needing a reason to live. If you convinced yourself you served the whole Pak race, you might get past losing your descendants. Phssthpok spent his life hunting for Earth because he he had become childless. had become childless.

"One such institution was the Library, the fail-safe repository of Pak knowledge. Whenever clan rivalries got out of hand and civilizations fell, the Library helped the survivors rebuild. Lots of childless Pak ended up serving the Library.

"After Phssthpok set out, some Pak explorer discovered the leading edge of the radiation erupting from the galactic core explosion. Pakhome is near the core, and Pak don't have hyperdrive technology. Everyone who could get onto a ramscoop did. Everyone who didn't have a ship did his best to steal one. Once the ships were gone, everyone left behind fought over the dwindling resources with which to build more.

"So you're right, Louis. Pak hordes came toward the Fleet and New Terra. And yes, the Pak fleets were deflected away from our worlds, in what I called the Pak War, although Nessus glossed over a lot."

Glossed over what? Nessus was plucking at his mane again, Louis noticed, just as he had noticed that the Puppeteer did not want Louis to mention the Gw'oth. Meanwhile Ausfaller worried about Achilles' disappearance, while Nessus worried about Achilles' feud with the Gw'oth. And the New Terran spy gone bad, this Roland fellow, broke into Pak War records before vanishing, presumably in league with Achilles. Round and round the clues went, the Gw'oth surely somehow at the heart of things.

"That's about it," Ausfaller was saying. "Picture thousands of childless Pak, the keepers of an ancient Library. Safeguarding knowledge on a doomed world no longer gives them a reason to live. But if they could carry away that knowledge ..."

Taking a long swallow from a drink bulb of coffee, Louis tried to take it in. Thousands of childless protectors and an ancient Library-they would need a lot of ships. Protectors with with family would take those ships if they could. Could even thousands of Librarians have prevailed against a world of desperate refugees? family would take those ships if they could. Could even thousands of Librarians have prevailed against a world of desperate refugees?

Not without help. Not without, like Brennan on Home, ruthlessly slaughtering whole clans to turn surviving protectors into allies. Either there was no Librarian fleet or ...

"There's an enormous armada of Librarians, isn't there?" Louis said. "It's carrying the best of Pak technology. Your bad apple knows everything you you know about the Library, and he's leading Achilles right to it." know about the Library, and he's leading Achilles right to it."

Louis glanced at Nessus. None of the fine print committed Louis to keeping Puppeteer secrets. "And Achilles will use whatever Pak technology he can steal against the Gw'oth. And to make himself Hindmost-if he doesn't get everyone killed first."

Nessus bleated like a bagpipe that had been dropkicked.

A few seconds later, long before Louis's speculation could have reached him, Ausfaller said, "I fear that Achilles is going after the Library, hoping to use Pak technology to take on a nearby species called the Gw'oth. He means to make himself Hindmost."

Two minutes later, Louis had the satisfaction of watching Ausfaller twitch in surprise.

A rare, creamy solid white, his elaborately coiffed mane resplendent with gems of Experimentalist Party orange, achingly handsome, Nike looked at Nessus from a recorded message.

Nessus had spent much of his life trying to impress the charismatic politician, to earn Nike's trust and gain his favor. To get into Nike's life. life. Too late, Nessus had come to understand the essential truth about Nike: Nike's main purpose was to help himself. By then Nike had turned crisis into opportunity, and emerged as Hindmost. Too late, Nessus had come to understand the essential truth about Nike: Nike's main purpose was to help himself. By then Nike had turned crisis into opportunity, and emerged as Hindmost.

Experimentalists remained in power, but Nike's reign had ended. He now served where his talents most benefited the Concordance: at the rear of the Clandestine Directorate. At that task, he was brilliant-and Nessus' superior.

"Achilles is is away," Nike was saying, his voices rich with undertunes. "That was never a secret. He was personally overseeing an experiment involving planetary drives, reporting from onsite." away," Nike was saying, his voices rich with undertunes. "That was never a secret. He was personally overseeing an experiment involving planetary drives, reporting from onsite."

The Concordance had bought its planetary drives ages ago from the ancient race of Outsiders, and Citizen scientists still had only an incomplete sense of how the devices worked. About all Nessus understood regarding planetary drives was that they harnessed staggering amounts of energy. Purposefully destabilized, they became destructive beyond imagination, able to shatter whole worlds into shrapnel. As the Pak had learned.

You experimented with the technology, if at all, far from the Fleet.

Once outside the Fleet's gravitational singularity, reports submitted by hyperwave could have been relayed from-anywhere.

And that, once Nike got to the point, turned out to be be the point. Sigmund, once more, was on to something. Achilles' underlings had covered for his absence for much of a year. They had no idea where Achilles had taken a ministry ship- the point. Sigmund, once more, was on to something. Achilles' underlings had covered for his absence for much of a year. They had no idea where Achilles had taken a ministry ship- Or why he had stopped communicating.

12.

Had there been life before Aegis Aegis? Truly? Louis found that harder and harder to believe. Only the occasional craving for painkillers reminded him of such a bygone era-and he was happy to feel those particular urges fading away.

As Ausfaller had hoped and Nessus dreaded, Aegis Aegis was the ship best positioned to hunt for Achilles. was the ship best positioned to hunt for Achilles. Best positioned Best positioned did not mean close. Here was more fine print to Louis's arrangement with Nessus. No end date! Gw'oth, Pak, psychotic Puppeteer politicians, paranoid emigre spies ... Nessus could involve Louis with anything. did not mean close. Here was more fine print to Louis's arrangement with Nessus. No end date! Gw'oth, Pak, psychotic Puppeteer politicians, paranoid emigre spies ... Nessus could involve Louis with anything.

Next time-if there was a next time-Louis would negotiate more wisely.

He spent his waking hours poring over the information Ausfaller had hyperwaved. Technological civilizations flattened by relativistic planet-busters, for no more reason than that they lay along the Pak's path. Interrogations of the Pak prisoner Ausfaller had briefly held. Memories, guesses, and surmises from Ausfaller's long-ago reading of ARM files. The Puppeteers' own horrific weapons demonstrated-Nessus was more evasive than usual on the specifics-to convince the Pak fleets to change course. Wondering if Achilles' attempt to seize the Library would provoke the Pak to turn back toward worlds Louis had never seen.

Worlds he nonetheless felt increasingly bound to protect.

But it was the long-range surveillance files, showing wave upon wave of Pak ramscoops, that seized Louis's imagination. With the imagery greatly accelerated, the all-but-static ship deployments became a hypnotic dance. In that deadly choreography Louis read conflicts of every scale, from skirmishes to full-blown battles, of clan alliances made and betrayed on the fly. It made him ill to watch-and he could not look away.

Awful truths seeped into his consciousness. The Pak were bred bred for warfare. Why would they hesitate to squash an alien race when they so freely attacked their own? If Ausfaller was to be believed-and Nessus, at the least, did-Pak had been at each others' throats for eons. for warfare. Why would they hesitate to squash an alien race when they so freely attacked their own? If Ausfaller was to be believed-and Nessus, at the least, did-Pak had been at each others' throats for eons.

And Louis and Nessus were hurtling into this particular hornets' nest. Alone.

"What are we supposed to do when we get there," Louis finally asked Ausfaller.

"Improvise," Ausfaller had said. Something in his demeanor-or perhaps it was only Louis's subconscious-added: If you're half the man your fathers are, you'll find an answer.

Louis studied a vast and orderly arrangement of white-hot sparks, ringed by widely spaced, more distant sparks. Those outliers, Louis decided, were patrols to guard the main group's flanks. In space or in the jungle, some principles of warfare must be universal.

Aegis had just emerged from hyperspace, behind what the Fleet's best instruments suggested was the tail of the Pak migration. had just emerged from hyperspace, behind what the Fleet's best instruments suggested was the tail of the Pak migration.

"Your thoughts?" Nessus probed.

Louis walked around the holo, considering. "If there is is a Library fleet, this would be it. It's more than big enough to take on the wave just ahead, and yet it's not accelerating. The Library fleet would defend itself, but it wouldn't pick fights. There's no purpose in being a Librarian without living clans to use the Library. And loitering at the back of the line makes it less likely clans would attack the Library for its resources." a Library fleet, this would be it. It's more than big enough to take on the wave just ahead, and yet it's not accelerating. The Library fleet would defend itself, but it wouldn't pick fights. There's no purpose in being a Librarian without living clans to use the Library. And loitering at the back of the line makes it less likely clans would attack the Library for its resources."

And maybe the Pak War prisoner, Thssthfok, had only been messing with Ausfaller's head. How do you interrogate a prisoner that much smarter than yourself?

"My conclusion, too," Nessus said.

Suppose these were the Librarians. Then what? There was no sign of Achilles, and no response to Nessus' hyperwave broadcasts.

At least they had been able to use hyperwave. If the Pak had had hyperwave capability, they would have had hyperdrive, too. They wouldn't be taking millennia-long flights by ramscoop.

"Voice," Louis asked, "how large a volume does this last wave of ships occupy?"

"About a hundred cubic light-years."

"Too large a volume to search," Nessus added. Hopefully? "Perhaps this is the time Sigmund is wrong."

Louis kept pacing. No matter where he moved, all he saw was the same precise central array, ringed by the same patrol ships. Hmm. "Nessus, I'd like a closer look."

"How much closer?" Nessus pawed nervously at the deck.

They were eighty light-days from the nearest ramscoop. "Five jumps, just a few light-minutes each. We'll stay only long enough for Voice to get a new image."

"Proceed."

Louis sat at the copilot console and took Aegis Aegis through a series of hyperspace micro-jumps. Each reemergence into normal space slightly expanded the view in the main display. "That should do it," he finally said. "Jumping us back to our original distance." through a series of hyperspace micro-jumps. Each reemergence into normal space slightly expanded the view in the main display. "That should do it," he finally said. "Jumping us back to our original distance."

At that announcement, Nessus ceased his anxious pawing but said nothing.

The naval formation looked stable to Louis. "Voice. Take all the views since we got here. Normalize the images to a constant size, as though viewing the central formation from a single place. Orient all images the same way. Superimpose them, if you can, ship upon ship."