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listen then and you probably won't now, but I'll try again anyway, for old times' sake. The Empire needs
the metals it takes from Unseeli. Each tree that's felled can provide enough heavy metals to power a
starship for a year. We even use the outer metals to make ships' hulls and engine casings. It's only
Unseeli's metals that made our recent expansion possible. But Unseeli is the only place where these
metals can be easily found, and we've become dependent on them. Without the regular supply ships
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these trees make possible, half our colonies would starve or suffocate or fall apart from lack of some
essential need. Millions would die, the Empire would collapse, and humanity would fall back into
barbarism inside a generation."
"To the Ashrai, we are barbarians," said Carrion.
Silence shook his head impatiently. "None of that matters anymore. It's past. I need your help, Sean.
Something's happened at Base Thirteen."
Carrion looked at him steadily. "The last time we met I called the Ashrai to arms and led them against
the Empire. I led them into battle for the sake of their world, and you butchered them. You maimed and
slaughtered until you grew bored, and then you retreated into orbit and burned everything that lived."
Silence didn't look away. "It was necessary."
"The Ashrai . . ."
"Didn't stand a chance. Rebels never do."
"And you expect me to help you now? After everything that's happened, you expect me to help the
Empire?"
"I could get you Pardoned."
"I doubt that."
Silence smiled coldly. "Don't flatter yourself, Sean. You're not that important, or a bounty hunter would
have taken your head years ago. No, you're just another deserter who went native on some backwater
planet. No one cares about you anymore. I can get you Pardoned, and I can take you off-planet. Take
you anywhere you want to go. You could start again, start over with a clean record. Think about it. You
wouldn't even have to call yourself Carrion any more."
"Why not, Captain? It's who I am." Carrion shook his head slowly, and sank back in his chair. "Thank
you for the offer, Captain, but no."
"No? Think what I'm offering you! You can't want to stay here on your own . . ."
"Can't I? I've found peace here."
"What peace? The peace of the dead, of the cemetery?"
"The peace of the forest, Captain. You never did understand what you were destroying. The Ashrai and
the trees were linked more closely than you ever knew. The trees are alive. I've seen branches sway
when no wind blows, and heard voices on the wind and in the mists. The Ashrai are dead, but they are
not gone. There's a harmony, a strength that holds the trees together, and I'm a part of it." The outlaw's
voice fell to a whisper. "Leave me alone, John. Please."
"I can't, Sean. I need you."
"Why, Captain? Why does it always have to be me?"
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"Because you're the best."
"Thank you, Captain."
Silence turned away from the bitterness in Carrion's voice, and rose to his feet. "Up you get, Carrion. It's
a long way back to Base Thirteen, and we've a lot to discuss on the way."
Carrion looked up at him. "Are you so sure I'll help you?"
"Of course. You're my friend. And it's not as if you have anything else to do, is it?"
CHAPTER FIVE
Ghost in the Machine
The esper Diana Vertue leaned back in her seat and glared moodily at the pinnace monitors. The Al was
still trying to make some sense out of the garbled responses it was receiving from inside Base Thirteen,
but as far as Diana could tell, it was getting nowhere fast. She supposed it was an encouraging sign that
anything at all was coming through, but in her opinion the responses were nothing more than random data
from a damaged computer. She had suggested as much to Odin, but the AI ignored her. She was only an
esper, and therefore the AI didn't have to listen to her if it didn't want to. Even an Artificial Intelligence
rated higher than an esper.
Diana sighed, and stretched out her legs as best she could in the cramped confines of the cabin. She'd
expected many things of her first official mission on an alien world, but boredom wasn't one of them.
She'd almost reached the point where she would have welcomed the two marines back on board, just to
have someone to talk to. At least they had something to do, even if it was only keeping a lookout and
second-guessing the Security system. All she had to do was sit and watch the computer talking to itself,
and wait for something to go wrong. Not that there was a whole lot she could do if it did. She sighed
again, heavily, and indulged herself in a pout. It wasn't fair. She hadn't been allowed to do anything ever
since they touched down on this miserable planet. She ached for something new to happen up to and
including a major catastrophe just so long as she got to see a little action. Anything would be better
than this.
Well, almost anything. She hadn't forgotten what had happened the last time she opened up her esp, on
the way down. There was something here on Unseeli with them, and to hell with what the sensors said.
And whatever it was, it was dangerous. She'd sensed a rage and a force beyond anything she'd ever
encountered before, something so powerful it almost burned out her mind just looking at it. she'd kept her
esp damped down ever since, and had no intention of raising it again, no matter how bored she got. She
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