Despite thorough searches of every likely place, and most of the unlikely ones they could think of, Orac’s key was still missing and the atmosphere on the flight deck was as tense as if they were facing a whole fleet of pursuit ships. Dayna and Vila had spent the last hour avoiding looking at each other, or Zen, but they were both aware of the fear growing in the other.

ATTENTION
Zen’s voice filled the flight deck again, Dayna and Vila tensed and waited,
INVESTIGATION OF HULL ACTIVITY IS NOW IMPERITATIVE. IF UNRESOLVED CURRENT LEVELS OF AUTOREPAIR ACTIVITY PRESENT AN IMMEDIATE THREAT TO LIBERATOR SAFETY
Vila and Dayna stared at each other in horror for a moment.
"Zen, what do you mean an immediate threat to Liberator, what is going on?" Vila shouted.
ANALYSIS OF AUTOREPAIR ACTIVITY SUGGESTS THE PRESENCE OF A FORIGEN AGENT IN LIBERATOR OUTER STRUCTURE RESULTING IN PROGRESSIVE DEGENERATIVE DAMAGE. IDENTIFICATION AND REMOVAL OF THIS AGENT IS REQUIRED AS A MATTER OF URGENCY
"Why can't you identify it?" demanded Vila
HULL SENSORS ARE INOPERATIVE. MANUAL COLLECTION OF SPECIMEN IS NOW REQUIRED.

Dayna and Vila exchanged a look of open horror.
“You know what that means?” Vila groaned.
Dayna nodded,
"One of us will have to go into the upper inspection hatches and try to collect a scraping from the hull," she said "and it had better be you, your much vaunted delicate touch is likely to be necessary."
Vila stared at her in disbelief
"You want me to put on a suit and go up there?” he squeaked. “No Dayna I can't. I get panicked in small spaces. It's one of the reasons I started opening locks!"
"You get panic everywhere!” She snapped, “ Reading between the lines I have a feeling that if we don’t do something soon you may never have to worry about confined spaces ever again."
"What do you mean?" not that he wanted to know, he was trying hard not to know.
"If the hull is weakened we may not be able to move without ripping the ship apart, and if the power drain continues then we may not be able to hold orbit, either way we'll end up in bits in a very wide open space indeed."

Vila drew a deep breath
"Why does this have to happen when Avon or Tarrant isn't here? This is their type of job." His voice dripped bitter resignation.
Dayna looked at him impatiently,
"Do you want me to call Tarrant, get him to abandon the search for Avon, teleport up? Remember every time we teleport we use more power."
Vila looked into Dayna's face and realised with a sinking feeling that there was no sign of the teasing expression she normally wore when she baited him. No, she was serious.

Sighing he crossed to the storage lockers.
"No I suppose not, Tarrant would only find a way of making life hell if we do, he's as nearly as good as Avon at that when he puts his mind to it.".
He pulled a suit out and began to struggle in to it. Then he stopped, a forlorn look on his face,
"In fact in some ways he's better at it! At least Avon disappears when he's annoyed with someone, Tarrant hangs around and makes sure he keeps reminding you!"
Dayna joined him at the lockers, smiling slightly as she reached in and pulled out a helmet,
"Yes, I know what you mean. Avon can be a very difficult man but his brooding is marginally preferable to Tarrant's sulks, if only because it's quieter!”
Her smile widened suddenly and took on a rather wicked edge that made her look suddenly older and more sophisticated,
“Its also much more attractive of course.” Her eyes danced at Vila’s sudden frown, “I wonder if he knows that?”

Vila snorted and cast her a quick, disgusted, look, then resumed pulling on the suit. He had long been resigned to Cally’s inexplicable preference for Avon, but it really would be more than flesh and blood could stand if Dayna were to show the same deplorable taste. Though he had to admit it wouldn’t be so unexpected, Avon had been known to have funny effects on other women. On occasions Vila had even suspected that the cool and collected Jenna harboured a sneaking fancy of some sort for the man. Dayna caught his look and grinned again,
“Never mind Vila, Tarrant hates it too.”

Vila didn’t bother to ask what it was that Tarrant hated; instead he finished fastening the suit and began checking the environmental controls. He would need all of them where he was going. The Liberator was criss-crossed with inspection ways and ducts on every level and access to the hull could be gained at several points' without having to go outside of the ship. Even so these upper engineering inspections ways were not nice places to be, certainly not by Vila's standards. Despite this he was familiar with these hidden arteries, and had often been in the lower inspection tunnels and chambers helping both Blake and Avon with maintenance and repairs. Manual repair was still a regular chore even on a ship like Liberator, they had quickley learned that some things best not left to the obscure logic of the autorepair systems’; and some of Avon's adaptations couldn't be serviced by the autorepair functions at all.

Around the flight deck, and the main engineering and living levels, atmosphere, gravity and temperature were kept at what he thought of as normal, but not where he was going now. Life support was not maintained in the upper inspection ways except when major repair work was underway. In a ship the size of Liberator the amount of power needed to ensure full life support in all inspection ways would be an unsustainable drain even on a self-regenerating power source. When they needed to do any serious work in the upper areas temporary life support could be established, but it took time they hadn't got and power they would be better off conserving. So he would rely on the suit.

Vila crossed to his station and picked up the small toolbox he kept there, it should contain anything that he needed that wasn’t already present in the inspection chamber. He opened it and began a quick check of the contents; he really didn’t want to have go up there more than once. Satisfied that all eventualities were allowed for he turned to Dayna,
"You had better hand me some sample boxes, it might not be a good idea to rely on the robot sensors, given what Zen said about the hull sesnors."
She nodded and opened another locker and pulled out a number of small boxes. She looked at them and then at Vila,
"We don't know what we are dealing with here so you had better take several different types".
He nodded,
"Better make one of them shielded."
Dayna raised her eyebrows at that, then she nodded and reaching into a third locker she pulled out a small, flat, plate that looked more like a large computer circuit than a box. She carefully placed it and all the other containers into the tool box.

Vila looked up at her
"Better get on with it then" he sighed and clicked the lid closed then turned to leave the flight deck, Dayna followed carrying his helmet.

At the entrance to the main engineering duct he touched a communicator panel,
"Zen, plot me a maintenance route to the nearest inspection point at which I can get a hull sample."
CONFIRMED
He reached down to his belt and touched the beacon sensor, it began to flash;
"Lock on to my environmental suit beacon."
CONFIRMED
"Relay the route to the suit display."
CONFIRMED
Dayna handed him the helmet, helping him to connect the air feeds and checking the pressure valves.
"Can you see where you are supposed to be going?" she asked anxiously.
Vila activated the display and the route appeared as if etched into the clear material of the helmet as he pulled it on. He nodded to her, Zen would guide him to the necessary point but he still liked to be able see where he was going.

He smiled uncertainly at Dayna and palmed the lock, the door slid open and he stepped into the main entrance duct, she raised her hand to him as the door closed between them.

Once the inner door seal was activated Vila turned and palmed the opposite door lock. It slid open and he stepped into another world, one without air, warmth or gravity, but as much a part of Liberator as the flight deck. There was little light here, the ducts were not lit, but the visor of his suit was self illuminated and kept the darkness at bay. Vila looked up and down and shivered inside his suit, Blake and Avon had always seemed quite at home here but he preferred the flight deck any time.

Better not hang around.

He touched the suit beacon and tensed as he saw Zen's acknowledgment on the visor display; so, no going back now. He felt himself start to move as Zen began to guide him through the maze of inspection ways to the hatch chosen as nearest access to the site of the main hull repair activity. Vila was not sure in which direction he was moving, or even that direction had any meaning here in this strange twilight world of power fields, linkages and circuitry. On his route display he seemed to be heading up but that may just have been a comforting illusion, the way Zen had chosen to represent the route. Sometimes Vila thought that Zen was more aware than they gave credit to.

As he drifted through the dark void of the inspection ways he though back over a number of occasions where Zen's comments seem to indicate that it had conciousness of some form. Gan had once suggested that Zen had some type of limiter, something that prevented the computer from showing just how aware it was, maybe he had been right. Vila had often felt that Gan saw some things much more clearly than the rest of them.

The indicator on the visor display had stopped moving and Vila felt himself drift to a halt in front of an access panel in the shaft. The panel slid open and he moved into a tiny cubicle. As he entered hidden circuits increased the glow from diffusing panels in the walls, raising the level of light in the small enclosure. The room was nothing more than a large metal cupboard and barely allowed him enough space to turn around; the ceiling was almost brushing his head and Tarrant would have found it impossible to stand upright.

Vila shuddered knowing how close he was at this point to the outer hull of Liberator, and to the void of space. He looked around him feeling a thrill of alarm as he realised that the walls of this small room were blistered and stained, and that at the junctions of the surfaces was a jelly like substance was developing, in some places it was already oozing down the walls. Whatever it was it had started to spread into Liberator. For a moment he wondered whether a sample taken from whatever it was on the walls would be enough, but Zen had specified a hull sample so better do what was asked, he really didn’t want to have to come back here again.

An observation port was built into the far wall, the surrounding boxlike enclosure housing a robot arm. Vila crossed the room and keyed the control circuit. An opening appeared in the wall beside the panel and another one on the far side of the viewing box through which Vila could see part of the ship's hull framed by star dotted space. He was horrified to see that this part of the outer hull surface was pitted and blistered like the walls of the room. Fighting down a feeling of blind panic he reached into the opened locker and pulled the control pad towards him, he touched the voice link key and spoke into the pad.
"External hull sample."
The pad sprang to life,
"Manual operation", the lights of the viewing box increased and the connectors on the robot arm flashed. Vila took a deep breath and began to carefully manipulate the arm out through the opening; that achieved he turned the sensors and collection plate towards the hull surface, inching it forward until it grazed the outer surface.

He held it there for a short while, but the sight of the hull had convinced him that what ever it was could knock out the hull sensors might affect the robot arm sensors too; a physical sample might be the only way they could identify whatever it was. The longer he left the sensor in contact with the hull the less chance there may be that he would be able to get a result,
"Begin analysis",
With luck the information would be transmitted to Zen's analysis circuits before the sensor decayed beyond use. Even so he had no time to waste. Carefully he detached the contact plate from the outer surface and began to draw it back into the viewing box. As the arm retracted the far panel slid closed shutting off his view of the raddled hull. Vila opened the inner box panel and reached inside, pulling the robot arm towards him; he could see a small deposit on the collection plate. He opened his tool box and pulled out the shielded box, the state of the hull and this room convinced him that a mineral or metal based material may not survive the contact. Closing his hand around the box he activated five sides of the shield before fitting it over the end of the robot sensor. Holding his breath he tapped the arm, gasping with relief as he saw fragments of the hull sample drop into the box and sit, held, between the active force shields. He triggered the final shield, closing the box, and carefully placed it inside his tool case.

Putting the case on the floor he took out a selection of the other containers and a small probe. Quickly he took sample from the walls and floor of the room, including one from the growing pools of sticky jelly. Closing his tool case he straightened up and returned the robot arm to the viewing box before he crossed to the exit panel.
"Zen I've got the samples, get me back to the flight deck as quickly as you can." He was stepping back into the engineering duct even before he heard Zen confirm.

***

Dayna was waiting for him when he reached the crew deck and she took his tool box from him and headed for the flight deck without a word. Vila followed removing his helmet as he went. By the time he reached the flight deck she had already prepared the shielded box and placed it into Zen's domed analysis unit.
"Zen begin analysis," she instructed as Vila came and stood behind her, stripping off the environmental suit as they waited for the results.
"Zen, did the robot sensors provide any information?" he asked.
SOME ANALYSIS WAS POSSIBLE BUT FURTHER INFORMATION IS REQUIRED
Dayna turned to Vila
"Well let’s hope this sample is enough for what Zen needs."

Vila gazed up at what he always though of as Zen's face in silence, he wondered if he should tell Dayna what he had seen in the hull inspection port but decided not to for the moment.

He desperately wanted reassurance, but while he would have demanded it from Avon or Cally without hesitation he knew he couldn't expect it from Dayna. With Avon missing and Cally and Tarrant searching for him on Terminal Vila knew that it was his turn to be strong, to be the decisive one. Avon and Cally would expect it from him. So would Blake.
"Zen will work it out," he said as he turned to Dayna, "after all it is in his interest to, in Liberator's interest, so if there is anything that needs to be done Zen will do it."
He put as much confidence into his voice as possible.

Dayna's face was strained and her dark eyes were shadowed with anxiety
"I suppose so, but I wish we could activate Orac. Are you sure you don’t know where the key is? Avon is not likely to have taken it to the surface with him is he?"
Vila shook his head; he spoke patiently despite the fact that they had already had this conversation several times.
"I don’t think he can have done, you know how cautious Avon is, he never takes Orac's key off Liberator.
"He did at Kairos," the worry echoed in her voice.
Vila struggled to stay calm, biting back the irritation that his own anxiety was producing, struggling to suborn it to Dayna’s need for support. It suddenly occurred to him that might be how Avon felt all of the time; he put that thought away for future consideration and returned to matters in hand,
"Yes but Servalan was on board then, he didn’t want her to have access to it. Avon knows that Orac is inaccessible without the key. But if there was any chance of him needing Orac while he was down there, or to operate the teleport, he wouldn't have left us unable to use it. Now would he?"
Dayna frowned
"I know, but why can't we find it, are you sure it isn't in the teleport?"
"Yes, I looked, he must have hidden it somewhere."
The effort to stay calm was exhausting him.

"Why would he do that?" Dayna still refused to be reassurred.
"Who knows?” Vila’s voice rose in frustration at her and the situation. “Why does Avon do anything? Why has he brought us here? Why wouldn't he tell us what he has in mind?"
He took adeep breath,
"He hated it when Blake did things like this, come to that we all did. Avon hasn't done anything like it since Blake went missing so why did he do it this time?"
Dayna sat down on the forward couch.
"Yes, but none of this has been much like Avon.” She frowned and looked at Vila with something close to pleading in her face. “I know he can be hard sometimes, ruthless even, but never like this," she looked up at Vila with wide and troubled eyes, "he would have killed Tarrant out of hand wouldn't he?"
Vila sighed and sat beside her, tossing the discarded suit aside,
"Yes I think he would have done, if Tarrant had pushed him any further."
"Why Vila, and what about the rest of us, would he have killed us too? He said he would if we followed him, did he mean that?"

Vila was quiet for a moment his face more serious and thoughtful than Dayna thought she had ever seen it before.
" I don't know, but I don’t think so. Avon says lots of things but I don’t think he really means most of them, its just part of the image. His image matters a lot to Avon. Blake never seemed to believe them, or Cally for that matter, and Avon never let them down. Or us come to that.”
He gave a rueful half smile,
“I've got a pretty good instinct for danger, you have to have if you are going to be a good thief," the smiled widened for a moment, "and it's essential to survive any dealings with Roj Blake believe me". The smile died and his eyes took on a considering look, "I didn’t feel that the threat was directed at me."
Dayna stared hard at him
"What do you mean?"
"The threat was for Tarrant, it was more in the way of a warning for the rest of us, and they aren’t the same things.” He shrugged, “He was determined that we wouldn't follow him."

Dayna was quiet for a moment, then, when she spoke, it was slowly and thoughtfully as if exploring a new idea,
"It was more than that, it was almost like he was trying to drive a wedge between us. Stop us seeing him as Avon. Kill our loyalty to him.” She frowned, "But why would he do that?" she shifted position slightly, turning to face Vila more directly, watching his face. “And all that about sentimentality, who was that for? Us, or himself?”
Vila shook his head slightly,
“I don’t know Dayna. But he certainly didn’t mean us to follow him.”
She got to her feet and stood looking down at Vila, the frown still in her eyes.
"He was convinced it was a trap wasn't he, that there was a very real danger if we followed?"

Vila nodded slowly,
"I think so, and he knew what Tarrant at least would want to do, charge in. He wanted to prevent that, but Avon is not very good at manipulating people. That’s probably why he prefers machines, he knows how to control them.”
He stared away to the far edge of the flight deck,
“Or maybe it’s just that he doesn’t like doing it. Avon may be secretive in many ways but in others he is much more open and direct than Blake was,” his brows rose in surprise at what he realised he was about to say, “in some ways he is more honest than Blake was. No, the only way he would have seen of stopping us was to threaten."
"But if he was convinced it was so dangerous why did he bring us here and why wouldn’t he tell us what it was all about?" she demanded.
Vila tried for the old bantering tone
“I don’t know, but just wondering makes my head ache.”

INFORMATION, ANALYSIS IS NOW COMPLETED
Vila and Dayna turned to face Zen, their wonderings forgotten.
"What is it Zen" Vila asked, struggling to keep the anxiety out of his voice.
THE SAMPLE INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF AN ENZYME.
"How dangerous is it?" no hiding the anxiety in his voice now.
THE ENZYME IS CAPABLE OF DIGESTING A RANGE OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC COMPOUNDS. THE RATE OF DIGESTION WILL SOON EXCEED THE ABILITY OF THE AUTOREPAIR CIRCUITS TO RESTORE THE DAMAGE. AS SUCH IT PRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT DANGER TO THE INTEGRITY OF LIBERATOR AND IMMEDIATE ACTION TO REMOVE IT IS REQUIRED

Vila and Dayna started at each other in horror.
"How long have we got Zen" Dayna’s voice was hollow.
EXTENSIVE DAMAGE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED TO THE OUTER HULL. LOGIC CIRCUITS SUGGEST THAT ENZYME ACTION IS LIKELY TO BE WIDESPREAD IN OTHER PARTS OF LIBERATOR, DAMAGE TO HULL AND INTERNAL SENSORS MAKES ASSESSING THE FULL SCALE OF DAMAGE IMPOSSIBLE AT THIS TIME
Dayna swallowed hard and tried to focus on something other than her own sudden terror.
"So what do we do? Can it be destroyed?"
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE SAMPLE INDICATES THAT THE ENZYME IS OF A KNOWN, THOUGH RARE, VARIETY. DATABANKS LIST A RANGE OF MEASURES THAT WILL DESTROY IT
"So use them," Vila shouted, suddenly hopeful.
DATA INDICATES THAT ALL MEASURES PRESENT A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO HUMAN LIFE
"What!" Dayna cried.
Vila shut his eyes for a moment as if trying to push an unwelcome image away.
"Just my luck, anything that will destroy it will destroy us too. What will destroy it Zen?"
DATA INDICATES THAT A RANGE OF GASES CAN BE USED. CERTAIN FORMS OF RADIATION WILL ALSO BE EFFECTIVE.
"Gases and radiation, oh wonderful, just what I needed to hear," Vila moaned. "Can't the strategy computers come up with another solution that can destroy it and save us?"

Dayna ignored that and turned to Zen
"Which of these gases and radiation are available to us Zen?"
NEUTRON RADIATION IS LISTED. THIS IS AVAILABLE VIA THE NUETRON BLASTERS. GASES INCLUDE CHLORINE. THIS CAN BE MANUFACTURED WITHIN THE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS.
Vila looked back at Zen,
“Can’t we wait a bit longer, the others might be back soon.”
STRATEGY COMPUTERS INDICATE THAT ENZYME DESTRUCTION IS NOW PRIOITY FOR THE SURVIVAL OF LIBERATOR. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT ALL CREW ASSUME ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.

"Fine, what next" he sighed,
STRATEGY COMPUTERS SUGGEST THAT THE NEUTRON BLASTERS BE FIRED WITHOUT RAISING THE RADIATION FLARE SHIELD WITH THE FORCE WALL IN PLACE 360 DEGREES.
"What will that do?" Vila’s voice sounded desperate despite his efforts to stay calm.
THIS WILL PRODUCE A NEUTRON RADIATION BACKWASH WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE FORCEWALL. RADIATION LEVELS PRODUCED WILL BE SUFFICIENT TO DESTROY THE ENZYME REMAINING ON THE OUTER HULL
"And the stuff that has penetrated inside the ship?" Dayna asked
ANALYSIS COMPUTERS INDICATE THAT THIS RADIATION WILL BE INSUFFICIENT TO DESTROY THE ENZYME THAT HAS PENETRATED THE SECONDARY HULL
Dayna and Vila exchanged horrified looks.
”What else can we do” Vila demanded
INTRODUCING A CONCENTRATION OF IRRADIATED CHLORINE GAS INTO ALL EMPTY SPACE IN LIBERATOR WILL DESTROY THE ENZYME THAT HAS PENETRATED THE HULL.
"But that radiation will hang around for years" Vila shouted "we can’t live in protective suits for ever"
STRATEGY COMPUTERS INDICATE THAT THE COMBINATION WILL ENABLE THE LEVEL OF RADIATION USED WITHIN THE SHIP TO BE MINIMISED. ONCE REPAIRS ARE COMPLETED IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR THE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS TO REMOVE THIS RADIATION FROM THE SHIP WITHIN ONE STANDARD WEEK OF ITS RELEASE. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT ANTIRADIATION MEDICATION IS TAKEN IMMEDIATELY BY ALL LIBERATOR CREW AND BE CONTINUED FOR ONE STANDARD MONTH.

"I don't like the sound of this Zen, is there any other way?"
OTHER ACTION IS POSSIBLE HOWEVER ALL OTHER OPTIONS CARRY A GREATER RISK TO HUMAN LIFE.
"Do we need to decide now?" Dayna asked
IF THE ENZYME IS UNCHECKED SERIOUS STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WILL BEGIN TO AFFECT LIBERATOR IRREVERSIBLY WITHIN THREE STANDARD HOURS.
"If we do as recommended how long before the enzyme will be destroyed?"
SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN THE SCALE AND ACTION OF THE ENZYME WILL OCCUR WITHIN ONE STANDARD HOUR
"How long after that before repair systems can return the ship to normal operation"
DATA INDICATES THAT TOTAL ERADICATION OF THE ENZYME WILL TAKE FOUR STANDARD HOURS. HOWEVER DAMAGE WILL DECREASE TO LESS THAN ONE THIRD OF THE CURRENT LEVEL WITHIN ONE STANDARD HOUR. TOTAL REPAIR OF THE CURRENT AND PROJECTED DAMAGE TO LIBERATOR WILL TAKE SIXTY STANDARD HOURS.

"Sixty hours! We’ll be a sitting target,” Vila’s voice was a mix of fear, anger and exasperation. Dayna frowned at him then turned to Zen
“Will the structural damage be halted sufficiently for us to be able to move in safety?” she asked.
DATA INDICATES THAT IF ACTION IS TAKEN IMMEDIATELY REPAIR WILL BE SUFFICEIENT TO PREVENT ANY SERIOUS STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO LIBERATOR WITHIN FOUR STANDARD HOURS PROVIDED SPEED DOES NOT EXCEED STANDARD BY FOUR.
"How long to make hull repairs?"
ESSENTIAL HULL REPAIRS WILL BE COMPLETED WITHIN TWO STANDARD HOURS OF NEUTRON BOMBARDMENT.

"So we have no choice, better get suited up Dayna," Vila was resigned.
She nodded and gor to her feet.
"Should we let Cally and Tarrant know?"
"Why? There’s nothing they can do, better say as little as possible unless they ask to come up. Zen, initiate neutron bombardment and chlorine dosing in five minutes from now".
CONFIRMED.

***

The next few hours were some of the most uncomfortable Vila could ever remember. He hated environmental suits, the gloves made his normally clever hands feel big and clumsy as if they didn’t belong to him, and the inability to move quickly and the hiss of the air supply set his nerve on edge. Not that that was difficult.

From inside of the suit the whole familiar world of Liberator looked different and hostile, and that was before the chlorine gas. It tinged the air a sickly yellow green and he was sure it would find its way into his suit or the air supply. His years in detention centres had expanded Vila's vocabulary to the point where he could have traded insults with the most hardened of deep space pirates if he had wanted to, and provided there was something or someone big and strong between him and them. He used it all as he waited, silently hurling every abusive term he could think of at the absent Avon as the minutes crept slowly by. What on earth could have been so important that he had felt the need to run the risk of entering the cloud? The delay in getting to Terminal would have been minor if they had gone round it and Avon was not one for running unnecessary risks.

With nothing else to do but wait for the cleansing to run its course Vila sat and thought about the last few days, about Avon's strange behaviour, and slowly an idea began to form in the back of his mind.

Avon was a pragmatist, and openly self interested, but he was no coward. Nor was he a hypocrite, and when the going got rough he did what had to be done. Blake had known that and had relied on it. Vila knew that, if he was honest, so had the rest of them. But Avon had never been reckless or casually or wantonly violent, and he had never seemed to take any pleasure in violence when it had proved necessary. True there was probably little that Avon would rule out as a matter of course, but he only issued direct threats when unavoidable, and where he was prepared to follow through on them, and he never went back on his word. No, Avon definitely believed that discretion was the better part of valour, not that he had seemed much concerned with valour at all. Vila had to admit that he’d always liked that aspect of the other man.

So, given all of that, there would have to have been a very good reason for Avon to act as he did. For him to have been willing to kill Tarrant, and Vila had no real doubt that he had been willing, it would have had to be more than a good reason. What would seem good enough to Avon to have taken such a course of action? Vila could think of only one, he smiled to himself, yes that had to be it.

But why the secrecy? Surely he would have known that he could rely on his support and Cally’s, and probably Dayna’s too, if not Tarrant. Maybe Avon hadn’t quite believed in it, but if that were the case would he have taken the risks? Suddenly Vila was sure that he would have done. He paused to consider the implications of what he had just decided, viewing them from all angles.

Now that was an interesting idea, uncomfortable maybe, yet it would make sense, at least to those who knew Avon best. Perhaps that was at the root of it, and if his suspicions were right, if that was the case, then the situation was about as dangerous as it could be. He only hoped that Cally and Tarrant were safe and on their guard; the sooner they could get them out of there the better.

With that pious wish he settled down to wait for the cleansing to be completed.