Foaly opened another window on his wall. No, Verbil, it is not possible. Opal could not be back because Im looking at her right now.
Live feed from the Argon Clinic confirmed that Opal was indeed still suspended in her coma harness. Shed had her DNA swab minutes beforehand.
Chixs petulance crumbled. I cant believe it, he muttered. Mulch seemed so sincere. I actually thought Holly was in danger.
Foalys tail twitched. What? Mulch said Holly was in danger? But Holly is gone. She died.
Yes, said Chix morosely. Mulch was shovelling more horse dung, I suppose. No offence.
Of course. Opal would set Holly up to take the blame for Julius. That cruel little touch would be just like Opal. If she wasnt right there, in her harness. DNA never lies.
Chix rapped the screen surround at his end, to get Foalys attention.
Listen, Foaly, remember what you promised. This is between us. No need for anyone else to know I got duped by a dwarf. Ill end up scraping vole curry off the sidewalk after crunchball matches.
Foaly absently shut the window. Yes, whatever. Between us. Right.
Opal was still secure. No doubt about it. Surely she couldnt have escaped. If she had, then maybe this probe was more sinister than it seemed. She couldnt have escaped. It wasnt possible.
But Foalys paranoid streak couldnt let it go. Just to be sure, there were a few little tests he could perform. He really should get authorization, but, if he were wrong, nobody had to know. And if he were right, nobody would care about a few hours of computer time.
The centaur ran a quick search on the surveillance database and selected the footage from the chute access tunnel where Julius had died. There was something he wanted to check.
UNCHARTED CHUTE, THREE MILES BELOW SOUTHERN ITALY
The stolen shuttle made good time to the surface. Holly flew as fast as she could without burning the gearbox or smashing them into a chute wall. Time may have been of the essence, but the motley crew would be of little use to anyone if they had to be scraped off the wall like so much crunchy pate.
These old rigs are mainly for watch changes, explained Holly. The LEP got this one second-hand at a criminal assets auction. Its souped up to avoid Customs ships. It used to belong to a curry smuggler.
Artemis sniffed. A faint yellow odour still lingered in the cockpit.
Why would anyone smuggle curry?
Extra-hot curry is illegal in Haven. Living underground, we have to be careful of emissions, if you catch my drift.
Artemis caught her drift and decided not to pursue the subject.
We need to locate Opals shuttle before we venture above ground and give our position away.
Holly pulled over, next to a small lake of black oil, the shuttles downdraught rippling the surface.
Artemis, I think I mentioned that its a stealth shuttle.
Nothing can detect her. We dont have sensors sophisticated enough to spot her. Opal and her pixie sidekicks could be sitting in their craft just round the next bend, and our computers wouldnt pick them up.
Artemis leaned in over the dashboard readouts. Youre approaching this the wrong way, Holly. We need to find out where the shuttle is not.
Artemis launched various scans, searching for traces of certain gases within a hundred-mile radius. I think we may assume that the stealth shuttle is very close to E7. Perhaps right at the mouth, but that still leaves us with a lot of ground to cover, especially if all we have to rely on are our eyes.
Thats what Ive been saying. But do go on, Im sure you have a point.
So, Im using this shuttles limited sensor dishes to scan from here right up the chute to the surface and down about thirty miles.
Scanning for what? said Holly in exasperation. A hole in the air?
Artemis grinned. Exactly. You see, normal space is made up of various gases: oxygen, hydrogen and so on; but the stealth shuttle would prevent any of these from being detected inside the ships hull. So if we find a small patch of space without the usual ambient gases
Then weve found the stealth shuttle, said Holly.
Exactly.
The computer completed its scan quickly, building an on-screen model of the surrounding area. The gases were displayed in various whirling hues.
Artemis instructed the computer to search for anomalies. It found three, one with an abnormally high saturation of carbon monoxide.
Thats probably an airport. A lot of exhaust fumes.
The second anomaly was a large area with only trace elements of any gas.
A vacuum, probably a computer plant, surmised Artemis.
The third anomaly was a small area, just outside the lip of E7, that appeared to contain no gas of any kind.
Thats her. The volume is exactly right. Shes on the north side of the chute entrance.
Well done, said Holly, punching him lightly on the shoulder. Lets get up there.
You know, of course, that as soon as we put our nose into the main chute system, Foaly will pick us up.
Holly gave the engines a few seconds to warm up. Its too late to worry about that. Haven is more than six hundred miles away. By the time anyone gets here, well be either heroes or outlaws.