The woman glared at her, and Delight smirked.

  Just like that, Tens appeared beside her. “Leave Cutter alone.”

  “Now, Tens, you know she needs to be supervised.”

  Cutter dropped into the implant…which meant she’d dropped out of the meeting “I’m right here, you know.”

  Delight gave the woman’s presence a smile. “We know, sweetie.”

  Tens booted her out of Cutter’s head, and Delight snickered.

  This time the briefing officer did notice. “When you’ve all quite finished…”

  They turned their heads toward her.

  “To answer your question,” the briefing officer continued, addressing Delight, “We don’t know where the flyer is. The last sighting we can verify indicates she was heading deeper into the canyons, but we know she wouldn’t stay there, not with an infant to protect.”

  “Even the flyers need to sleep,” Delight noted.

  “Exactly, and they can’t do that in the canyons. As far as we can tell, there are no safe havens in those walls, not with the sliders.”

  “Sliders?” Cutter was all attention.

  As well she might be, Delight acknowledged, given she’s the one most likely to have to deal with the monsters on a face-to-face basis.

  Tens glanced across at her, and Delight did a quick check to make sure her implant was secure, and that she didn’t have any unauthorized riders like Cutter so often had to suffer. To her relief it was clear and none of her anti-intrusion measures had been breached.

  When she looked back at him, Tens quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

  Damn the man! Delight thought, knowing he’d been tweaking her tail. The creak of a chair drew her attention, and she saw Jeremy give Tens a look that said they’d be speaking, later.

  Tens returned it, managing to convey ‘bring-it-on’ without moving his mouth.

  The briefer continued apparently oblivious to the tension.

  “Sliders are the canyon’s equivalent of a burrower, save that the closest we can get to what they do is that they move between the crystal planes by pushing the molecules slightly apart, but not quite far enough to disrupt the crystal formation.”

  “So, they’re small?” Cutter asked, looking even more worried.

  “Small, fast, hunt in packs, dart-shaped with needle sharp front ends…” the briefer explained, and Delight watched Cutter go pale.

  She didn’t need to be in the girl’s head to know Mack was already there, reassuring her.

  “You going to cope?” she demanded, not caring how insensitive it appeared.

  Cutter’s glare was all the reward she needed. The young woman might be trypanophobic to the point her body would take off at the sight of a needle, but she’d fight the response harder because Delight had pissed her off.

  “You’re welcome,” she told the girl, ignoring Mack’s expression, as he pulled Cutter close.

  “Are you done?” the briefer asked, then went on without waiting for a reply. “You’ll be happy to know you won’t be going into the canyons. We believe our flyer will head for one of the freight depots along the canyon wall…and we’re hoping she was one of the ones Penny made contact with.”

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  Mack’s eyes widened. “You were recruiting?” he demanded. “Here?”

  The briefing officer dipped her head in admission.

  “Odyssey believes the flyers, like all sentients, should have some choice in their employers.”

  Cutter snorted, but said nothing, so Delight let it slide. Mack kept his attention on the briefer, but Delight was sure his eyes had flicked to her and away. He said nothing, either.

  Smart man, Delight thought, but decided that wouldn’t be hard. Mack had been on Odyssey’s books for, what, over fifty years? She frowned…or was that her? Shit, it was getting hard to track.

  “He was one of ours for sixty-five,” Pritchard provided, like he was reading her thoughts. “Less time than Jeremy.”

  Well, that wouldn’t be hard, all things considered. Jeremy had been around and old enough to take out Tarkine’s Revenge as his first Oberon assignment. Not bad for a cook.

  Delight returned her attention to the briefing.

  “These hangars,” Cutter was asking. “How far from the crash-site were they, and how far can your average flyer carry a baby’s pod?”

  “Both good questions,” the briefer approved. “The closest hanger was a half day’s fast flight and well within range of our laden flyer, but we don’t think she went for that one; it was too obvious.”

  She tapped the wall and the screen changed.

  Neat trick, Delight thought, but focused on the screen.

  The canyons, buttes and formations making up Crystal Canyon, showed in a purple dark enough to stand out against the aerial shot of the region, but the schematics showing the settlements spread along each side were painted a dark blue, with the freight depots in deep red, and mines and underground farms in yellows and greens. It was a fascinating insight into the way the colony and its rival companies had settled.

  I can use this, she thought, not caring the others might be able to read it in her expression. She studied the map a moment longer, then stood and walked over to it.

  “There or there,” she stated, tapping two points on the map. She fell silent, contemplating it a little longer, then tapped it a third time. “Or maybe there.”

  “That’s what our intelligence suggests,” the briefing officer agreed, as Delight resumed her seat. She tapped the map twice more, “Or either of these locations.”

  Delight turned, saw where she was pointing and didn’t argue. The woman had a point.

  Cutter studied the map, and Delight waited. Not surprisingly, Mack, Pritchard and Tens waited, too, and Jeremy glanced the girl’s way, then went back to studying the map.

  Good man, Delight thought, because as much as she understood why her better half might watch the young woman, she’d rather he didn’t…not when he didn’t have to. I’m going to have to get over that.

  It was a relief when no-one intruded into her implant to agree with her, and she didn’t complain.

  “Where’s Penny?” Cutter asked, like she had any right to use the agent’s first name. The idea gave Delight pause. Actually, considering the past those two shared, maybe she did.

  “We have three possibles,” the briefing officer replied, tapping the wall with her pointer, and they followed with avid eyes. Three taps, and three locations: two depots and the farm.

  Delight frowned. Why the farm?

  “What do we know about the farm?” she asked, but Cutter didn’t give the briefing officer a chance to reply.

  “She’s in the mines,” the young woman said, and the entire room turned toward her.

  “Do tell,” the briefing officer instructed.

  “Farms have too many workers, and Pen wouldn’t be there, but the mines give her access to the canyons and the transport depot…and there are tunnels.”

  Delight snorted. Of course, there were tunnels. It was a mine.

  Cutter scowled at her. “Unofficial tunnels,” she added.

  “And how would you know?” Delight asked.

  Cutter stood, moving toward the board. She took the pointer and controller from the briefer’s hands on the way past, thumbing the small device as she approached the map.

  “There,” she said, tapping the map where the lines wavered. “And there. My guess is those are fissures, sealed off with a wall or door.”

  She frowned thoughtfully, and cocked her head.

  “If sliders are such a problem in the canyon, why aren’t they encountered in the mines?” she asked, adding, “You have hacked the records that far in, haven’t you?”

  “I’m not sure I like your tone,” the briefer replied.

  Cutter gave her a feral smile. “I don’t care. I just want the data.”

  It was so much like the way she spoke that Delight winced.

  Remind me to be nicer, she thought, and resisted the urge to shake her head. Nice didn’t get you the information you needed, and Cutter was a quick study.

  The briefer pursed her lips, but she answered.

  “We have. The tunnels are lined with a Multi-Faceted specialty created from Togaresh minerals,” she said. “The blend of ores doesn’t occur in the crystalline structures, but it does happen naturally in the canyon walls. The first settlers noticed it once they’d encountered the sliders.

  “And their absence in the canyon walls,” Cutter concluded.

  The briefer nodded. “Exactly.”

  “So these tunnels…” Cutter tapped the map. “If they’re lined with this material, they go into the crystal?”

  Delight froze. Because the girl was right. If the sliders didn’t penetrate the canyon walls, then why was the metal needed?