Cromlin, Saluda, Yabbo—all highrtech or semitech. Formidable. And you’ve never been outside of Kalinda except to Zone, here. You are tending to think, as most do, that because the border of a hex is straight lines, so is its coastline. The Ochoans know better, as should you. Mountain ranges don’t stop at these borders, nor do most other landforms, any more than the Karellian Reef stops because it hits our boundary with Yabbo. Saltwater is saltwater. There’s some change in the vegetation, true, due to its colder waters and different nutrients, but it goes on for another kilometer. By the same token, Bludarch has a great many ports because its rugged coastline extends irregularly in and out of neighboring water hexes. You couldn’t fire a gun or turn on an electric light in Bludarch, but you could dock and service any ship under steam or sail. On the Cromlin side, you could repair a fusion reactor if you needed to. A close-up topographic view of the region shows this. He’s coming. The only question is how, and when.”

“You’ve never been in any other hex, either,” Ming pointed out.

“I don’t have to be,” Core said. “I am used to logic and data and big pictures. However, I also do not have to try some dangerous travel to scout this area. It has been suggested that you might be a very good one to send instead, considering your two for one, um, features—and because the two of you previously had skills in this sort of skulduggery.”

Ming sighed. “Uh-huh. And who suggested us?”

Core shrugged. “I did, but the powers above us thought it was quite a good idea.”

“And why not you?” Ari asked him. “After all, you have all that analytical power. You’ve said it yourself. You had to leave data behind, not logic, so why not accumulate more data, by experience for a change?”

“I cannot afford to take the chance, nor can our alliance,” Core answered without a trace of modesty.