“And I don’t. It could still blow up. Get out.”

“No. I’m comfortable here.”

“You’re what?”

“I’m comfortable here.”

“Now you’re being idiotic.”

“I am not being idiotic. Stop trying to get rid of me.”

“Why should I? You’re being idiotic.”

“Stop calling me idiotic, will you? You’re bickering.”

“I am not bickering. I’m trying to get you to behave rationally.”

“I am behaving rationally.”

“This doesn’t impress me, you know. It’s your duty to save yourself.”

“And yours not to despair.”

“Not despair? My comrade and mate is acting like an imbecile and I’ve got a—” Quilan’s eyes widened. “Up there!” he hissed, pointing behind me.

“What?” I twisted, bringing my rifle round and then going still.

The Invisible trooper was at the crater lip, peering down at the wreckage of the land destroyer. He had some sort of helmet on but it didn’t cover his eyes and probably wasn’t very sophisticated. I gazed up through the rain. He was lit by firelight from the burning land destroyer; we ought to be mostly in shadow. The trooper’s rifle was held in one hand, not both. I stayed very still.

Then he brought something up to his eyes, scanning. He stopped, looking straight at us. I had raised the rifle and fired by the time he’d let the night sight drop and begun to bring his weapon to bear. He exploded in light just as another flash erupted in the skies above. Most of his body tumbled and slipped down the slope towards us, shorn of one arm and his head.

“Suddenly you’re a half-decent shot,” Quilan said.

“I always was, dear,” I told him, patting his shoulder. “I just kept it quiet because I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

“Worosei,” he said, taking my hand again. “That one will not have been alone. Now really is the time to go.”

“I—” I began, then the hulk of the land destroyer and the crater around us shook as something exploded inside the wreck and glowing shrapnel whizzed out of the space where the turret had been.