Louis walked until Needle loomed: a hundred-and-ten-foot diameter cylinder with a flattened belly. Not much of the ship was missing. The hyperdrive, the doc, what else? The crew housing was a cross section, its floor eighty feet up. Under the floor, all of the kitchen and recycling systems were exposed.

If he could climb that high, hed have his breakfast, and clothing too. He didnt see any obvious route. Maybe there was a stepping disk link? But he couldnt guess where Tunesmith might place a stepping disk, or where it would lead.

The Hindmosts command deck was exposed too. It was three stories tall, with lower ceilings than a Kzin would need. Louis saw how he could climb up to the lowest floor. A protector would have no trouble at all.

Louis shook his head. What must the Hindmost be thinking?

Piersons puppeteers held to a million-year-old philosophy based on cowardice. When the Hindmost built Needle, he had isolated his command deck from any intruders, even from his own alien crew. There were no doors at all, just stepping disks booby-trapped a thousand ways. Now… the puppeteer must feel as naked as Louis.

Louis crouched beneath the edge of some flat-topped mass, maybe the breathing-air system. Leapt, pulled up, and kept climbing. The docs repairs had left him thin, almost gaunt; he wasnt lifting much weight. Fifty feet up, he hung by his fingers for a moment.

This was the lowest floor of the Hindmosts cabin, his most private area. There would be defenses. Tunesmith might have turned them off… or not.

He pulled up and was in forbidden space.

He saw the Hindmost. Then he saw his own droud sitting on a table.

The droud was the connector between any wall socket and Louis Wus brain. Louis had destroyed that… had given it to Chmeee and watched the Kzin batter it to bits.