Halfway down a second corridor, the engineer stopped before a small door and gestured. «In here, Prime Minister.»

  He opened the door and let the guards enter first, their bulky forms disappearing at once into shadow. Inside, they fired torches set in wall brackets, and by the time Sen Dunsidan entered, the room was brightly lit.

  The Prime Minister looked around doubtfully. The room was a maze of tables and workbenches piled high with pieces of equipment and materials. Racks of tools hung from the walls, and shards of metal of all sizes and shapes littered the floor. He saw several crates of diapson crystals, the lids pried open, the crystals' faceted surfaces winking in the flicker of the torchlight. Everything in the room seemed to have been scattered about in haphazard fashion and with little concern for what it might take to find it later.

  Sen Dunsidan looked at Etan Orek. «Well, Engineer Orek?»

  «My lord," the other replied, bowing his way forward until he stood very close—too close for the Prime Minister's comfort. «It would be better if you saw this alone," he whispered.

  Sen Dunsidan leaned forward slightly. «Send my guards away, you mean? Isn't that asking a little bit more than you should?»

  The little man nodded. «I swear to you, Prime Minister, you will be perfectly safe.» The sharp eyes glanced up quickly. «I swear.»

  Sen Dunsidan said nothing.

  «Keep them with you, if you feel the need," the other continued quickly, then paused. «But you may have to kill them later, if you do.»

  Dunsidan stared at him. «Nothing you could show me would merit such treatment of the men in whose hands I daily place my life. You presume too much, Engineer.»

  Again, the little man nodded. «I implore you. Send them away. Just outside the door will do. Just so they don't see what I have to show you.» His breathing had quickened. «You will still have them within call. They can be at your side in a moment, should you feel you need them. But they will also be safely away, should you decide you don't.»