Natalie Vergana liked her flat. It was, admittedly, a nice flat, with nice furniture and nice upholstery, but she had not decorated it herself and it was not her who had chosen the furnishings.

 Her lease was less than a month old, but she felt at home in the flat. It was quiet and warm and safe. Most of all, it was safe.

 She could sleep easy here, away from the chasing and the hiding and the violence. Away from the sort of thing that was happening a few blocks away at the Hilberton Five hotel.

 Kendle's large brown eyes scanned the room from the source of the voice. "Professor Summerfield?"

 "Here, here!" Bernice forced her way through the crowd, almost tripping over the feet of the hotel proprietor, and dragging Miles in tow. "Go on," she said loudly as she reached the security men, "arrest us for breathing. Bang us up on some trumped up charge."

 Kendle raised an eyebrow.

 "I mean, if you're going to go through all this histrionics, you may as well perform the execution here and now and save the trial until a more convenient time for all of us." Kendle looked down at her, intrigued, so she added, "Or would you rather we stamped on your toes and ran away?"

 Kendle clicked his fingers and Benny and Miles were seized and handcuffed. "Bring them."

 Bernice felt herself roughly pushed towards the exit. She looked round in time to see Bevan trying to calm his guests and Kendle slipping him a quiet word and a small wad.

 "This is about the statues, isn't it, Bernice?" Miles asked as they left the hotel.

 "Could you say that any louder?" He seemed bemused so Bernice gave him a withering look. "No chance of us claiming to be ignorant, innocent citizens now."

 Kendle quickened his pace to catch up with her. "Don't worry about it, Professor," he said, "we would have used a mind probe."

 "Are you telling me you're not going to now?"

 A thin smile formed on Kendle's lips. "It's always best to keep one's options open, Professor."

 When she got outside the flat block some twenty minutes after waking up, Natalie quickly ducked into the neighbouring alley. Now, more than usual, she needed to keep out of sight.

 She climbed the wall at the end of the alley and, after checking for passers by, dropped down into a back street and scurried away.

 "So," said Benny, jumping to her feet. "Is it time for some good old-fashioned, boys with their toys, torture?"

 Kendle smiled. "I think I like you, Professor."

 "Does that mean you're going to let me go?"

 "Guess."

 Benny theatrically crossed to the bunk. "On your feet, Miles, it's torturing time!"

 Kendle held up his hands innocently. "I think you have me wrong, Professor. I don't need to interrogate you. I know who you are and I know why you're here."

 "You do?"

 He nodded. "You were seen arriving. Your shuttle was purchased two weeks ago by Troy Delbarre and it is to one of his alter ego's accounts that your hotel bill is being charged."

 "Well if you know all that...?"

 "You are being held on suspicion of lewd conduct."

 Bernice wished she had something in her mouth to splutter over her captor. "Excuse me?"

 "Under local law, we can hold you for up to thirty-six hours for questioning." He glanced at his watch. "See you tomorrow, Professor Summerfield. Give my regards to Dr Bain."

 Benny glared at his receding form as it disappeared down the corridor, accompanied by fading footsteps. "Git!" she shouted after a few moments' consideration.

 "Yes?" she asked, her stern face giving the impression of impatience regardless of her mood.

 "Delbarre sent two more, archaeologists. We picked them up soon after they arrived."

 "And?"

 "We're holding them. The last thing you want is for them to be wandering around the planet and getting to the artefact first."

 She leaned forward, the light from her screen casting an eerie glow over her face. "Don't deem to tell me what I want! Release them immediately."

 "But...?"

 "Kendle, do as I say. If we let the agents search for the artefact, they can do some of the legwork for us. They will help us without knowing it. Leaving them locked up is a waste of manpower!"

 Kendle shrugged and chewed on a fingernail. "Whatever you say, boss. Kendle out."

 He switched off the vid and cursed under his breath.

 After a moment warming up and ticking over, the vehicle hovered off the ground and began to move forward.

 Benny frowned at him, suspicious.

 Miles was on his feet immediately. "Really?"

 "Yes, really. All charges have been dropped so, you know, vamoose."

 Benny was still frowning and had to be pushed out of the cell, as subsequently out of the station, by Miles.

 "Strange," Benny said finally.

 "Why? We didn't do whatever they said we did. They must have found the people who did."

 Benny felt Miles recovering his ability to project superiority over those around him and stood as tall as she could to respond. "Miles, the charge was false. Made up. Invented."

 "Ah."

 "Kendle wants the artefacts, no doubt about it."

 Miles grinned. "But we'll get to them first, eh?"

 "No. He'll be watching us." She looked up the street. "Do they have taxis here?"

 Miles shrugged in response. "So what are we going to do?"

 "I don't know," Benny replied. "But whatever we do, it's going to have to be sneaky."

 A waiter ran up to the skimmer. "Welcome to Gino's. Today's starter is based on a traditional Chelonian recipe for..."

 She wound down the window and he interrupted himself when he saw her. "Do you have it?"

 She nodded.

 "Well?"

 She reached under her seat and pulled. With a slight ripping sound, an object came away. She held it up: a small box, the adhesive tape she had used to hide it trailing from it.

 "Give it to me."

 She moved to hand it over before stopping herself and drawing back. "When is my birthday?"

 "What?"

 "My birthday, when is it? It's a simple question."

 "I don't have time for this."

 Natalie found herself facing a small, handheld energy weapon. "At least if you kill me I'll know that I was right."

 "Eh?" Troy looked up from his terminal in surprise. "Oh, it's you, bruv. Don't do that to me, all right?"

 "Have they found the statues yet?"

 "No, they have not. They were arrested, apparently, but now they've been released."

 "Sounds suspicious."

 "Yes, well, that's because it *is* suspicious. But I'm sure they are quite capable of coping."

 Troy's brother shook his head. "I give them eighteen hours max."

 "One credit says twenty-four." They shook hands. "I just hope they manages to get the statues back to me before their inevitable demise."

 "Hilberton Five Hotel," she told the driver.

 "We're going back there?" Miles asked as the taxi sped forward. "I thought you said the manager was taking bribes."

 "He is," she said with a sly grin.

 "You folks been in trouble?" The taxi driver was a middle-aged woman with dyed purple hair.

 "No, no," Miles said. "Just tourists."

 "'Cos when I pick folks up from the police station, that means trouble or death."

 "If there's such a stigma attached," Benny said, "why do you take fares from the police station at all?"

 The taxi driver smiled and flashed a glance back. "It pays well." Benny and Miles were disconcerted to observe that their driver was holding a gun on them. On the bright side, it didn't seem to be affecting her driving.

 TO BE CONTINUED...