'Excellent,' said Johanson. I'll catch you later.' He watched Weaver disappear, then climbed down a companionway to 02 LEVEL and went into the CIC, where Crowe and Shankar were sitting at their computers. 'What are you two up to?' he asked.

'Thinking,' said Crowe, from inside her usual cloud of smoke. 'Any progress with the pheromone?'

'Sue's in the process of synthesising the next batch. We must have about two dozen ampoules by now.'

'Then you're doing better than we are. We're starting to lose our faith in math. Maybe it isn't the path to salvation.' Shankar gave a wry grin. 'Besides, their arithmetic seems better than ours.'

'Any other ideas?'

'Emotion.' Crowe expelled the smoke through her nostrils. 'Weird, huh? Trying to appeal to the yrr's feelings – after all we know about them. But if yrr-emotion is based on biochemistry…'

'Like human emotion,' Shankar chipped in.

'. . . then the pheromone might be able to help us. Thank you, Murray. I don't need to be told that love is merely chemistry.'

'Felt any chemical attraction lately, Sigur?' said Shankar, idly.

'Right now I've got enough sparks flying of my own. You haven't seen Jude, have you?'

'She was in the LFOC just now,' said Crowe.

'Thanks.'

'Oh, and Mick was looking for you.'

'Mick?'

'He and Li were chatting, and then he said something about heading down to the lab. He left a few minutes ago.'

'Oh, good,' he said. 'He can help us synthesise the pheromone, provided he doesn't get any more migraines, poor guy.'

'He should take up smoking,' said Crowe. 'It's great for headaches.'

Johanson grinned and walked over to the LFOC. Most of the electronic data had been diverted there so that Crowe and Shankar were not distracted in the CIC. Low rustling noises, then the occasional click or whistle came from the speakers. The silhouette of a dolphin passed over one of the screens. Greywolf had evidently released the fleet again.

No sign of Li, Peak or Vanderbilt. Johanson checked out the JIC. It was empty, as were the other control and command rooms. He debated whether to look in the officers' mess, but he'd probably only find soldiers or some of Vanderbilt's agents. Li might be in the gym or her cabin. He didn't have time to search the whole vessel.

If Rubin was on his way to the lab, Weaver would flush him out. He had to speak to Li first.

Fine, he thought. If I can't find you, you'll have to find me. He made his way unhurriedly to his cabin, went in and positioned himself in the middle of the room.

'Hello, Jude,' he said.

He wondered where the cameras and mikes were hidden.

'You'll never guess what I just remembered. There's an extra lab above the main one. Rubin likes to go there when he's suffering from his migraines. Maybe you could tell me what he does there. Apart from beating up his colleagues.'

His eyes swept over the furniture, the lamps, the TV set…

'I guessed you're weren't going to volunteer the information, so I took a few precautions. If you're not careful, I'll tell the rest of the team what I've remembered, and there'll be nothing you can do.' That was laying it on a bit thick, but he needed to grab her attention. 'Is that what you want, Jude? Or how about you, Sal? Oh, sorry, Jack, I'd almost forgotten you were there. Any views?'

He took slow, deliberate paces round the room. 'I can wait, you know. The question is, can you? I doubt it.' He shrugged. 'Of course, we could always keep the whole thing quiet. Maybe your intentions are honourable and that's why you've got Rubin working in a ghost lab. I'd love to know that it's all in the interests of international security. But I don't take too kindly to being knocked out. You understand that, don't you, Jude?'

What if Li couldn't care less? She might not even be listening.

Oh, she was listening to him, all right. He knew she was.

Jude, you treated Mick to his very own deep-sea simulation chamber. I know it's smaller than the main one, but I can't help wondering what he's doing with it that he couldn't do with ours. I hope you haven't joined forces with the yrr behind our backs. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to help me make sense of this, because to tell you the truth I-'

'Dr Johanson.'

He spun around. Peak's tall frame filled the open door.

'Well, what a surprise,' Johanson said softly. 'Good old Sal. Can I offer you a cup of tea?'

'Jude wants to speak to you.'

'Oh, really?' The corners of Johanson's mouth twitched. 'I wonder what she wants.'

WEAVER

Oliviera was leaving the containment facility with a metal carry-case in her hand when Weaver walked in. 'Have you seen Mick?'

'Nope, just pheromones.' Oliviera lifted the case for her to see. It was an open-sided wire cage with racks for samples. Row upon row of glass tubes containing a colourless fluid were lined up inside. 'He called here earlier, though, and threatened to come down. I should think he'll be here any moment.'

'Yrr-scent?' asked Weaver, indicating the test-tubes.

'Yes – we'll be sprinkling a few drops of it into the tank this afternoon. Who knows? Maybe we'll persuade those cells to aggregate. If so, our theory will be gospel, so to speak.' Oliviera glanced around the lab. 'You haven't seen Sigur, have you?'

'I was just chatting to him on the flight deck. He's had some interesting ideas about the next message. It should make life easier for Sam. Anyway, I'll come back later.'

'No problem.'

Weaver considered. She could take a look round the hangar deck, but if Johanson's suspicions were right, she would only draw attention to herself. Besides, the forbidden door was scarcely going to open while she was snooping around outside.

She continued down the tunnel to the well deck.

The basin was almost full, the remaining technicians from Roscovitz's team supervising the process. She spotted Greywolf and Anawak in the water.

'Have you let the dolphins out?' she called.

Anawak hauled himself out. 'Yes.' He walked over to her. 'What've you been up to?'

'Not much. I think we're all trying to gather our thoughts.'

'We could do that together, if you like,' he said softly.

She met his gaze and realised just how much she wanted to throw her arms round him. To forget the whole awful business and do what should have been done a long time ago.

But none of them could escape the situation. And there was Greywolf, who'd lost Licia…

She gave a fleeting smile.

03 LEVEL

Peak and Johanson made their way up through the vessel, cut across part of the hospital and went down a passageway. They turned off to the side, and came to a door.

'What do you call this place, anyway?' asked Johanson, as Peak's fingers darted over the keypad. It made an electronic beeping noise, then the door swung open. The passageway continued on the other side.

'That's the CIC overhead,' said Peak.

Johanson tried to get his bearings. It was difficult to picture the layout of the vessel. If the CIC was above them, the secret lab was probably underneath.

They stopped in front of a second door. This time Peak had to scan his retina before they were allowed in. Johanson stepped into a room almost identical to the CIC, even down to its electronic hum. There was a low murmur of voices. At least a dozen people were at work. Monitors lined the walls, showing satellite images and footage from cameras – sections of the vehicle ramp, Buchanan and Anderson in the bridge, the flight and hangar decks. Johanson also spotted Crowe and Shankar in the CIC, Weaver talking to Anawak and Greywolf in the well deck, and Oliviera working in the lab. Additional monitors showed the insides of all the cabins, including his, the camera mounted above the door. He must have given them some great footage, delivering his monologue from the centre of the room.