Devereaux tapped a query into the cage interface, starting the automatic analyses.



"What does it say?" Fisher asked practically right in Devereaux's ear.



She jumped, a small amount. "Really, Dr. Fisher, you should have stayed on the bridge. Papa will relay everything there as fast as I know it."



"I want to see for myself. That's why I'm here, after all."



So they waited together in the observatory lock area, where there was easy access to the Karamojo's hollow interior where Stearn and Fisher had built the magnetic cage to house the dragon. Currently it served as the repository for the plasma sample the ramscoop shuttle had returned.



"I thought you were going to help me," Fisher said.



"I am helping."



"I mean with Fang, stopping this foolish plan of hers. I'm the scientific head of this mission. I should have final say, not that militaristic bitch."



Devereaux had been intently watching the spectral analyzer, but she turned to Fisher and said, "You lied to me."



He looked back at her blankly for a moment. "Oh, the space wisps. It was expedient. You must understand."



"You lied to me. Papa has it all in your public vita. You stopped the destruction of the space wisps, studied them for three years, and concluded they represented interesting chemistry but were not technically alive."



"You were bothering me, and I thought I'd get rid of you and gain an ally at the same time. You told me at one point that you hadn't downloaded an exobiology database, after all. It was, as I said, expedient."



Devereaux laughed without real mirth, then cut it off abruptly, suddenly very serious. "I thought we had connected. I thought we -- look, you better start treating us like your friends, or at least colleagues. Like people, anyhow, or we'll find a way to leave you out here with your precious dragons."



She didn't really like the way her words sounded like a threat, but she chose not to ameliorate them with additional qualifications.



"Fine," he answered, "I'll treat you like people."



"Thank you. That's a start." She kept her tone flat, fighting back the sarcasm that wanted to seep in.

The machine beeped. Devereaux studied the results. "Nothing but hydrogen, helium, and metals. Abundances within predicted uncertainties. Nothing unexpected." Not like life at all, she thought, which always showed something unexpected.

"You're sure?"

Devereaux shrugged and pointed at the numbers. "That's as clear as it gets."

"Damn. Where's everything hiding?"

"Thought you'd see something? Little bits of dragon food floating around?" she kidded.

"Not really, but I'd hoped for something to convince Fang to change her mind. This worries me, no food chain or transitional forms. Maybe the dragon in the film was a mechanical probe? Or maybe this is a stocked pond. We could be poaching here, but without some positive evidence of something...You don't suppose we could...No, I guess not."

At least he was still human enough to read her scowl.

"That bitch is going to murder a lot of dragons," he said.

Devereaux pressed her lips together and didn't say anything, but she silently appended, if they are really still here. If they were ever here.