The file on the missing girl, Bryn Harvard, lay open like a grim challenge on the screen of Darien's data pad as he rode the ram-liner with Idas out through the dark, craggy plains of Alura. An ironic name, he thought, as his eyes drifted to look out of the ram-liner's view port. The planet could be described as many things, but 'alluring' was not one of them. Its twisting, grasping rock formations had been burnt into shape by long years of erosion and searing blasts from its blue-giant star as it rotated.

Well out on the periphery of human space, he'd seen immediately why their mysterious kidnappers had come here. When they'd landed the port 'authorities' hadn't even bothered to run the registration plate of their shuttle or check their ID passes. A bunch of bored, inattentive rent-a-cops, they barely qualified as a security detail.

It made him a little sick to see it.

That also left the trio with another problem. The communication between the various blips of human civilisation was sporadic at best. Frankly he was amazed that the missing person report had even reached Blink in the first place. Maybe that meant there was at least one person on this rock trying to do their job properly.

He drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the well-worn armrest of the seat. While he and Idas went out into the wastes to try and trace the girl, Uther had the unenviable task of confronting what passed for port-control on Alura. There had been no reports of the strange energy signature of their mystery ship, but that didn't mean somewhere buried in the automated logs of the planetary buoys they wouldn't find something. If that ship had stopped here, Uther would find out.

It took the better part of an hour for the ram-liner to reach the settlement where the girl's address was registered. Gratefully the two operatives dismounted from the cold, dank interior and stepped out into Alura's unwelcoming atmosphere. The terraforming process could only do so much, and Darien grimaced – even the air tasted burnt.

The buildings that made up Alura's settlements were squat, shovel-shaped bunkers, embedded deeply into the ground. Their dark metallic exteriors deflected the worst of the wind and the sun-blasts of the planet. The one good thing about it was that, owing to the nature of the planet's elements, each cluster of buildings had to be built in a rigid pattern, in arcs facing the horizon, and navigating around the settlement was simple.

Following the address on his console, Darien trudged through the twilit streets, keeping his head down and ignoring the smattering of other people that were out and about. It didn't take them long to locate the sin-black abode where Bryn Harvard had been registered. He walked up to the low, arched doorway and pinged the door-tone. Through the thick metal he heard the sound of scuffling feet and muffled voices. Then, with a hissing-groan the door slid open revealing a haggard looking woman.

"Yes?" she demanded.

"Is this the residence of Bryn Harvard?" he asked, trying to ignore her black eye.

Her expression darkened. "It was."

"My name is Darien – this is Idas. We just want to ask a couple of questions about your daughter's disappearance."

Her eyes narrowed and she didn't move from the mouth of the doorway. Darien wasn't surprised by her mistrust, given the state of this planet and the fact that her daughter had been taken away from her.

"We're navy operatives," he half-lied, passing over his ID card. She glared at it for a long moment.

"Who is it?" a thick, rough voice called suddenly from deeper inside.

"Some little policemen, asking about Bryn," she called back.

The thump of heavy footsteps answered her and a moment later an unshaven, overweight man appeared, pushing her to one side. His eyes were red-rimmed and even from a couple of feet away Darien could smell the alcohol on him. His face twisted with anger when he looked at them.

"I dunno who the hell you people are," he growled. "But I've had enough trouble from that wretch to last me a lifetime."

Darien bristled at that. "Mr. Harvard-,"

"Don't 'Mister' me you little twerp." Bryn's father glowered at the two operatives. "That kid's been trouble since the day she could walk. Head's filled with fancy notions, crazy plans. Then one night she comes smashing the door down warbling about how some people are after her, trying to take her away. Couldn't get any sense out of her. There was nothing – no trace of these 'people'. But she wouldn't let it go. Went to the local security and blurted out the same damn story." He shook his head as though in disgust. "Then one night she just up and left – didn't leave us so much as a note. Haven't seen her since."

"That's it?" Darien said, fighting to keep his voice level. "She left and you didn't look for her?"

"What was I supposed to do? She didn't want to be here, so she took off. That's not my fault or my problem. That stupid girl's been trying to get off this planet for years."

"Can't say I blame her," Idas muttered.

Darien shot him a warning glance before continuing. "So that's all you know? She left one day?"

"Look – I already told this story to the other navy meat-heads who came asking."

"The others?"

"Yeah. They came asking the same questions you have. I'll tell you what I told them. The only place I can think of that she mighta gone was the abandoned mine sheds north of here. Used to sneak off there all the damn time, trying to duck out of her shifts or dodge her chores. Since they never brought her back I'm guessing she wasn't there."

"You're guessing," Darien forced out, now struggling to control himself. "So you never looked for yourself?"

"I've got my own life to lead," the man snarled back. "You think you can judge me? If it matters so damn much go and look for yourselves. Now I'm finished talking about this."

And just like that he smacked the door release and the metal plate slammed shut in front of them. There was no more information to be gleaned from Bryn Harvard's parents, it seemed.

"Smart kid," Idas commented grimly as they turned from the door. "She knew they'd be back, so she took off before they could find her."

Darien nodded his agreement, trying to contain the building rage in his gut. This gifted teenager had been all but abandoned on this colony, let down by the authorities, by her parents; everyone. His jaw tightened.

"You gonna be okay?" his friend asked. "You looked like you were ready to snap that guy's neck back then."

"Near enough," he muttered. "How could he ... it was his damned daughter and he didn't seem to care."

"We've both seen worse," Idas reminded him. "The important thing now is that we do better."

"We will." Darien keyed up the map of the settlement on his console, pinpointing the cluster of buildings to the north that marked the abandoned mine structures that Bryn's father had mentioned. He set off at a ferocious space, murderous energy coursing through him. Idas hadn't been exaggerating – he could have killed the man there and then. This was what the worst colonies did to people. They deadened them to right and wrong, stopped them caring about what happened to others.

After a few minutes of making their way up through a winding, half-worn vehicle track, the mining structures hove into view, half a dozen of them, dark and box-like in the gloom. There were no lights; no sounds coming from them. They looked like tombs.

Up close they were less foreboding, flatly utilitarian structures. A couple were disused equipment stores and the largest looked like some kind of barrack room. When he came to the fourth structure in line, however, the door tone sounded with the low blare of denied access.

"Still locked up?" Idas said. "I'd say that's a good sign."

"We'll see."

Linking up his console to the shack's locking system he started a hack to break its defences. It took longer than he thought. Either the mining company had started hardening its security, or Bryn Harvard had been doing some upgrades of her own. The fact that alone this thirteen-year-old girl had managed all this cemented Darien's belief that the kidnappers were hunting Blink candidates. Not everyone could rewire an entire security system – especially with the slack education on the fringe worlds.

Eventually though, the hack did its work and the tone bleeped with acceptance. The door creaked open, its mechanism protesting furiously against the unwelcome motion. Inside it revealed a workshop space – a series of heavy tables bolted to the floor and walls lined with storage cupboards. Mindful of what he was dealing with, Darien checked the doorway for any hidden surprises before stepping through.

Discarded tools and work overalls littered the room and the floor was dusted with metal filings that tinkled as he moved. He looked left and right and spotted something in the carpet of sandy metal shards. His eyes narrowed. Inside, with no wind to disturb them, the filings still held the impression of who had been here last. He could see three sets of footprints, each easily big enough for a grown man, scattered around the room.

"You think they found her?" Idas asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. They found this place for sure but...I don't know." He shook his head as he examined the room. "There's no sign of a struggle. If she got away from them once I don't think she'd have gone quietly if they did find her again." So where was Bryn Harvard? he wondered.

Then he heard a muffled click from somewhere in the room.

"Darien!"

Idas slammed into him, tackling him to the floor behind a heavy workbench. Then the whole room exploded around them.

The heat washed over him as flames belched out from all angles, coming from a series of detonations all around the walls. Then he heard the screech of metal impacting against metal and he instinctively wrapped both arms over his head. He felt a handful of impacts, like punches, smacking against the plates of his body armour. Small bits of jagged debris scoured the room like a swarm of insects, ripping into the worktops, walls and furniture.

Then as quickly as it had happened the blast was over. Everything fell silent and Darien became acutely aware of the ringing in his ears. Blinking, he sat up. Around him he found scattered slivers of metal, blackened and bent by the explosion and subsequent impact.

Idas rolled over with a groan, lying on his back with his eyes screwed shut. "Well that was just lovely."

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just a few scrapes."

"Good. And thanks."

Idas gave him a thumbs-up, still not opening his eyes. "Don't mention it."

Sighing with relief, Darien picked himself up and looked around to see the damage the booby-trap had wrought in the confined space of the safe-house. Shrapnel had shredded through almost everything, from every angle. Fortunately Idas had thrown both of them down behind the sturdy metal table which had absorbed the brunt of the shower. Had he been standing out in the open he'd have been lacerated from every angle by the cloud of metal debris.

Examining the walls he saw the series of blast points where each package had been embedded. Each one was a simple, low-tech, and incredibly dangerous homemade cluster bomb. He'd seen them before – common enough devices among gangs and criminals in the colonial fringes. This girl had single-handedly managed to construct a dozen of them and wire them for a simultaneous detonation.

"Looks like she was expecting company," Idas said as he clambered back to his feet, brushing shards of metal from his jacket and armour. "Too bad she never caught the bad guys with this set-up."

"Wh-what did you say?!"

In a flashing motion Darien pivoted, ripping his side-arm free from its holster and levelling it in the direction of the voice. What he found there made his jaw drop in surprise.

Standing next to an open equipment cupboard was a girl, no more than thirteen, her dark hair hanging lank and dishevelled around her hollow-eyed face. She looked utterly terrified, her whole body trembling. And she was armed.

She didn't have a gun, but Darien knew full well that the heavy industrial nail-driver clutched in her shaking hands would make a lethal improvised weapon. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Idas moving to the right to get a better angle, his own weapon drawn and ready.

"Idas," he said quietly. "Stop."

The other boy gave him a dubious look, clearly uneasy about the state of the girl, but he stopped moving nonetheless. Then Darien looked her in the eye, letting the barrel of his pistol drop to face the floor.

"Bryn?"

"How do you know my name?" she hissed, her voice wavering.

"It's alright, it's alright," he told her, taking one hand off his side-arm and raising it in what he hoped was an unthreatening gesture. "We're the good guys, Bryn. We're here to help you."

"Put your guns down." Her grip tightened on the nail-driver and Darien decided it was best to do as she asked. The girl was on the edge of a nervous breakdown born out of paranoia.

"Idas, do as she says." Slowly and carefully he placed his pistol on the ground. Reluctantly Idas did the same. "Bryn, my name is Darien Flint," he continued. "We were sent here to find out what had happened to you."

"Sent by who?!" Bryn snarled, taking a step towards them.

Darien kept his voice even; calm. "We work for Blink, Bryn. Have you heard of it?"

She let out a hysterical laugh. "Blink? Sure I've heard of it. Why the hell should I believe you? You're just a couple of kids!"

"I can show you my ID," Darien said reaching into his jacket and pulling the card free. "But you have to believe me. We are on your side."

Bryn edged closer, still holding the nail-driver levelled at his chest. Blink body armour could withstand a lot, but at the very least Darien knew he'd walk away with several broken ribs if she shot him at this range. She took one hand off the nail-driver long enough to snatch the card from him, and then shuffled back out of reach.

She examined it for what felt like an age. Then her wild, bloodshot eyes turned back to him again. "So, if I believe you...why are you looking for me? Why are you here?"

"The men that came after you, Bryn, they have been taking people from all over the colonies," he explained. "We are trying to stop them."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Idas asked, his voice uncharacteristically subdued.

"It just happened one night," she said, fighting to get the words out. "Three guys – all dressed in black, like some kinda spec ops. Just showed up and came at me. I was lucky then. I still had a flare drop left over from my shift. I blew the flare; threw it in their faces and ran. They didn't catch me."

"And then you came here?"

"No-one would help me," she spat. "Not my parents, not the security. I was alone in this. So I came here, to hide, to wait for them. To be ready if they came back."

A surge of admiration gripped him as he looked at her. This scared, scrawny girl had actually beaten the kidnappers. All by herself. "You're brave, Bryn. You're brave, and you're smart. You deserve better." He took a deep breath. "I spoke to your father."

"That drunken prick?" she scoffed, but he could hear the sob in her voice. "If I see him again I'll put a nail through his skull. You know, he didn't believe me when I told him what happened. Just laughed, said I was making up stories to get out of my shifts."

"I know." Darien nodded sympathetically. "I also know that you want to get off this planet. You can come with us, Bryn. But only if you want to."

For a moment she just stared at him, stunned by his offer. Then like a balloon popping she seemed to deflate. The nail-driver clattered from her fingers and she sank down against the cupboard, tears gushing down her face as she finally let her emotions out. Darien walked over to her, still taking care not to make any sudden motions, and lowered himself into a crouch at her side. Bryn hugged her knees up to her chest, rocking back and forth. He put a gentle arm around her shoulders and felt the violent trembling of her body.

"It's alright," he said huskily. "Where we're going those people will never find you. Do you want to come with us?"

She nodded through the tears.

Then she spoke, her voice hoarse and ragged. "I have a data slate. There are cameras in here. They came back once; I have the footage on here. I saw their faces."