Mitzner had not had the chance to salvage the shuttle for supplies. Therefore she only had the three guns that she already had on her.

"These will have to do," said Mitzner, looking at the three pistols laid out on the floor.

McAfree had no idea, and refused to contemplate, where Mitzner had produced that many weapons from.

There wasn't a lot of light in the abandoned building Mitzner had chosen for them to hide out in, but it was a few degrees warmer than it was outside.

"You can take the coilgun," said Mitzner, handing the small magnetically driven pistol to her. The weapon was essentially a hand-held mass driver.

"I'm going to keep the plasma pistol, since you'd just kill yourself with it, and Lancelot," said said, indicating the plasma pistol and her personal ion pistol.

"Your gun has a boy's name?" asked McAfree.

"Of course it does," said Mitzner.

"That sounds very sexual," said McAfree.

"It's not," said Mitzner "It's just a gun thing."

"I'm assuming a heterosexual man's gun would have a girl's name," said McAfree "So would a homosexual man's gun have a boy's name?"

"Actually that sounds right but it's not the point," said Mitzner.

"What about a bisexual woman?" asked McAfree.

"It's not about sex," said Mitzner.

"Evidence is really mounting to contradict that hypothesis," said McAfree.

"Just take your gun and name it whatever the hell you want," said Mitzner "We don't have time to probe into the psychosexual nature of the relationship between warriors and their weapons."

"I suppose I'll give it an Androgynous name then," said McAfree "Since I consider myself pansexual. I'm not willing to be limited in my sexuality by human genders."

"This is not girl talk. We are not bonding right now," said Mitzner "We're through talking about sex. The conversation is now about survival. From what I can tell this is some kind of undiscovered colony of the Hegemony of Marduk. They must not have been responding to our hails because we were identifying ourselves as Foundation and they had no orbital defenses. Back in the wars the Huxley Foundation wasn't above using mass drivers on civilian populations thanks to the two-year-old's logic that it was okay if they hit us with them first. The Hegemony of Marduk had sure hit first enough. They probably thought we were going to turn their planet into a slag heap if we found out who they were."

"That sounds like a good plan," said McAfree "When we get back to the Armstrong let's do that."

"I stole us some local clothing." said Mitzner "It's a little dirty but it'll help us blend in."

The two had taken off their bright white Exploration Division jackets, with their gold Huxley Foundation pins, but even in half a uniform they were highly conspicuous. Mitzner had had to wait until night to do her scouting and procure supplies.

"Here," said Mitzner, handing McAfree a slightly tattered dress "This should be about your size. I had to eyeball it."

"I'm not a dress person," said McAfree "There are pants here I'll just wear pants."

"You'll stand out," said Mitzner "It's going to cause us trouble. The Hegemony of Marduk has very strict gender roles. You'll wear the dress."

"I've been to Marduk," said McAfree "I've been to Second Babylon. They're a little conservative there but they're not as bad as people make them out. It's just the victors writing the history books."

"I fought in the Reunification Wars, and there were no victors," said Mitzner "Do you want to know why the Marduk you visited wasn't so bad? Because ten years ago all the bastards on Marduk died fighting to preserve the ideal of being a complete psychopath. Non-citizens are not considered human under Babylonian law and can be enslaved or murdered with impunity. I suggest you do as the Romans."

"Alright I'll wear the dress," said McAfree "But what if I have to run?"

"You sort of hike it up over your knees," said Mitzner.

* * *

"The War Sun will arrive in Cardea orbit in less than 5 minutes, Captain," said Ensign Marceaux.

"You win, Commander Gibson," said Captain Littlecrow "We're no used to them dead. Lieutenant Guildenstern, take us out of here. I want to be just beyond the reach of short range sensors."

"It's, uh, it's not responding, Captain," said Lieutenant Guildenstern after a moment.

"What's not responding," said the Captain "Helm control?"

"It just won't engage," said Guildenstern "It's not even giving an error."

"Armstrong," said the Captain.

"Yes?" replied the ship, in a synthesized voice.

"Is helm control functioning normally?" asked the Captain.

"Helm control is operating within expected parameters. All systems nominal," replied the ship.

"Is there a problem with the reactor? The relativity drive?" asked the Captain.

"All ship's systems with acceptable operating paramters," said the ship.

"Then I want you to set a course and take us out 1.1 trillion kilometers spinward," said the Captain.

"Unable to execute command," said the ship.

"Why not?" asked the Captain.

"Unable to execute command," explained the ship.

"Is it because of Mitzner?" asked the Captain.

"Unable to execute command," the ship replied.

Gibson was already rolling his eyes. He knew what the Captain was thinking. She and Mitzner had served together aboard the ship for a long time and were very superstitious about the Armstrong. Gibson had heard some creepy stories about the Magellan-class's AI systems, but those two took it too far. They seemed to ascribe it human motives, and here the Captain was attempting to psychoanalyze it instead of repair it.

Of course, the Captain knew that Gibson knew what she was thinking.

"I know you think I'm wrong about the ship being self-aware, Commander Gibson," said the Captain "Your skepticism is noted, but that's the theory we're going with unless someone else can give me a better reason why the Armstrong suddenly won't leave Cardean orbit?"

"The War Sun has just exited the space-time tunnel," interrupted Ensign Marceaux.