"How much of the room did you search?" Cristof asked Lars.
"I didn't search it. All I had to do was glance inside to see that the engine was gone. Why?"
"If you left anything in the room or took anything with you, the lieutenant will want to know."
"Nah. I don't think I even stepped inside. Maybe one or two steps, because I was surprised. But that's it."
"They packed the engine in straw-filled crates," Amcathra said. "I see nails, splinters of wood, and wisps of straw. Is that safe for an engine, straw?"
Lars nodded. "Safe enough. Are there any signs of oil?"
"A few drops, yes."
"They probably wrapped the parts in oiled rags before packing them. That's what I would have done."
"The crates will be a fire risk," Amcathra observed.
The programmers all looked at each other.
"Could a good hound track the scent of the oil?" Cristof asked.
"They would have put the crates into a wagon outside," Victor said. "A dog would lose the scent, eventually."
"We will still try," Amcathra said. Suddenly he stopped and crouched, holding his lantern close to the floor.
Taya watched, fascinated, as he set the lantern a foot or two away and lay on his stomach, studying the ground. She'd never seen a grown man so careless of his dignity. On the other hand, she thought, if you took Janos Amcathra out of his lictor's uniform, wiped away his black stripe, and dressed him in a Demican hunter's furs and leathers, his behavior would seem absolutely in character. She wondered what kind of family he'd came from. He'd preserved much of his Demican heritage.
"What color is the hair of Mr. Deuse?"
"Brown," Lars said, after a moment. "Brown hair, blue eyes. About average height and weight."
Taya realized they were talking about Kyle.
"He had a key to this room?"
"Yeah."
"Lots of people have brown hair," Isobel protested, even though she, like Amcathra, was Demican blond. "Just because you find some brown hair doesn't mean Kyle stole the engine."
"Where was Mr. Deuse last night?"
"He left the station with the rest of us."
"Did any of you go home with him?"
A chorus of ‘no's.
Amcathra stood and began to search the room again, skirting the area he'd just inspected so intently.
"What did you find?" Taya asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. He shook his head and kept looking.
At last he walked back, waving everyone away from the door. He closed it and locked it.
"I will take your keys to this room, please," he said, holding out his hand. One by one, the programmers slid their keys from rings and cords and laid them on his palm. He dropped them all into his pocket with a metallic jingle.
"Exalted, icarus, please stay. The rest of you may leave. You will of course remain in Ondinium where we can find you if we must."
"What did you see in there?" Lars asked, repeating Taya's question.
"Clues." The lictor would say nothing more.
"Look, Taya, we'll be at the PT," the big man said, turning to her. "You'll tell us if you learn anything, won't you?"
"If I can." Taya leaned on her crutch and patted his arm, feeling like a doll next to him. "I'll try, I really will."
After the team members had left, throwing worried looks over their shoulders as they headed up the stairs, Cristof turned to Amcathra.
"Kyle helped us figure out what Alister's program was doing. He seemed like an honest man."
"I think Mr. Deuse may have been coerced into assisting the thieves," Amcathra said. "I saw blood and brown hair on the floor, as might come from a head wound."
Taya drew in a worried breath. "Do you think he's alive?"
"If they had killed him, I think they would have left his corpse locked in the room."
"Well, if he's been kidnapped, that would explain why nobody can find him." She wanted to run out and tell the rest of the team, but she knew Amcathra must have refrained from mentioning it in front of them for a reason.
"Lars said Kyle was one of the team members who'd know how to reconstruct the engine," Cristof added, his eyes narrowed behind their lenses. "Plus, he's the head of the programming team, now that Alister's in jail. He'd be a nice catch for the Alzanans."
"It does not need to be Alzanans."
"Who else who do something like this?" Cristof pulled off his glasses and began polishing them fiercely. "I'm going to call the thieves Alzanan until we learn otherwise. They waylaid Kyle and forced him to unlock the door; maybe even made him dismantle the engine."
"The amount of blood was significant. It is possible he protested at some point and was knocked unconscious."
Taya felt sick, imagining the pleasant young programmer sprawled in a pool of his own blood.
"Then they packed up the crates and carried them up the stairs and out. What was Victor saying about wagons?" Cristof looked at Taya.
"He said either the thieves would have to hand-carry the crates across campus to the gate or pull a wagon around on some kind of road… something-course…."
"Froshcourse. Right. It runs along the perimeter of campus for deliveries." Cristof turned to the lieutenant. "It's a long route, and it passes in front of the dormitories. One of the students may have heard a wagon go by late at night."
"I will have lictors speak to the students." Amcathra stood. "Let us examine the foot path to the gates."
Outside, Taya sat on an iron bench and watched the two men work. Her leg was starting to throb again, warning her that the painkillers were wearing off, and her shoulders ached from working the crutches. Sitting down was a relief.
This time Amcathra permitted Cristof to search with him. Both men bent over the path, Cristof constantly pushing his glasses back up as they slipped down his sharp nose. Taya grinned, trying to imagine him in a Demican hunter's furs. He wouldn't be very convincing. He still looked like a crow, bobbing along the path looking for something to eat.
Her grin faded as she considered Amcathra's speculations. Kyle had seemed like a nice man, intelligent and responsible. He'd been the one Clockwork Heart had chosen as Lars's best match. Well, Lars might have been irritated by the program's decision, but he seemed concerned enough now. He wouldn't be very happy when he found out that Kyle might have been kidnapped. But how could the thieves have taken Kyle out with them? Had they folded him into a crate or hidden him under a tarp? Pretended he was a drunken friend and let him sprawl against the driver?
"They must be storing the crates someplace until they can get them out of the city," she said, out loud. "And if they aren't hiding them on Secundus, they would have had to take them through one of the sector gates last night. The crates and Kyle, both."
"The sector gates are locked after midnight," Amcathra replied at once. "The theft could have occurred before then, but I think it would have been carried out much later, when nobody would be walking around the campus."
"So if they transported the crates to another sector, they either lied to a lictor to let them through late at night or waited and passed through this morning," Taya finished.
"It's unlikely they'd call attention to themselves by going through after lockdown. If I were a thief, I'd leave the sector the next day, probably a few hours after the gates had opened again," Cristof said. "Actually, breaking the load into several wagons, or a wagon and some handcarts, would be even smarter."
"It's still worth questioning the gate guards. They might have noticed Kyle, since he was hurt." Taya wanted to run off to interview the gate guards herself. She cursed the crutches that slowed her down.
"Where's the nearest cart gate?" Cristof asked.
"A few miles east." Amcathra turned to Cristof. "Go to the station. I want a tracking hound brought to the engine room and lictors questioning the students in the dormitories. I will inquire at the cart gates, starting at the nearest and proceeding west. You may rejoin me when your messages have been delivered."