Gabriel stood at the console of the Cloud Leopard’s navigation deck, watching a dot on a screen that showed the Cloud Cat’s progress toward Tundra. The dot moved down and down. A yellow starburst flared. That was the landing. The Cloud Cat was dropping off Dash and Carly. A few minutes later, another yellow burst signaled that the Cloud Cat was on its way back. Good. Time to go and have a talk with Chris.

He hopped into the nearest portal and sped through the maze. In seconds, he was at the other end of the ship, tumbling out onto the floor of the engine room. He waited, and soon he heard the outer door of the docking bay opening, the transport ship powering down and rolling in, and the outer door closing. For a moment, there was quiet, and then the inner door slid upward and in came the Cloud Cat. Chris climbed down from the cockpit.

Gabriel bounded toward him. “Did everything go okay?”

“Yeah,” said Chris. “No problems.”

“Pretty cold down there?”

“You can’t imagine. All okay here?”

“Fine. It’s only been about half an hour since you left.” Gabriel grinned. “Not a lot can go wrong in half an hour.”

“Well, actually it can,” said Chris. “But I’m glad it didn’t.”

They walked together out of the bay and up the central corridor. “I expect they’ll be able to get the element in five hours or so,” Chris said. “If all goes well. There’s the weather to contend with, of course, and there could be some trouble dealing with the ice crawlers. But this mission ought to be a fairly quick one.”

Gabriel checked the time on his MTB. “So it’s eight thirty right now. That means they should be calling in at about one thirty with the signal for one of us to pick them up.”

“That’s right,” said Chris. “And in the meantime, will you be okay on your own? A few hours of free time won’t be unwelcome, I’m sure.”

“I think I can suffer through them,” Gabriel said.

“See you later, then. I have to go and check on—” Chris paused awkwardly. “Various matters.”

“Before you go,” said Gabriel, putting a hand on Chris’s arm. “I have an idea. Can we talk for a second?”

“Sure. In here?” Chris led Gabriel into the rec room, and they sat down at one of the small tables. Someone had left a bagel there. “Want this?” Gabe asked, and when Chris shook his head, he picked it up and took a bite.

“So what’s the idea?” Chris asked.

“We have to get Piper back,” said Gabriel, chewing.

“Correct,” said Chris. “Dash and I have been negotiating about it with Anna, but we haven’t gotten anywhere so far.”

“We have to get it done,” said Gabe, “whether Anna agrees or not.”

“You’re right, of course. But how do we do that?”

“We go and get her,” Gabriel said with a mouthful of bagel. “We take the Cloud Cat. We fly it right up to the Light Blade, and we board the ship, kind of like pirates, only good pirates. We find Piper, and we rescue her. Now.”

“Ah,” said Chris. He gave Gabriel a serious look. “But I don’t see how that would work.”

Gabriel put the bagel down. “Why not?”

“For one thing, how would we get the Cloud Cat into the Light Blade? I doubt that the team is just going to open up the dock doors for us.”

“There must be a way.”

“There will be a way,” said Chris, “but I’m pretty sure that won’t be it.” He pushed back his chair and stood up.

“What will it be, then?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Chris. “But acting like pirates isn’t it. We need a diplomatic approach.” He turned and started for the door. “See you in a few hours.”

Okay, thought Gabriel. His conscience was clear. He’d run his idea (most of it) by Chris, but Chris didn’t like it. Chris was wrong on this one. They had a chance to rescue Piper right now, and they couldn’t let this chance go by. Gabriel would just have to do it himself.