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of ambient energy whispered everywhere throughout the Old Quarter. He could feel them here in his office, and he knew that Sierra sensed them, too.
    Not that you had to be a high-level para-rez to respond to the stuff. Even those with average sensitivity picked up on the currents that leaked from the ruins and the tunnels below. Almost everyone got a little buzz from alien psi. For that reason the seedy Old Quarters in all of the city-states were popular with tourists and the nightclub crowd.
    Two hundred years earlier the colonists from Earth had established their first towns in the shadows of the ruins of the four Dead Cities that had been discovered on Harmony. Crystal was no exception. The two-hundred-year-old structures built by the humans appeared stolid and grimly functional compared to the ethereal spires and the fantastical domes that the aliens had left behind.
    But unlike the aliens, the colonists from Earth had been at home on Harmony right from the start. Even after the energy Curtain that had made travel between Earth and Harmony possible mysteriously closed, the settlers had not only survived but thrived.
    Things had evidently been much different for the aliens. The experts had come to the conclusion that something about the very atmosphere of the planet had been poisonous to the ancients. The long-vanished people had been forced to enclose their cities within towering green quartz walls that gave off the psi they must have needed to survive. Eventually they had retreated underground. In the end they had either abandoned the planet altogether or simply died out. No one knew for certain what had become of the Others. It was one of the many mysteries that surrounded them.
    â€œI’m waiting for your explanation, Mr. Fontana,” Sierra said.
    He could tell from the cool tone of her voice that she had herself back under control. He also sensed that her reporter’s curiosity had surfaced. That was good. His entire plan hinged on it.
    â€œWhat I’m going to tell you stays between us and is strictly off the record until I say otherwise,” he said. “Is that understood?”
    â€œI’m making no promises until I know what I’m getting into.”
    He turned around to face her. “You really don’t trust anyone connected to the Guild, do you?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œBecause you are convinced that there is some conspiracy going on inside the organization.”
    â€œYep.”
    He went back to the desk and picked up the copy of the Curtain . “A conspiracy to conceal the discovery of an alien lab somewhere in the rain forest.”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œCare to tell me why you’re so sure there’s been a discovery of such potentially monumental significance and why the Guild would want to conceal it?”
    â€œGee, no, I don’t think so.”
    â€œBecause it would mean revealing your sources?”
    She hesitated for a couple of beats before she answered. “That’s right.”
    Why the slight pause before what should have been a predictable professional response? he wondered. Maybe she didn’t have any solid sources, after all. If that was the case, his scheme was doomed.
    But that didn’t make sense. She had not merely reported vague rumors of the alien lab. She had linked it to the dealing of the illegal drug known as ghost juice, and she had documented the disappearance of a number of homeless men who had become addicts. She knew more about the damn conspiracy than he did. He needed her.
    He angled himself onto a corner of the desk, one foot on the floor.
    â€œYou know,” he said, “this conversation probably isn’t going to go far unless one of us takes a flier and decides to trust the other person.”
    She raised her brows. And waited.
    â€œGuess that would be me,” he said finally. “Okay, here goes. I happen to agree with you, Miss McIntyre. There is a conspiracy going on. What’s more,