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my touch.”
    She smiled. “No, you just cleared my mind and that was the first thing that came forward.”
    He chuckled and raised his hood once again. “We have moved to the secondary Guardian base held for just such an event. You will need to change all your access frequencies to regain your feeds.”
    She sighed in relief. “I thought something had gone wrong with my eye.”
    “No, you are simply in a lined room that does not allow for signals to be transmitted or received. There is a signal being broadcast out of your mechanicals, and it took us a while to pin it down and deactivate it.” He gestured for her to have a seat at the desk.
    She sat and lifted the covered dish on the tray, eating mechanically. “There was a signal coming from my implant?”
    He sat on the edge of her bed and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “It was a beacon. That is how they were able to track you. They could locate the Guardian base easily enough, but the maze of signals you live in confused the issue until they got close. That is our guess anyway.”
    “So, once they got close enough…”
    “The signal led them right to you. Since I doubt very much that you had a tracking signal installed, I have to ask what kind of modifications have been made to the unit since it was put in?” Sarnvil’s voice was deep and concerned.
    She sipped at the tea and swallowed. “The only mods made to it were done by the Guardian Cyber. I don’t think she would have planted anything.”
    He scowled. “We will look into it, but if that is the only alteration you have had, it will have to be investigated. What was the modification?”
    “A firewall for my increased activities.”
    He froze in place. “You didn’t have a firewall. Your mind was wide open.”
    The food felt like lead in her stomach. “What?”
    “Your mind was wide open. Whatever protection you thought you had, you didn’t.”
    Her hands shook, and she set the teacup back on the tray. “How about now?”
    “Now, you are protected by your lack of connection. Are you feeling up to taking a tour of the base?”
    She nodded, but her stomach was roiling. Jianne ran through everything she could remember about Cyber and her movements before she gave Jianne the firewall. Cyber had disappeared for twelve hours on an assignment. After that missing period, she had contacted Dispatch with a new program.
    He slipped an arm around her waist and supported her as they left the shielded room. The moment that they left the enclosed space, light streamed around them. Jianne smiled as she recognized the pattern of light. “We are on the southern continent. Near Tarki.”
    Sarnvil chuckled. “Yes. You do know your locations.”
    “The previous set of Guardians had an assignment here. I saw it all through their eyes. That is how I have seen most of this world, through the cameras of others.” She wanted to run out and wiggle her toes in the white sand, but now didn’t seem the time.
    As the light glittered on the water, she had a thought. “Did you bring any of my personal effects here?”
    “Of course. We brought everything we could find, including your armoury. Very impressive by the way.”
    “Was there a two-inch data crystal in my desk?”
    He blinked. “We can find out. A more comfortable room is waiting for you, as long as you don’t mind sharing.”
    The words surprised her, but she shrugged. “As long as I get to hog the covers, I am good.”
    The hand on her waist clenched, and she looked up into the shadows that covered his features. She was looking at her new roommate.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    A desk was waiting for her and inside it was the data crystal that Cyber had left for her. She pulled out her scanner and hoped that she was wrong. The unit hummed, purred and finally the crystal turned red. “Damn.”
    The Guardians were standing behind her.
    Cowl asked, “What is it?”
    “A virus. I don’t know what it was designed to do, but it was