I made my way back to my own nest to salvage my stuff, including my tarot deck. After cramming everything I’d need into my green bag, I moved quietly and cautiously along the girder. I heard something and looked down. Ten meters below me was an aisle lined with big pallets loaded with boxes of Natural Vat foodstuffs. Three lithe men toting Uzis moved like shadows in the gloom, but my elven eyes could make them out in fair detail. They wore black camo suits, and besides the semiautomatic weapons in their hands, each one wore a short, slightly curved sword slung over his shoulder— wakizashis, unless I missed my guess. They looked something like the trid image of ninjas. I froze in place, hardly daring to breathe. If they looked up and cut loose with their guns. I wouldn’t have a chance. One attached something to a stack of containers below me, and then they quietly moved on.