At the same time, somewhere in the upper levels of the ancient ship, the Black Moon Earl raced back through the aquarium he had just passed, skirted the biological laboratory and active-storage bay, then crossed the living quarters in the aft section—a place he had never been before—taking a long, winding detour.
If it had been anyone else, they would probably have been completely lost by now. But the Black Moon Earl was a seasoned burglar, and memorizing the layout of a place was as fundamental to him as breathing. The ship's interior had already formed a clear, three-dimensional map in his mind.
He knew he was in the topmost section of the ancient ship, which housed its main transportation routes as well as its recreational and residential facilities. The corridor he was in was wide enough to serve as the main thoroughfare of the busiest, most crowded space city in the Celestial Domain. It ran all the way to the bridge at the very top; at the other end, it branched off, with one passage connecting to the work areas and engine rooms below, and another reaching out like a spiderweb to the corridors along the ship's outer edge and the domed ecological garden.
He was racing along this broad thoroughfare, now and then making a quick, elegant dodge to avoid the energy cannons fired by the bionic men behind him.
Of course, for a psychic thief who had been famous for centuries, this was hardly a desperate situation. He moved like a supple, nimble willow leaf dancing in a gale. It looked perilous, but not even the fiercest storm could lay a finger on him.
Still, he couldn't shake the bionic men behind him, who were wielding machetes and firing energy waves of every type.
They were bionic