Kirrik watched the man for some time, peering around a corner. He didn't move, and his eyes appeared closed. Eventually Kirrik left his cover and slowly walked into the room, motioning for Marchero to remain hidden. He crossed the room without the man in the chair moving. At the far side he signalled to Marchero to re-join him.
When they were both safely out of side Kirrik peered back around the corner.
"What are you waiting for?" Marchero hissed at him.
"Making sure he's not waiting until we're out of site before raising an alarm," he whispered. "Keep an eye on the other direction."
After five minutes Kirrik quietly said "Right, let's move. I can't afford to keep watch all night."
"How much longer is all night?"
"I haven't a clue. Tell me if you see a clock."
The fifth building was equipped as a sports hall and gymnasium, and was empty.
At the entrance to the sixth voices could be heard, and the frequent tramp of feet. "So much for night," Marchero murmured.
"I think we're coming to the central areas," Kirrik pointed out to her. "They're probably running a shift system with different habitats on night at different times. Let's have a peek at them."
Crouched behind the door he watched the movement outside. In ten minutes about thirty people passed by, mostly humans but there were five humanoid aliens of varying species. They were all dressed differently except for a dark green waistcoat with a curious emblem on it, a star flash with an arrow through the centre.
From inside his clothing Kirrik withdrew an odd collection of rods and levers. He spent a few minutes screwing them together to produce an undersized looking crossbow. Marchero regarded it curiously.
"Very handy little thing, this," he told her. "Almost silent, no power cells or explosives to be detected by the sensors and no energy discharge to alert them either. Unrecognisable to the untrained eye when it's in pieces, too."
"That's official equipment, is it?" Marchero asked him.
Kirrik laughed shortly. "Unofficially."
He waited until the corridor was empty apart from one person, and casually shot them in the head with the crossbow. He jumped out into the corridor to pull the body out of site before anyone came looking.
"Get the waistcoat," he told Marchero, while he turned back to await another victim.
Marchero eyed the body with some distaste. A fairly young human woman, quite attractive. Or she would have been was it not for the flighted bolt sticking out of the side of her head, holding in all but a thin trickle of blood. She reluctantly removed the waistcoat from the limp torso.
"Drag the body somewhere out of site," Kirrik instructed her without turning. Before Marchero could protest he hissed "Stop, quiet."
The person now approaching down the corridor on their own was another woman, older and with a hint of grey in her hair. Kirrik raised the crossbow and fired.
The bolt was not quite on course, and scraped the side of the woman's skull before clattering off the far wall. The woman yelled in pain and alarm. Kirrik swore and leapt out of hiding at her. The would-be victim recovered incredibly quickly from her surprise, and caught Kirrik's arm as he rushed at her. She twisted round and sent the Disian careering into the wall. Kirrik rolled himself along the wall out of her way as she attempted to kick him.
As the woman moved to attack again she collapsed suddenly as Marchero came at her from behind and landed a blow at the base of her head. Kirrik started to drag the inert body away when the sound of voices came from down the corridor and around the corner at the far end.
"Damn," he muttered as he wrenched the waistcoat off. He noted Marchero was already wearing hers, and he shoved her down the corridor away from the voices. A few seconds later he ran after her and jumped around another corner before the approaching people noticed him or the unconscious woman.
Shouts from behind and the sound of running feet announced that the body had been found. Kirrik removed the spacesuit backpack and stowed it in his bag, and started to put on waistcoat as they moved. They darted round another corner into a much more busy corridor. The green garment fitted Kirrik tightly, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to him.
Three men came running from behind them. Kirrik and Marchero walked on, ignoring them. Their pursuers were heard swearing as they were unable to determine who was responsible in the stream of people passing this way and that.
"Now what?" Marchero asked quietly. "Presuming you don't intend to murder everyone here."
"Look for a computer terminal," he replied. "And stop looking so tense, for goodness' sake. The alarm will have gone up by now. Draw any attention to us and we're dead."
Such a terminal was nowhere to be seen in the passageways. They wandered around randomly for some minutes until Marchero stopped by a door that looked no different to a dozen others they had passed.
"What are you doing?" Kirrik demanded.