Cloak And Dagger II

Poul Anderson, The Stars Are Also Fire.

Chapter 13 ends when Kenmuir and Norton, evading surveillance, flee into a storeroom and descend a staircase.

Chapter 14 is a "Mother of the Moon" historical flashback.

In Chapter 15, Venator, making his second appearance, is in pursuit of Kenmuir and Norton.

Chapter 16 is a "Mother of the Moon" historical flashback.

Chapter 17 begins with Kenmuir and Norton in an underground storeroom.

Three chapters and, in the paperback edition, 42 pages have intervened. We are here for the long haul but we appreciate that.

Cloak and dagger goes high tech. Kenmuir has been served a drink that contained a "'...conjoined set of molecular assemblers...,'" (p. 227) describable as "'...a psuedovirus...,'" (ibid.) and small enough to be held in a "'...a single drop of liquid...'" (ibid.) which:

multiplies itself with material from his bloodstream;

builds a device massing less than a gram woven into his peritoneum near the diaphragm, drawing energy from surrounding cells, comprising a computer-controlled circuit with a transponder for sonic-range vibrations and a submicroscopic thread to his auditory canal.