The settlement's survivors rode their big macaques out and ringed the Vajra Fortress in, circle upon circle. Every face wore tension, doubt, excitement and fear all at once.

None of them had ever seen a vehicle so huge, or the sixty-meter shaft standing on its roof.

It looked for all the world like an alien war machine — even the tires were made of steel — and they couldn't help wondering whether an alien invasion was what had brought the great catastrophe down on them.

The standoff held for a moment.

Shen Cong reached the four-legged dragon through the Mind-Imprint and had it lie in wait outside, in case anything went wrong. With the rest of his attention he switched on the loudspeaker. "Who are you people?"

The cold voice out of the loudspeaker startled macaques and survivors alike.

Several men with the look of leaders came out of the crowd, and one of them — middle-aged, apparently the one who could make decisions — rode the largest macaque of them all two steps forward. "And who are you?"

"You can call me Boss Huang. I'm a merchant. I saw there was a survivor settlement here and came to trade." Shen Cong brought out the identity he kept ready.

The Vajra Fortress carried a great stock of supplies, much of it what people needed most, and all of it tradable. The more valuable goods were the files on his computer's hard drive — a complete body of information on evolution, compiled by the Eastern Theater Command. Enough to buy a great many important things.

"A merchant?" The middle-aged man on the macaque was still wary. "If you're a merchant, Boss Huang, would you come down out of the vehicle and meet us face to face?"

Shen Cong frowned. "Pull your people back first. Don't ring my vehicle in. I don't like it."

If they had not been so far beneath him, and if he had not come here to trade, a crowd ringing him in with weapons out would have been enough to make him turn on them long since,…