They walked out the automatic doors, Marko waving to the pirates, and into the hangar.
The hangar was a huge metal shed a kilometre long, dimly lit by rows and rows of fluorescent tubing. It was nearly full with privately owned ships, most of which were about the length of a bus and the width of two.
As they walked, the black-hooded man talked. Out of sight of the revelling crowd, he seemed more relaxed. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you this," he said. "The effect of those rocks - portal stones is the name, I believe - is cumulative. One rock, as you've seen, barely transports you anywhere. Two portal stones, placed together in the single ship, seem to form some kind of critical mass. With two stones, you can be transported anywhere in the galaxy."
This startled Marko. "What? How do you know that?"
The black-hooded man shook his head. "I couldn't tell you that. Three stones is even more interesting. Put three together, shoot them, and you'll be transported anywhere in the Universe."
Marko, taken aback, whistled. "What about four?"
"I don't believe anybody's ever collected four portal stones before. Or if they have, they haven't come back to tell the tale."
They'd come to a small, nondescript ship tucked away between two huge Dworkians. It almost seemed to huddle... a shy spaceship.
Marko looked up at it sceptically. "This is your ship."
"Yes." The black-hooded man touched a button on his remote. A door slid open in the side of the ship, and a ladder folded down to the metal floor.
"And you expect me to believe you've got ten million credits?"
"I told you, it's in here." The black-hooded man gestured impatiently to him from the top of the ladder.
Marko looked around, then started climbing. He entered the ship.
The black-hooded man was moving to the flight room. Marko, standing in the passage, called after him, "So where's the money?"
The black-hooded man reappeared, and he was holding a blaster. Marko held up his hands. "Now, let's not do anything rash..."
The black-hooded man shot him. Marko crumpled to the floor. The black-hooded man shoved him to one side, then went to the flight room. He sat down, brought the ship up, and flew around the hangar until he saw Marko's ship. He set down beside it. He got up, rummaged around in Marko's clothes, and found the remote.
Five minutes later, and he had two portal stones in the storage room of the ship. The black-hooded man opened up a communications channel with Canaille flight control. "ACF344 requesting exit permission, Roger," he said.
"Negative," said flight control. "Where's Marko?"