d is, after all, the real leader of the Phoenix. If we succeed in
kidnapping Goat, we can put him to work for us, but that is not the
primary objective._

Pietro: _Do you plan to take over the Canfell Hydroponic Farm, and make
it our base of operation?_

Dark: _No. When we attack the Farm, they will radio Mars City for help
and we don't possess the force to fight off an all-out government
counterattack. I have been in communication with a Martian friend, Qril,
and I am informed that the domes in the Icaria Desert, which were used
by the original rebels a quarter of a century ago, are still usable,
although they will have to be supplied with oxygen, food and water. I
intend for the Phoenix to congregate there and utilize the help of the
Martians in carrying out the embryonic changes which will make your
children and mine as I am. A new race, capable of living in the natural
Martian environment._

Pietro: _Will these characteristics of which you speak be inherited, or
must the embryonic changes be made in each generation?_

Dark: _They will be inherited, because they are changes of the genetic
structure. The changes will have to be made on each individual embryo of
your children, but their children will be born with these qualities
naturally._

Cheng: _What are your instructions?_

Dark: _How many Phoenix are at each of your places?_

Cheng: _Twelve at Ophir._

Mantar: _I would have to count. About twice that many at Hesperidum._

Pietro: _About seventy-five here, as well as the wives of most of the
Phoenix who are married_.

Dark: _Seventy-five! That's more than we had in school!_

Pietro: _Don't forget that the school was there for a long time before
you came, and it had many graduates. The government captured between a
third and a half of us who were in the school at that time, but there
are still probably three to four hundred Phoenix scattered about Mars._

Dark: _Where are the other three instructors, whom I was unable to
contact with this telepathic call?_

Pietro: _They are at Charax, Nuba and Ismenius. Their telepathic powers
are not as well developed as ours, and they would not hear you unless
they were expecting the call._

Dark: _Cheng, I thought your group was to go to Regina._

Cheng: _It was, but the Regina airlocks were more effectively blockaded
to us than at the other cities. Those who went to the other cities,
except those who were caught, had identification establishing them as
legit