The Temporal Void

ONE

Strangely enough, it was the oak trees which Justine Burnelli always remembered from the day Centurion Station died. She was hurrying towards the safety bunker doors along with everyone else in the garden dome when she glanced back over her shoulder. The thick emerald grass was littered with the debris of the party, mashed canapes stamped into the grass, broken glasses and plates juddering about as the colossal gravity waves washed across the station in fast unrelenting succession. Overhead, the timid light emitted by the nebulas surrounding the galactic core was now smeared into pastel streaks by the dome's misty emergency force fields. Justine felt her weight reducing again. Yells of surprise and near-panic broke out from the staff pressed against her as they all fought for traction on the glowing orange path. Then a crack like a thunderbolt echoed across the dome. One of the huge lower boughs on a two-hundred-year-old oak tree split open close to the thick trunk, and the bough crashed down. Leaves swirled upwards like a flock of startled butterflies. The whole majestic tree sagged, with further fissures opening along the length of the trunk. It twisted as it started to fall into its neighbour. The elegant little tree house platform which the band had been playing on barely a minute ago splintered and snapped apart. The last glimpse Justine had of the trees was a couple of red squirrels scampering out of the toppled giants.

The malmetal safety bunker doors contracted behind her, and for a moment she was enveloped within an oasis of calm. It was a bizarre image, everyone still dressed in their best party clothes, breathing heavily with dishevelled hair and anxious faces. Director Trachtenberg was standing beside her, looking round wild-eyed.

'You okay? he asked.

She nodded, not quite trusting her voice.

Another of the gravity waves swept through the station. Once again Justine felt her weight lessen. Her u-shadow accessed the station's net, and she pulled out the sensor images of the sky above. The Raid's DF spheres were still accelerating across the star system to their new positions. She checked that the Silverbird, was unaffected by the weird gravity waves which the DF sphere's were throwing off. The starship's smartcore told her it was maintaining position just above the dusty lava field which served as the station's landing area.

'I've just conferred with our alien colleges, Director Trachtenberg announced. He smiled wryly. 'Those that talk to us, anyway. And we all agree the gravity shifts are beyond anything the safety systems were designed for. With regret I am ordering an immediate evacuation.

Several people groaned in dismay.

'You can't, Graffal Ehasz complained. 'This is what we're here for. Dear Ozzie, man, the data this event is spewing out. What we can learn is unprecedented! We can't just crawl away because of some safety restriction imposed by a committee back in the Commonwealth.

'I understand your concern, Trachtenberg said calmly. 'If the situation alters we will return. But, for now, please embark your designated ship.

Justine could see most of the staff were relieved; while Ehasz and a small hard-core science clique radiated resentment. When she opened her mind to the local gaiafield the clash of emotion was pronounced. But Ehasz was definitely in the minority.

Trachtenberg leaned in close to Justine and quietly asked, 'Can your ship cope with this?

'Oh yes, she assured him.

'Very well, if you would please depart with the rest of us.

'Of course.

Through her link with the smartcore she saw the safety bunkers break surface, titanium-black spheres bubbling up out of the dusty lava plain. They started to glide smoothly towards the waiting starships.

With the evacuation procedures obviously working, Justine's nerves calmed considerably. She asked the Silverbird's smartcore to open a link along the tenuous Navy communication relay all the way back to the Commonwealth, thirty-thousand lightyears away. 'Dad?

'You're okay, then, Gore Burnelli said. 'Thank Christ for that.

Leaking along the miniscule bandwidth was the faintest sensation of a smile. Warm Caribbean sunlight was shining on his lips. It was a comfort that delivered a completely unexpected emotional jolt to Justine. She felt her throat muscles tensing up as her eyes filled with tears and her cheeks flushed. Goddamn this stupid body, she raged at its weakness. But she smiled back weakly, ignoring the way people in the shelter were looking at her. 'Yeah, I'm okay.

'Good, then get a load of this. I've been monitoring the Navy relay link to Centurion Station. Your new friend Trachtenberg just called the Cleric Conservator to tell him about the expansion phase. He did that before he even bothered to warn the Navy what was happening.

Justine was proud of the way she managed to avoid glancing in Trachtenberg's direction. Okay, maybe this old body's not quite so useless after all. 'Really. How interesting.

'It gets better. About five hours ago the Second Dreamer told his Skylord pal that he wasn't going to lead anyone into the Void. Next thing we know, this expansion begins. I don't know what your take is, but nobody back here thinks it's a coincidence.

'The Second Dreamer caused this?

'It wasn't deliberate. At least I seriously hope it wasn't. Cause and effect, I guess. The Skylords exist to ferry souls into the Heart of the Void, and someone tells them that their new supply is going to be cut off. Junkies tend to get irritated and irrational about such things.

'The Skylords aren't junkies.

'Don't take everything so literally. I'm doing metaphors, or allegories, some shit like that. Point is, now they know we're out here waiting to be guided, if we don't come to them…

'They come to us, she whispered.

'Looks like it.

'But nothing can survive the boundary.

'The original ship did. Somehow.

'Has the Second Dreamer said anything?

'Not a goddamn word, not even "ooops, sorry" . Conceited little turd. I thought I was arrogant, but Jeezus!

'Well, he's going to have to do something.

'That's the consensus back here, too. The thing is, Living Dream is closing in on him. That's going to make serious trouble if they get their hands on him; our friend Ilanthe will make sure of that.

Justine accessed the data coming from the station, watching with concern as their life support equipment was stressed close to its limit by the gravity waves. 'It doesn't get much worse than this, Dad.

'Shit, I'm sorry, angel. Are you going to get out all right?

'You know you don't have to worry about me. Hang on for a moment, we've reached the starships.

People were activating their personal force fields as the airlock's outer door parted. Some of them were also taking pressure suits from the bunker's lockers, making doubly sure they were safe. Justine knew she could depend on her biononics to protect her from anything the unnamed planet could throw at her. Her integral force field strengthened round her. She slipped her heeled pumps off and followed the others out through the triple pressure curtain. Ten aluminium steps and she was standing on the lava in bare feet and a completely incongruous little black cocktail dress. Tremors managed to shake the soles of her feet through the protective cushion of the force field. A gentle argon breeze fluttered round her, raising short-lived twisters of dust that never came above her knees.

The bunker had come to rest a hundred metres beyond the squat building holding the base's main airlock. Two of the five Navy ships were poised on either side of her, hanging a few metres above the ground on ingrav, rocking slightly as they compensated for the treacherous gravity. Justine hastened round the nose of one to see the Silverbird waiting a further twenty metres beyond it. A welcome sight, its simple purple ovoid shape floating casually over the lava, holding a lot steadier than the Navy ships. She grinned in relief and scuttled underneath. The airlock at the base of the fuselage bulged inwards, opening into a dark funnel leading to the heart of the ship. The smartcore was already countering gravity to pull her inside when she saw something moving on the horizon. An impossible sight.

'Stop, she commanded.

Her feet paused ten centimetres above the lava. Retinal inserts zoomed in. It was a mounted Silfen. The elf-like hominoid was clad in a thick cobalt-blue coat embroidered with the most fabulous stipple of jewels that sparkled in the wavering pastels of starlight. His black hat was tall and pointed, with a simple gold ribbon fluttering from the tip. A gloved hand gripped a long phosphorescent spear which he held aloft, as if in salute. It might have been such a gesture, for he was leaning forward in his saddle, half standing on the stirrups. As if his appearance wasn't astonishing enough, she was dumbfounded by his mount. The creature most closely resembled a terrestrial rhinoceros, except it was almost the size of an elephant, and had two flat tails that swept from side to side. Its long shaggy fur was bright scarlet, and the four horns curving from the side of its long head were devilishly sharp and curved. Justine, who had once ridden on the Charlemagnes which the old Narsoomians had produced on Far Away, knew that this fearsome beast was a true warrior-animal.

Her ancient body instinctively produced a flood of worry hormones just at the sight of it.

The Silfen simply shouldn't have been here. She'd never known one of their paths had led to this remote, desolate planet. And he was an oxygen breather; so, she suspected, was his lethally regal mount. This tenuous, radiation-saturated argon atmosphere was deathly to living things. Then she grinned at herself and her silly affront. Who was she to make such a claim, standing exposed to the eerie energy emissions of the Wall stars in nothing more than a disgracefully short cocktail dress?

So it wasn't an absolute impossibility to find a Silfen here. Nor that he was using some technological protection from the environment.

But… 'Why? she whispered.

'The Silfen live to experience, Gore told her, equally absorbed by the alien's presence. 'Face it, my girl, you don't get a much bigger experience than watching the end of the galaxy crashing down around you.

She'd forgotten she'd left the link open. 'A very short experience, she retorted sourly. 'And what is that thing he's riding?

'Who knows? I remember Ozzie saying the Silfen he encountered on a winter planet rode to the hunt on odd creatures.

'Odd, not terrifying.

'Does it matter? I imagine he's here on the toughest steed he can find in honour of the event. After all, you've got the butchest starship in that section of the galaxy.

'A butch starship? But it broke her enchantment with the strange alien. She bowed her head formally at him. He dipped the spear in return, and sat back on his small saddle.

The Silverbird drew her up into the small luxurious cabin. Once inside, she relaxed into a deep curving chair that the deck extended. Within the ANA designed craft she was as safe now as it was possible for any human to be. The starship's sensors showed her the last of the station staff hurrying into the airlocks of the Navy ships. Another two Silfen had joined the first watcher. Her father was right, she acknowledged, they would only come here for something momentous. For her, their presence served only to amplify the whole deadly panorama unfolding outside.

'Let's go, she told the smartcore.

The Silverbird rose from Centurion Station ahead of all the other starships. As the rest of them began to surge up after her they made for a strangely varied flock. Commonwealth Navy ships sleek beside the cumbersome Ticoth vessels; while the glittering purple spheres of the Ethox danced nimbly round the big tankers containing the Suline. In another time she would have enjoyed travelling in the elegant avian-like artificial-life constructs that soared and swooped to carry the Forleene away from danger. Despite the devastation raging all around them, few of the departing species could resist a quick scan in the direction of the metal cube housing the Kandra. None, therefore, were wholly surprised when the whole mass simply lifted cleanly from the dusty ground and accelerated smoothly away from the collapsing structures of the observation project.

Justine was ridiculously proud of the way that none of them seemed able to match the Silverbird's acceleration. It had taken the ultradrive ship just a few seconds to reach an altitude of five hundred kilometres, where it stopped to scrutinize the last minutes of Centurion Station. Another gravity wave shook the hull so violently the onboard gravity generator could barely counter it. Justine felt a distinct shiver run through the cabin. The unnamed planet curved away below the fuselage, its ancient geology stubbornly resistant to the worst effects of the awesome gravity waves washing invisibly through its mantle. Underneath her, the hot Ethox tower was the first to succumb; rocking from side to side until the undulations became too great for the safety systems to compensate for. It toppled with slow grace to shatter against the unyielding lava. Big waves of water cascaded out from splits in the Suline tanks, pushing a spume of debris ahead of them. Flying spray quickly solidified into sharp needles of hail, to be re-absorbed by the dark water. Inevitably, the cold won, producing a rumpled ice lake three kilometres across. Thin greyclouds streamed out of cracks in domes of both the human and the Forleene, quickly dissipating in the weak gusts of argon.

In an astonishingly short time the structures were flattened, joining the greater enclave of ruins which marked the site where hundreds of alien species had spent millennia observing the terrible, enigmatic Void at the centre of the galaxy. Justine switched her attention to the wounded sky above. As if they could feel what was happening beyond the Wall stars, the massive ion storms were seething with a rare angry sheen, brighter than she'd seen in her brief time at the station.

The Silverbird was tracking the Raiel's gas-giant-sized DF spheres as they continued their flight across the star system. Gravity waves spilled out from them with astonishing force, distorting the orbits within the main asteroid rings. A couple of small moons caught in the backwash had also changed inclination. All nine of the DFs were heading in towards the small orange star which Centurion Station's never-named planet was in orbit around. As the ship watched, the photosphere started to dim.

'Holy crap, Justine yelped. The DFs must be drawing power directly from the star. She wondered how they would manifest it. The effect was fascinating, almost countering the anxiety she felt. There had been a few minutes after the emergency began that she'd seriously thought Centurion Station was where her body would finally die.

As if sharing her thought, Director Trachtenberg opened a channel to all the human starships. 'Status report please, is everyone all right?

'I'm fine, she reported back to the CNE Dalfrod, where he was embarked, along with the senior staff.

Once he'd established all his own staff were safe, the director exchanged messages with the alien craft ascending out of the atmosphere. They all confirmed that everyone had escaped intact; though they had to assume the Kandra were safe as the enigmatic cube didn't respond to any communication.

'We'll return to the Commonwealth immediately, Trachtenberg announced. 'From what the observation systems can ascertain, we should manage to stay ahead of the boundary. It's expanding at about three or four lightyears an hour. That gives us a huge safety margin.

'Is the data still coming in? Justine asked.

'Some of it. It's patchy now, there's a lot going on in the Wall we don't understand. I expect most of the disturbances we're registering are coming from the Raiel defence systems, but even so we can keep a reduced watch until the sensors are overcome. We're relaying as much as we can to the Navy Exploration Division centre back home.

'I see.

Justine watched the other starships reach her altitude, feeling strangely annoyed with them and herself. Surely there was something else to be done other than simply flee? It smacked of not a little cowardice, ignorant peasants cowering from the lightning storm, howling that the gods were angry, looking for a sacrifice to appease them. And we stopped that nonsense millennia ago. Yet for all our enlightenment we're right back there sheltering from the onslaught in our nice dry cave. Then the ships were accelerating past her, starting to disperse as they headed back towards their own home stars. The Forleene were the first to go ftl, slipping down into wormholes which closed immediately. A last farewell hanging in the ether from their pack leader.

The Silverbird's cabin rocked again. Eighty million miles away the DFs were streaking into a low orbit against the darkening star. The motion hardened her determination. This is not the way it should be.

'Dad?

'Still here.

'What have the Raiel said about the expansion?

'Sweet fuck all. The High Angel is a lifeboat, remember. Their defence systems are all concentrated round your part of the galaxy. Anyway, we can hardly blame them for not telling us anything. Right now every sentient species in the galaxy is pissed at us over the Pilgrimage, and who can blame them. I'm pissed at us.

'I know. That's why I'm going in, she said, surprising herself at the speed of the thought.

'You're doing what,

'Heading in to the Void. Even as she told him she was instructing the smartcore, laying down the course. Fast. Before I chicken out.

'You're doing no such thing, my girl.

The Silverbird dropped smoothly into hyperspace, heading in towards the Wall stars at fifty lightyears an hour. 'Tell him, she said to her father. 'Tell the Second Dreamer. Get him to ask the Skylord to let me in. Once I'm in, once I'm talking to the Skylord direct, I'll try and explain the situation, the damage their boundary is causing.

'Get your ass back here right fucking now!

'Dad. No. This is our chance at a diplomatic solution. The Raiel have tried force for a million years. It doesn't work.

'Come back. You can't get in. This thing is killing the whole fucking galaxy. Your ship…

'Humans can get in, we already know that. Somehow we can do it. And if the Second Dreamer helps me, I'll stand a really good chance.

'This is insane.

'I have to do this, Dad. Somebody has to make the effort. We have to try a human method. We're part of this galaxy now, a big part. It's our turn to attempt our way. We have the right. The blood was pounding in her ears as she hyped herself up. 'I'm going to carry the torch for all of us. If I fail, then… we try something else. That's being human, too.

'Justine.

Over thirty thousand lightyears she could feel his anguish. For a split second, she shared it. 'Dad, if anyone can get to the Second Dreamer, if anyone can make them see reason, it's you, it's the Gore Burnelli. All he has to do is tell the Skylord I'm out here. Ask him. Beg him. Offer him riches. Whatever it takes. You can do it. Please, Dad.

'God-damn, why are you always so fucking difficult?

'I'm your daughter.

Bitter laughter echoed across the stars. 'Of course I'll ask. I'll do a damn sight more than that. If he doesn't get down on his knees and beg that Skylord he'll wish all he faces is oblivion in the expansion.

'Now don't start threatening people, she rebuked immediately.

'Yeah, yeah.

'I'll try and keep a channel open to Centurion Station's relay as long as I can. The Navy systems are tough, they should hold out a while yet.

'Okay, I'll go find me the little tit responsible for this almighty screw-up.

'Thanks, Dad.

'Godspeed.

At three o'clock in the morning Chris Turner left the staff canteen on the east side of Colwyn City's docks and grimaced at the rain splattering on to his face. He'd hoped the unseasonal weather front would blow over while he was taking his break. But no, the thick clouds showed no sign of relenting. His semi-organic jacket rolled a collar up round his neck, and he hurried back to the maintenance depot.

Chris couldn't see anything moving in the docks tonight. Not that other nights were much different. Night time staffing levels were low. Bots were off line for maintenance, which was why he'd pulled this grotty shift — it wasn't popular but it paid well. Trans-ocean barges stayed moored to the quay while their crews slept or clubbed the night away in town. Warehouses were shut.

There wasn't any activity in the city, either. The rain had put a halt to the usual nightlife. Capsules and ground vehicles had hauled the last optimistic revellers back to their homes a long time ago. He could just make out the huge single span arch bridge over the Cairns, its lights a hazy smear through the rain. Normally there would be something driving over it, or a few taxis sliding along its metro rail. But not tonight. He shivered. The city like this was actually kind of spooky. To counter the feeling of isolation he reached down into the gaiafield to gain some emotional comfort from the eternal thoughts whirling within. The usual busy background babble slithered round him like noisy spectres; thoughts that called, mournfully and eagerly, feelings which intrigued, though he shied away from the sadder ones.

A little more comfortable now he knew there were other humans still alive and awake, Chris quickened his pace. There were another eight general purpose bots that needed an overhaul before morning. Even with the company smartcore interfaced with the engineering bays back in the maintenance depot, he'd be hard pressed to finish on time. Yet again he wondered if the pay for late shift was truly worth the cost. His friends only ever got to see him at the weekends, and then his sleep pattern made him lousy company.

He walked along the long line of landing pads, boots splashing in the puddles that were expanding over the vast apron of concrete. Gentle green-tinged ripples reflected the luminescence given off by the lighting globes on their high posts overhead. Thick droplets splattered down noisily from the dark hulls of parked starships.

Up in front and ten metres above the slick concrete a small star flared blue-violet. Chris's mouth dropped open in astonishment. You couldn't work in the starship business, even in a peripheral position like his, without knowing the signature spectrum of Cherenkov radiation. 'That's wrong, he said dumbly.

The star vanished, and the air where it had been rippled. Chris was suddenly staring at a perfect black circle whose base touched the ground. The blackness changed again, lightening to blue-grey, then receding at a speed which made him giddy. Instinct brought his arms up for balance, he was certain he was falling forwards. When he steadied herself he was looking along an infinite tunnel. Its soft-glowing fabric brightened intolerably as dazzling sunlight streamed out. Not Viotia's sun, he knew. This was another star altogether.

The light dimmed for a moment as a big capsule slipped out of the opening. Chris scurried away to one side. He could see the wormhole had lowered itself so the bottom quarter was now below ground level, giving the long line of armour-clad figures a broad flat path to march through from their world. Above them, capsules slid through nose to tail. Boots were hitting the wet concrete in a steady rhythm, echoing round the high walls of the dock buildings. It was an eerily brutal sound, Chris thought. Over a hundred of the soldiers were on the Viotia side already. Soldiers? But what else could he call them?

Finally, the impossibility he was witnessing started to register. His u-shadow was throwing out frantic emergency calls to his family, friends, work-colleagues, company offices, the police, the mayor, government… His mind let loose a powerful wail of shock into the gaiafield, which drew some instant reactions of surprise from local sharers, who immediately became curious indeed as his vision opened to them.

'You there! an amplified voice boomed from the first rank of the marching figures. There must have been thirty capsules in the air now, starting to accelerate out across the city, and still more were rushing through. From his angle, the wormhole provided Chris with a narrow window out across the vast field on the other side. Warm afternoon sunlight shone down cosily on row after row of armoured figures, thousands of them — tens of thousands. Most of them were in shadow from the armada of regrav capsules suspended in the air above.

Chris Turner turned and started to run.

'Halt, the harsh voice commanded. 'We are the legitimate police of Viotia, accredited by your Prime Minister. Halt now or face the consequences.

Chris kept on running. This couldn't be happening. This was the Commonwealth. It was safe and it was comfortable. People with guns didn't invade from other planets, not even in troubled times like these. Not happening!

'Last warning. Halt.

His family was starting to respond to his frantic calls. Those he shared himself with through the gaiafield were producing the same dismayed reaction as his own. Then the jangle pulse struck, and Chris was unconscious before he hit the wet concrete.

Elvin's Payback was only an hour out from Viotia when the shit hit the fan. Everyone on board went quiet at more or less the same time as their u-shadows reported the news that was breaking into the Unisphere. They accessed in astonishment as images of armoured paramilitary police and their support capsules poured out of the wormhole in Colwyn City's docks. In a carefully choreographed political sequence the Cleric Conservator's office on Ellezelin formally issued a public invitation to Viotia to join the Free Trade Zone. It was swiftly followed by Viotia's Prime Minister accepting on behalf of her planet. One minute later the wormhole had opened.

So Oscar Monroe wasn't the least surprised when Paula called him on a secure link a couple of minutes later. 'We knew they were planning annexation, Paula said. 'The trigger factor has to be the Second Dreamer.

'That figures, Oscar said. 'Everyone's scared crapless over the devourment phase. If we do manage to get hold of him, I'd like to shake some sense into the stupid bastard myself.

'I think the devourment has taken Living Dream by surprise as much as everyone else. The dream simply confirmed his location for them. They're acting on that.

Oscar reviewed some of the images relayed by reporters who'd gathered around the edge of the docks. 'So we can safely assume he's in Colwyn City.

'Yes, but they don't know exactly where. If they had an accurate fix, their embedded agents would have simply run a covert snatch operation. This is an indicator of Ethan's desperation. Our sources on the ground indicate they're shutting down all traffic in and out of the city, ground, air and space.

'Closing the noose.

'Exactly.

'That doesn't make our mission any easier. We'll have to infiltrate through the perimeter.

'Don't complicate things. I'd suggest you simply fly straight down into the docks.

'You're kidding me, right?

'Not at all. Get the smartcore to display the ship's stealth function to you. I don't believe that Living Dream has anything on Viotia which can detect you at night in the rain.

'Oh crap. All right.

The link ended, and he turned to his shipmates to explain.

'I can insert some software that will help cover our approach, Liatris McPeierl said. 'Their network is already growing out from the docks, I'm monitoring its development through the unisphere, but I can crack the junction nodes. That'll let me into their sensors and command links.

'The docks will be a good position, Tomansio said. 'It puts us in right at the heart of their operation. I don't care how dense their network is, or how powerful their smartcores, it will be chaotic down there to start with. That provides us with a golden opportunity.

'All right, Oscar said, 'you guys are the experts. Tell me what approach route you want.

Forty minutes later Elvin's Payback emerged into real space a thousand kilometres above Colwyn City. It was already fully stealthed, capable of avoiding the most advanced military-grade sensors. A huge case of overkill. Viotia's civil space detectors could barely locate a starship out at geosynchronous orbit when its beacon was signalling. As yet, the Ellezelin forces pouring into the docks hadn't established any kind of sensor coverage above the atmosphere. They were concentrating on tracking capsule traffic in the city, and apprehending anyone who tried to leave.

Nobody was looking for craft coming into the area. The commercial starships which had arrived after the annexation began were staying in orbit, awaiting developments and clear orders from their owners.

Following Tomansio's directions, Oscar brought the starship straight down above the estuary a couple of miles outside the city. It was still raining, the swollen river covered by rolling cloud. With a high intensity optical distortion shimmering round its fuselage, the ovoid starship looked like a particularly dense patch of drizzle in the few wisps of sombre starlight that defused through the cloud. Electronic sensors simply lost focus, mass scanners were unable to find anything heavier than air in the space it occupied. Even Higher field functions, had there been any operating, would have been hard pressed to find anything. If it had been broad daylight on a clear morning, then maybe someone might have spotted something. But not this dreary shadowed night.

Oscar took them down to three metres above the muddy water, and steered upriver using passive sensors alone. Several of the large Ellezelin forces' support capsules streaked across the sky above them, on their way to intercept fleeing citizens. Elvin's Payback remained invisible, though that didn't stop Oscar holding his breath and foolishly staring up at the cabin ceiling as the capsules passed overhead. He remembered the war films he used to watch in his first life, already ancient then, which depicted silent running in submarines. The principles here were comparable. He was even tempted to take the starship underwater to make their approach, completing the similarity. Tomansio had talked him out of it, pointing out that the noise and displacement they'd make breaking surface would probably give them away.

So they drifted in over the deserted quays like a ghost through mist. According to the information Liatris had hacked from the invaders' network, several paramilitary squads had been deployed round the perimeter of the docks, supported by ten armed capsules, to secure their immediate footprint. Nobody was watching the dock's long river frontage.

Beckia McKratz had infiltrated the dock's original commercial network, skilfully manipulating the nodes with software that opened up channels without the management monitors being aware of anything untoward. Even before they reached land she'd assumed complete command of a giant cargo warehouse belonging to the Bootel & Leicester import agency. As they passed above an empty barge repair bay just outside she opened one of the plyplastic doors, and the starship slipped into the dark enclosed space beyond, dripping cold rain onto the enzyme-bonded concrete floor. The door shut silently behind them, and five rounded pedestal legs swelled out from the base of the hull. Oscar landed them next to a tall stack of yellow and green cargo crates containing civil engineering excavators manufactured offworld.

'Down and safe, Oscar said, letting out a long breath of relief.

'We're safe, Tomansio said cheerfully. 'I don't fancy anyone else's chances.

When Mellanie's Redemption dropped out of hyperspace four thousand kilometres above Sholapur, Troblum looked down on a continent rolling slowly into the dawn. The bright new light illuminated a wide monsoon building just off the subtropical coast where the city state of Ikeo squatted amid spectacularly craggy landscape. He studied the weather with interest. There weren't many monsoons on Sholapur, but those that did materialize tended towards the fierce. It would reach the land in less than two hours.

On the chair opposite him in the starship's cabin, the solido of Catriona Saleeb lounged back, smiling contentedly. She pushed a hand through her curly black hair, a languid movement he always found sensual. 'That storm could help us, she said in her husky voice.

Trisha Marina Halgarth's solido walked across the small floor space to Catriona. She wore a pair of tight black leather jeans, and a small pure-white T-shirt to show off a nicely athletic body.

Green butterfly-wing OCtattoos quivered slowly across her cheeks as she wriggled herself on to the cushioning beside Catriona. The two girls put their arms comfortably round each other; Trisha flexed her bare toes. 'Do you think so? she asked Catriona.

'It's going to take hours to pass across Ikeo. That'll mess up sensors, no matter how sophisticated they are. There will be force fields on over most estates, which will block a lot of low angle scanning. That's to our advantage, isn't it Troblum, darling?

'Could be, he admitted. What he would have liked was Isabella Halgarth's opinion on the situation, but he'd lost her I-sentient personality program when he'd left the Accelerator Faction station, using it in a projector to convince the sensors his starship was still sitting passively in the docking bay. Isabella had an altogether more devious outlook than the other girls, which would have made her ideal to analyse forthcoming events.

'Not if you try and arrive during the storm, Tricia said. 'Even with this ship's ingrav you'll be struggling to hold level in the winds. Best you leave it to provide cover if you have to leave in a hurry.

Troblum accessed the external sensor imagery again. It was a large storm. Even from this height he could see flashes of sheet lightning ripping through the dark clouds. At his request the smartcore overlaid the sensor patterns guarding Ikeo from uninvited intruders. The Mellanie's Redemption could sneak through unnoticed. Probably. But it would be a close fought electronic battle. And Tricia was right, the storm would produce a particularly difficult environment to fly through. He ran a passive scan for orbiting ships, but there was no inbound or outbound traffic that he could detect, just Sholapur's small band of geosynchronous satellites. 'Activate our full stealth suite and take us down, he told the smartcore; then pulled up a map of the city, and designated a small valley five miles from Stubsy Florae's home, just outside the estate's official boundary.

Troblum was sweating with worry as they descended through the last levels of cloud. Then they were past the cold vapour, and the rugged land was only two kilometres below. In the wan predawn light the starship blended perfectly into the grey overcast sky as it sank fast through the clear air. He landed it next to some tall palm-equivalent trees that were already starting to wave about as the wind built up.

To visit Stubsy Florae he selected an armoured fabric one-piece he could wear under his toga suit. Then he ran a fast check on the biononics which produced his integral force field to make sure of their functionality. In combination, the armour and shielding should be able to stop a great many weapons, but he didn't delude himself about their ultimate ability if a fully enriched Advancer agent cornered him. For a moment he considered taking a weapon. There were two jelly guns stashed away in a locker. Both of which would need charging. But he didn't have any experience in physical combat, his biononics could produce a respectable distortion pulse if pushed, and besides Stubsy wouldn't like him carrying that kind of hardware into his home. It was going to be bad enough turning up unannounced and then asking for a further favour. So he left the guns in the locker and went into the airlock.

There was a one-man regrav scooter stowed in a midship cargo hold. Troblum gave it a suspicious stare as it floated out to hover a couple of centimetres above the thick blue-tinged grass. He hadn't used it in decades. It looked uncomfortably small now, and it bobbed about alarmingly under his weight as he tried to lift his leg over the saddle. It took three attempts, but he eventually managed to sit astride it, wincing at what he was sure was a pulled muscle just above his hip. Biononics went to work tracking down and repairing the cells in his overstrained flesh. A transparent plyplastic visor unfurled from the front of the scooter, producing a streamlined hemisphere to shield the rider from the slipstream, though it had to curve outwards to enclose Troblum. He directed the little craft towards Stubsy's grand villa just outside the valley, keeping his speed to a prudent fifty kilometres an hour at a three metre altitude.

While he was travelling, his u-shadow analysed all the spaceports whose networks were connected to the sparse planetary cybersphere. It produced a list of starships currently on the ground, none of which were Earth-registered. Hardly complete, he acknowledged, but then he was fairly sure that Paula Myo wouldn't draw attention to herself here, which is undoubtedly what an Earth registration would do. Nor was there a ship that fitted the profile of an Accelerator agent. If anyone was here for him, they weren't out in the open.

His scooter arrived at the line of slim silver pillars which marked out the boundary of Stubsy's estate. His field functions reported several sensors locking on as he slowed. He called Stubsy's code. It took a disconcertingly long time for the dealer to answer.

'Troblum, man, is that you out there?

'Of course it's me. Will you let me through your perimeter, please.

'I didn't know you were on Sholapur. You didn't land at Ikeo spaceport.

'I told you I needed discretion for our last transaction.

'Yeah, yeah, right.

Troblum gave the silver pillars an uneasy glance. He was feeling very alone and exposed out here. 'Are you going to let me in?

'Right. Yeah. Sure. I've cleared you through the defence systems. Come on in.

The top of the two pillars in front of him turned green. Troblum eased the scooter forward between them, tensing up as he passed over the line. When nothing happened he breathed easier.

Beyond the big white villa, a dense curtain of rain was heading in across the steel-grey sea. As he settled in front of the high glass doors Troblum looked down the long slope to the lovely little cove below. There was no sign of Stubsy's glide-boat anchored offshore.

Stubsy opened the door, and gave Troblum a nervous grin. 'Hey, big man, how's it going, huh?

'No change, Troblum said. His gaze swept across Stubsy, who was hanging on to the side of the door, preventing any glimpse of the big hallway beyond. The man was wearing his usual expensive and tasteless garb, too-tight gold sports trousers and a shirt with a vivid black and orange flower pattern, open to the waist. But his face looked haggard, as if he was suffering the mother of all hangovers, with dark circles under his eyes, and at least two days' stubble: He looked flushed, as well, his skin hot and sweaty.

'I'm here to pick up my collection.

'Yeah, Stubsy said, scratching the base of his neck. 'Yeah. Yeah. That's it. You are. Somewhere in the house behind him was the sound of bare feet running on tiles.

Troblum had to consult his social interaction program. 'Can I get them now, please? he read off his exovison script.

'Okay, Stubsy said reluctantly. He swung the door open and stood aside.

The open area in the middle of the house was exactly as before, with waterfalls bubbling swiftly down the surrounding boulders to top up the pool. Green and yellow flowering plants twice Troblum's height waved in the gusts that were starting to spill over the low roof. Nobody was swimming. Three of Stubsy's Olympic warrior women companions were waiting in the patio area, with one lying on a sun lounger while the other two stood motionless beside the long bar. Troblum's mild field scan showed him that all their enrichments were inactive.

The sound of thunder rolled through the sky. All three companions looked upwards at the noise.

'Are you going to put up a force field? Troblum asked Stubsy as he sank his bulk into a sun lounger. The wood and fabric creaked as it accepted his lull weight. He'd chosen the one next to the companion in the emerald green bikini. She was gripping the edges of her own sun lounger very tight, as if she was holding herself down against a gravity inversion. 'That storm looked big.

'Force field, Stubsy said. 'Yeah. Good idea, man. Uh, yeah, we can do that, sure.

'Did my collection arrive okay?

Stubsy nodded his head, and perched himself on a sun lounger beside the companion in the green bikini. 'Yeah, he said slowly. 'It's here. We ferried it over from the freighter as agreed. The captain was very curious, you know. I had to slot some extra cash his way. I've got it all downstairs. Man, I wasn't expecting so much junk, you know.

'I have been collecting for a long time. And it is not junk. Troblum glanced up as a force field came on above the villa. The sound of the wind shrank to nothing. 'I'd like to get it loaded on my starship today.

'Where is your starship, man?

'Close, Troblum said. He wasn't going to give anything away until he'd sorted out payment and the collection was ready to move. 'Do you have a cargo capsule?

'Sure, sure.

'There's something else I need from you if you don't mind. I'll pay for the trouble, of course.

Stubsy drew down a loud breath, as if he was having trouble swallowing. 'What's that, then, man?

'I want to meet someone here in private. Someone you wouldn't ordinarily have at your house. You'll have to clear them with the city's defence system.

'Who?

'Think of her as a police officer.

'Police? Stubsy grimaced a smile. 'Ho boy. Well, what the hell, we're all going to die in the Void boundary anyway, right?

'Possibly, Troblum said. He didn't know what to make of the expansion phase yet. If it really couldn't be stopped then fleeing to a colony world was going to be no use at all. He'd have to travel all the way to another galaxy, as Nigel Sheldon had been rumoured to do. It would be a huge challenge for the Mellanie's Redemption. Fortunately, the hardware he'd taken from the Accelerator station should make such a flight achievable, if he could ever assemble the myriad components and make it work. 'So I can call her and arrange a meeting?

Stubsy produced a strange little laugh, his eyes crinkled up. 'Sure.

'Thank you, Troblum said. He used the secure link he was maintaining to his starship to call ANA: Governance's security division.

'Yes, Troblum, ANA: Governance said.

'Connect me to Paula Myo, please.

'As you wish.

Paula Myo came on line. 'Are you ready to meet?

'I told you not to stealth your ship.

'I haven't.

'Then where are you?

'Close to Sholapur.

'All right. I'm at Ikeo city, Florae's villa, I've arranged for him to let you through the city's defences. How long will it take you to reach me?

'I can be there within a couple of hours.

'Fine, I'll be waiting. Troblum ended the call. He glanced over at Stubsy, who hadn't moved. 'She'll be here in two hours. Which wasn't exactly what she'd said, a pedantic section of his mind acknowledged. Paula would never lie, but there were a lot of ambiguities in the way she'd phrased it.

'Cool, Stubsy said.

'Can I see the collection?

'Sure thing, man. It's downstairs.

Stubsy led the way back into the villa. The three companions stayed beside the pool, though their eyes followed Troblum like targeting sensors as he walked after Stubsy.

One of the arching doors in the hallway opened to a set of concrete stairs leading down. Stubsy stood at the top as the polyphoto strips came on. He seemed reluctant to go down.

'Down here? Troblum asked.

'Yeah, Stubsy whispered.

The dealer was sweating again, Troblum saw. Whatever excess he'd indulged in last night must have been substantial for his body to take so long to flush the effects out.

Stubsy started down the stairs. Troblum was right behind him, keen to make sure his precious collection of Starflyer War memorabilia was unharmed. Everything had been in an individual case with a stabilizer field, but he'd had to rely on chartered commercial carriers to get it all to Sholapur without any supervision on his part — it was the only way to avoid Marius's attention. So much could have gone wrong.

There was a broad passage at the bottom of the stairs, carved into the naked rock, with smaller corridors branching off every few metres. They were lined with malmetal doors. Stubsy's vaults were a lot larger than the villa above.

Troblum nearly asked, What do you keep down here? But his social interaction program told him that Stubsy was likely to get upset by that kind of question.

Stubsy turned off into one of the side passages. A malmetal door opened for him. Lights came on in the chamber beyond. Troblum walked into a large circular chamber filled with low tables. His collection was there waiting for him. Every priceless case, their surfaces shimmering with protective shielding. It was going to be tough squeezing everything into Mellanie's Redemption, he acknowledged, some of the larger items might even have to be discarded. His u-shadow performed a fast inventory, checking case logs. They'd been banged around more than Troblum liked, but the cases had protected their contents perfectly. Smiling, he ran his hand over the case containing the handheld array with a foxory casing; the expensive unit had belonged to Mellanie Rescorai herself, a gift from her lover Morton before his trial. Troblum could just discern its outline below the shimmer.

'Thank you, Troblum said. 'I know you didn't have to do this. When he glanced up at Stubsy Florae he saw an expression his emotional context program interpreted as anger and contempt.

The villa nodes relaying his secure link to the Mellanie's Redemption went dead.

'All this makes me feel quite at home, the Cat said.

Shock ran through Troblum's body in the same way as physical pain. His knees almost gave way, forcing him to clutch at the table. She stepped out from behind a huge casing containing the blunt nose cone belonging to a Wessex-based exospheric combat aerobot. Her lean body was dressed in a simple white suit that emitted a hazy glow as if she were some historical saint; it was wreathed in black bands which undulated slowly; ten of them formed a bizarre cage around her head. Troblum knew the suit had to be some kind of armour. Even now with fear so strong it threatened to reduce him to tears, he acknowledged she looked quite magnificent.

'Troblum, my dear, she said brightly as if she'd only just caught sight of him. 'How lovely to see you again. You're really a lot of fun. It was a brilliant game we played. Well, I thought so.

'Game? he said weakly. His integral force field had come on instantly, though he knew it would be no use against her.

The Cat took a few paces towards him. Troblum lurched backwards in near panic. Even now he couldn't resist admiring her movements; they really were feline.

'Why yes, darling, the Cat said. 'How funny you couldn't work it out. Marius was right, wasn't he? You don't connect with humans on an emotional level. You marched in here completely oblivious to dear old Stubsy and his naughty little posse. Didn't you see their faces, Troblum? Take a look now.

Troblum gave Stubsy a wild glance. The dealer's face was a rigid mask, teeth clamped together so hard his lips were quivering. Two of the companions appeared at the chamber door, tall and powerful. Troblum recognised them from his last visit.

Simonie, wearing a scarlet dress with a high hem; while Alcinda's taut muscles stretched her shiny black bikini fabric to near bursting point.

The Cat let out a mocking wolf-whistle. 'Aren't they gorgeous, and they play nasty, too, which is really fun. She cocked her head at Troblum. 'You still don't get it, do you? Fantastic. You are interesting. Run an emotional context recognition program, my dear. It'll tell you they're all very, very pissed off. They were when you came through the front door, and sadly they still are. All because of little old me.

'Okay, Troblum said. 'You're right, I didn't get it. Congratulations.

'I know. The Cat gave a fulsome pout. 'Me and Stubsy here had a small wager going. I thought you'd realize by the time you reached the pool, Stubsy said it would be as soon as you arrived and saw him. We both lost. Your fault.

'How did you find me? Troblum said. He didn't really have any tactical programs to run, no smart way to work out how to escape from an underground room with only one door and no communication. But then he was pretty sure even the best tactical program would tell him he was going to die. His own knowledge unfortunately supplied him with a host of extremely unpleasant methods she was known to use to kill her enemies (and friends), and that was before he called up her file to check. If he could just keep her talking… He glanced at the door again.

'Oh my! The Cat's delighted laughter rang across the chamber as she caught his unsubtle motion. 'Troblum, darling, are you going to make a run for it? Tell you what, I'll give you a five minute head start. Do you think your fat legs can reach the bottom of the stairs by then? Will you need to sit down and take a breather?

'Fuck you.

'Troblum! How jolly rude!

From anyone else it would have been ridiculous. From her, it frightened him even further.

'How did you find me? he repeated.

The Cat batted her eyes. 'It was so difficult. You're such a master covert agent. Let me see, could it be all the illegal money your Accelerator friends pay into your External world bank accounts, which is rather easily traceable to Stubsy here? Or was it when you called ANA: Governance and told my dearest old chum Paula Myo to meet you here? Humm, which was it now? My memory is not what it was.

'Oh. It wasn't often Troblum felt foolish, but the way she said it made him realize what an idiot he'd been. He'd suspected that the Unisphere might be compromised to a Faction, yet he still hadn't taken adequate precautions. And as for the money, well any half-rate e-head could trace money.

'Where's your ship? the Cat said.

Troblum shook his head. 'No. The smartcore had some very specific instructions should his secure link be broken. A timer was counting down in his exovision. It was a small glimmer of hope, though he suspected the kind of ship which the Accelerators had supplied her with would be able to burn the Mellanie's Redemption out of the sky with a single shot. More bad planning. That just left one chance.

'Troblum, she said as if chiding a child, 'I'd like to know where your ship is, and I want the command codes. And I believe that you of all people know you really shouldn't annoy me.

'I know. Why do you want the ship?

'Oh, come on, you know that, darling. Marius might be slightly peeved you made him look like a complete dickhead in front of his masters, but that hardly motivates me, now does it, Mr Me-expert?

'Paula. You want to use it to catch Paula.

She clapped her hands delightedly. 'She and I are going to be together for a very long time. I have plans, you see. Big plans for our shared future. And I need her intact. Which you're going to help me achieve, by convincing her that everything here is just hunky dory.

'There's no point. Nobody has a future any more. The galaxy is being eaten alive. We're all going to die within a few years.

A flicker of annoyance passed over the Cat's face. She gave Troblum a long stare. 'I want her to walk in here expecting to see you. Moderately unsuspecting, though she is a paranoid little bitch. So… Ship. Now.

'No.

'What do I do to people I don't like?

He shrugged, not wanting to think of the details he'd so laboriously extracted from various police reports over the decades.

'You will help me, she said. 'Don't make me threaten you. I'm only being this patient because I know you don't understand the consequences of your stupidity. So ask yourself this, how come Stubsy and his friends are being so cooperative?

Troblum turned to the dealer. It wasn't something he'd considered. Another mistake, he thought.

'Just help her, Stubsy said brokenly.

'I cheated, the Cat said, and rested a finger on her lips. 'Bad lady that I am. I used a small insert' She grinned at the companions who glared back at her through clenched teeth. 'And it was quite difficult to insert, wasn't it, girls? You know, I actually had to hold them down to do it there was so much girly squealing and wiggling. And look at them now, happy to do as they're told.

Troblum thought he might be sick. His biononics had to work hard at keeping his hormone glands suppressed. And finally he didn't need any programs to interpret the expression both Simonie and Alcinda registered, their fear and loathing. Simonie had a tear squeezing out of her right eye.

'The girls are going to hold you down now for me, Troblum, the Cat said. 'Even their silly little weapons enrichments can overcome your pitiful force field. Higher culture, she said with a shake of her head. 'Where do you people get off calling yourselves that? Talk about insecurities. And you think I've got psychological flaws.

The two companions started to walk towards Troblum. He ordered the shields on all the cases to switch off, as well as his own integral force field. The Cat's response was instantaneous. She vanished inside a silver glow, as though she'd been encased in moon-washed silk.

'Stop, Troblum told the companions.

They hesitated, looking at the Cat's glowing shape for instruction.

'Troblum? the Cat's smooth voice issued out of the protective aurora. 'What are you doing? You haven't got any defences now.

'Remember this? he asked and pointed at a grey ovoid on a table close to the door.

'No, the Cat said. Her tone was one of dangerous boredom.

'It was on the Abies ND47 you rode through into Boongate, Troblum explained, wishing he wasn't trembling and sweating so much. 'Somebody salvaged it and took it with them to their planet's new world. I never found out why, maybe they thought it would give them some kind of edge over their fellow settlers. But the government confiscated it, and then it got lost in evidence archives for several hundred years. Then a museum found it and—

'Troblum! The Cat's angry voice snapped across the chamber.

'Yes, sorry: it's a zone killer dispenser, Troblum said meekly. 'And I was really lucky when I bought it, the museum had kept it in a stabilizer field so it's still functional and active. The thing's about as antique as you can get, but in a confined space like this one I don't rate anyone's chances, not even in a force field like yours. What do you think?

There was a short pause. 'Are you trying to threaten me, darling? the Cat asked.

'I've got it on a double activation switch, Troblum said. 'I can trigger it if I think you're going to try and hurt me. Or if you're too quick for me, and I'm exterminated, that'll trigger it as well.

'Oh fuck me backwards with a power blade, Stubsy wailed. His logs were giving way, slitting him on to the floor. 'I can't take any more. His hands went over his head, and he started sobbing. 'Just fucking do it, man. End this, for fuck's sake. Kill us.

'He won't, the Cat said. 'He's not the type. If you fire that thing, fat boy, we all die, not just me. If you do as I say and help me capture Paula, I might even overlook this little misdemeanour. Carry on, Alcinda, she ordered.

Troblum sent an order into the dispenser's small management array; its malmetal surface rippled, opening fifty small portals. 'No.

Alcinda had taken one step towards him. Now she stopped again.

'Do it, the Cat said.

'They don't understand, Troblum said. 'It's not just the insert that helps you control them, they have hope. I don't. I know how stupid that is. I know you. You're probably one of the few people I actually do understand. That's why I turned my force field off. So there's no chance of me surviving the explosion. I know you're going to kill me no matter what. And we both know that I'll never get re-lifed even if the galaxy does survive. This is it for me, the end. Not just bodyloss, but real death. So I might as well do the human race a favour and take you with me.

'What about Stubsy and the girls? The Cat asked.

'Do it, you fucking bastard! Stubsy screamed.

'Yes, Alcinda growled. 'Take us— Her body stiffened, her back arching convulsively. Her spine bent so far Troblum thought it might snap. She clamped her hands to her head, elegant fingernails clawing long bloody streaks in her scalp as she tried to tear out the source of her agony. She screamed silently as her legs gave out.

'Let's not confuse the issue with other people's poor advice, the Cat said lightly. 'You still think you can get out of this, otherwise you would have fired the zone killer straight away. What's the deal?

'I don't know, Troblum said. 'I don't have a tactical program. This doesn't have a logical outcome. I'm just waiting for you to do something scary, then I fire it. We both die together. He stared at Alcinda who was writhing helplessly on the floor. Things like furry mushrooms were emerging from her eyes, mouth, and ears; then another one bloomed from her belly button. They began to spread wide, swelling.

The Cat laughed. 'Oh, darling, you are delectable. I'm the only person you understand, and because of that you're going to kill yourself. How about you walk out the door and rush into your starship while I wait here for Paula?

Troblum couldn't stop staring at Alcinda, who had begun to shake in a convulsive fit. Her head was now half-covered in the furry growths, with additional ones pushing out around the edges of her bikini bottoms. Tiny clear fluid drops glistened at the tip of each strand of fur. The shaking grew more violent. Troblum was seriously considering trying to kill her with a disruptor pulse if his biononics could put one together. 'I'd never make it to the stairs, he said, trying desperately to focus on what the Cat was saying. Alcinda's death would be a mercy, and she'd definitely have a secure memory store and re-life insurance. 'Stubsy's other companions would make sure of that.

The Cat made a small gesture with her hand. Alcinda stopped shuddering, her body collapsing limply to the rock floor. 'See. If that's all you're worried about, the girls are easily disposed of.

Troblum thought he was going to collapse himself. A stricken Simonie was gazing at Alcinda's body. The grey fur continued to spread outward. He'd never seen anyone die before, and certainly not in such a terrible fashion. 'Don't do that, Troblum gasped.

'Why? I thought you were going to kill us all, anyway.

Troblum began to accept that he really was going to die. In a way it was kind of fitting, that he would do it eliminating one of the most horrifying human beings who'd ever existed.

The villa nodes abruptly came on, flashing a short encrypted message he couldn't decode. He tried to use them to reconnect to his starship, but they wouldn't acknowledge his u-shadow.

'She's here, the Cat snarled happily. 'Was this why you were stalling, my dear? I thought she wasn't due for another couple of hours.

'Sorry, Troblum said. He couldn't help grinning.

'I won't let her save you, darling. The Cat brought an arm up, bulging through the aurora.

'You can go, Troblum said quickly.

'What?

'Go. Have your battle. If anyone can defeat you, it'll be Paula. I'll wait down here. Leave Simonie to guard me if you want. I can't get a message out to warn Paula. If you win I'll fire the zone killer. If she wins, well, you don't get to call the shots then, do you?

'Clever boy, the Cat said in an admiring tone. 'I accept. Stubsy, get up. You're going to have to be the bait now Troblum isn't playing.

'No! Stubsy howled. His body jerked madly, and he scrambled to his feet as if the floor had turned white hot. Troblum didn't like to dwell on that idea.

'Do it, you almighty shit, Stubsy cried at Troblum. 'Kill us all. Kill her:

'Tut tut, said the Cat. 'Is that gratitude?

Stubsy's mouth slammed shut. A trickle of blood dribbled down from the corner of his lip.

'Simonie, you stay here, the Cat instructed as she walked out of the chamber. Stubsy Florae hobbled after her, throwing one last desolate glance at Troblum. Simonie stood in the doorway as the malmetal contracted shut, framing her with a dark circle.

'I'm sorry, Troblum told her. She didn't say anything, though he could see her jaw muscles working silently.

The Cat must be remote controlling her, he guessed, which didn't leave him much time. Then he noticed the way her eyes kept switching from him to Alcinda's body. The vile grey growth had covered her flesh completely; now it was starting to spread across the floor, sending out fronds that moved like a spilled liquid.

Troblum activated his integral force field again, and hurried across the chamber until he came to the longest case in his collection. He was sure he heard some kind of bang from outside, maybe more than one but the door was an effective seal, and he didn't want to turn off his force field again. Paula must have arrived at the villa itself.

He had to use biononic reinforcement for his muscles so that he could lift the elongated cylinder out of its cradle mountings. The weapon was incredibly heavy, but then designers of the old Moscow-class warships didn't have to worry about mass. He just managed to lever it vertical, feeling like some pre-history knight hoisting up a lance. The cylinder's tip was barely a couple of centimetres from the cavern roof, wavering as he fought to keep it steady. There was no guarantee its ancient components would hold together if he switched it on; nor was he convinced his integral force field would withstand either a malfunction explosion or a successful discharge. But the Cat had eliminated certainty from his life, he was flying on logic and fatality now.

He looked directly at Simonie, whose right eyelid flickered. For the second time in a day Troblum didn't need a program to interpret a human emotion. He nodded back, and fired the ship-to-ship neutron laser.

For Paula it really hadn't been difficult to discover who was Troblum's ally on Sholapur. Troblum's clandestine money transfers had been subject to forensic accounting by an office at the Commonwealth Senate Treasury ever since Justine reported on his strangely empty hangar at Daroca spaceport. The Treasury office had quickly determined that Stubsy Florae's accounts had been the beneficiary of a great deal of money over the years, and ANA Security had accumulated a large file on the dealer's activities. An irritant rather than any kind of threat, Florae moved objects around the Commonwealth, which he had no legal right to do. The majority were basically harmless like Troblum's War relics, though he did supply weapons to agitator groups. As far as ANA knew he didn't involve himself with any Factions or their agents. Despite what he liked to imagine, Stubsy was very small-time in relation to the real political and economic subversives operating on the edges of Commonwealth society.

So she arrived in her ship, the Alexis Denken, a day before the agreed meeting. Descended through the atmosphere in stealth mode at night, easily evading the sensor sweeps run by Ikeo's defence system, and sank under the water twenty miles away from Florae's villa. When she arrived just offshore, she was interested to find the wreckage of a high-performance glide-boat resting on the sand close to Florae's charming white-sand beach. An examination by sensorbots showed it had been cut apart by a disruptor pulse. Paula guessed that she wasn't the only one who wanted to meet the elusive Troblum. It would be difficult for a Faction to intercept calls to ANA: Governance security, but hardly impossible. And Troblum had promised to divulge what he considered important activity concerning the Accelerators. Ilanthe would inevitably send a representative to intercept him. Possibly even Marius himself. Paula would enjoy arresting him, though he would probably self-destruct before he allowed any such humiliating indignity to prevail.

Five small passive sensor remotes slipped out of the sea to take up position on various high points around the estate, and she settled down to wait. Her piano slid out of its padded storage alcove; three hundred years old, made out of fiwood that glimmered with a soft red-brown sheen in the cabin's subdued lighting. The instrument had been handcrafted in a workshop on Lothian by a Higher artisan who'd taken a hundred and fifty years to perfect his craft, exceeding even the quality of Earth's legendary piano makers. Paula had commissioned it new, and the lush sound was well worth the ninety-year waiting list.

She sat at the velvet stool, pulled the sheet music out, and once again tried to play 'Für Elise'. Her trouble was the lack of practice time. It would be all too easy to use a music program linked with a dexterity function. But Paula wanted to be able to play the piece properly. A piano as beautiful as this one deserved that level of respect and commitment. Fingers ruled by a program would be no better than simply playing a recording.

Curious native fish nosing round the unusual ovoid resting on the sandy seabed were subjected to the ancient melody repeated dozens of times, interrupted, and begun again with relentless determination.

A day later, when she was playing with a lot more confidence, Paula had to admit Troblum's ship was extremely well shielded. She was caught off guard by the large figure in a shabby old toga suit riding a small scooter out of the forest on the far side of the Florae estate. None of her sensors had caught the Mellanie's Redemption coming down out of orbit. Her fingers hung motionless above keys of vat-grown ivory as she waited to see what would happen.

The scooter stopped just outside the estate boundary posts. It wobbled oddly as Troblum opened a link to Florae. Then the perimeter disarmed, and Troblum flew on unsteadily to the villa.

Soon after he arrived at the front door and went inside, a force field came on over the villa. The leading edge of the monsoon had arrived.

Troblum called ANA: Governance security division who relayed the call to Paula. Her remote sensors couldn't quite get close enough to the villa boundary to give her a clear image of him standing beside the pool, but she could certainly see the line of exotic yellow and green flowering plants that hedged in the one open side of the pool area as she talked to him. She didn't lie. She would definitely be at the villa within two hours.

Paula told the smartcore to retract the piano back into its alcove, climbed into her armour, activated three of the combat-bots stowed in the starship's forward hold, and stepped out through the airlock. The suit's regrav lifted her straight to the surface, emerging into driving rain as the heavy storm clouds raced overhead. She flew in a low fast curve to the top of the cliff above the white beach, landing beside one of the estate boundary's silver pillars. The three combatbots hovered protectively overhead, difficult to detect in the deluge. Lightning flashed constantly. Sensors locked on to her, and the villa's smartcore demanded she identify herself.

'You are expecting me. I am Paula Myo, an ANA representative on official business. Let me in now.

There was no reply. The boundary posts remained active, so she used a proton laser to kill the eight nearest to her. Her suit flew her towards the villa, keeping five metres above the ground. Ahead of her, the force field was hardening. She curved around until she was facing the open end of the three sided building. Water rippled down the force field, blurring direct visual observation. However, she saw three Amazon-like women in bikinis hurrying round the pool to take up positions behind the waterfall boulders. The small intelligence file on Florae had mentioned the kind of bodyguards he favoured.

'Oh, come on, she muttered. They weren't even wearing armour. Stupid amateurs.

Their formation was a standard one, protecting access to the centre of the villa. Paula guessed that would be where their boss was cowering, along with Troblum.

Two of the combatbots dropped a flock of energy-dumps onto the top of the villa's force field dome. The small dark spheres skidded and slithered down the curve. Bright energy flares whipped out around each contact point, and the dumps began to slow as if the dome had somehow become tacky. Lightning flashed out from the clouds overhead, attracted by the brawny spray of ions fizzing out from each dump to slam into the force field. The darkness surrounding the dumps began to expand and slowly sink through the force field that was now sparkling a dangerous stressed crimson.

Hot, steaming water began to seep through the force field to splatter the pool area. The villa's protective force field shone like a red dwarf sun that was being eaten by black cancers. Paula's full field function scan was burning its way through the faltering dome. She could make out several weapons enrichments powering up in the Amazon women. But there was no sign of Troblum.

'Where are you? she muttered. Another heavily enriched human was moving slowly inside the villa. Hard to pinpoint with the tormented force field still obstinately functional. Her field function still couldn't locate Troblum, he must be deeper inside, possibly underground.

Lightning lashed down again. The combatbots added three proton laser strikes to the impact. It was too much. The force field collapsed in a devastating sonic Shockwave that ripped the pool plants to shreds, sending a plume of smouldering leaves cascading up into the sodden sky. Windows burst apart, flinging long shards of glass across the paving slabs.

Paula swooped into the pool area as the downpour saturated the villa. The Amazon women fired a barrage of x-ray lasers and disruptor pulses at her. Jelly gun shots slashed harmlessly across her armour's force field. She was puzzled by that. Surely Stubsy or whoever had blown apart the glide boat had stronger weapons that this?

'Deactivate your enrichments right now, Paula commanded. The combatbots streaked through the deluge towards the women. Two of them fired at the hulking bots as they withdrew back into the villa. Paula pushed a disruptor pulse into one of the waterfall boulders just as the one in the bright green bikini left it to scamper through a ruined patio door. The boulder detonated into thousands of fragments which embedded themselves in the villa walls. 'Halt, she yelled. But the women scattered inside what she took to be a long lounge. Again they were in a defensive formation. 'Troblum, come out, I'm here at your invitation for heaven's sake.

Another fusillade of energy shots hammered into her force field. Dazzling purple static webs roared out from the impact points, vaporizing the rain pouring down her shoulders. Paula sighed, it was going to be difficult to neutralize the stupid women without damaging them. Her field function swept through the villa. The enriched person she'd spotted before was creeping along the back of the room the women were protecting. She still couldn't locate Troblum.

'Enough of this, Paula decided. The armour's regrav lifted her off the ground, starting to power her forward. She fired a disruptor pulse, blasting apart the wall in front of her and half of the roof above, opening up the lounge. A cascade of debris came tumbling down along with the rain. The women dived for cover, immediately reorganizing their fire pattern.

The sensor remotes outside the villa reported something approaching the estate through the torrent of rain. A large craft, keeping very low, flying the same route as Troblum's scooter out of the forest. His starship. Paula slowed abruptly, uncertain of the ship's ability.

In front of her, yellow and purple petals of exotic energy erupted from the floor of the lounge. Eight of them, curving up like the jaws of some vicious predator. They swept past barely a metre from her armour, clashing together to form a broad column. It began to twist, the petals separating out again, stretching out towards her, elongating fast.

Paula's suit regrav shoved at her violently, pushing her backwards as she gasped in shock. She and the three combatbots unleashed a torrent of firepower at the base of the exotic energy manifestation. Trying to kill the generator. The tip of exotic energy stroked the front of her armour's force field. Weird warning symbols erupted across her exovision.

The ground exploded upwards.

Paula was flung high into the air above the villa, spinning out of control. For a second she thought she'd punctured the exotic energy generator. But the yellow spectres were still leaping around like flames in a hurricane. They lasted for a second before snuffing out.

Paula stabilized her tumbling flight fifty metres above the villa. When her sensors swept the scene below, she saw a huge crater had completely ruptured one side of the building. It was twenty metres wide, with walls of raw smouldering earth. The bottom was open, leading into some underground space. Twisted metallic wreckage lay everywhere.

'Get here now, Paula ordered the Alexis Denken. She directed the three combatbots to attack the coordinate of the exotic energy generator. A lethal barrage of disruptor pulses and proton lasers lashed down, illuminating the broken villa with an incandescent nimbus far brighter than the lightning flaring overhead.

Paula was dropping fast now, anxious to escape any possible contact with the exotic energy. She'd been lucky before, but that generator was quite capable of caging her, suit and all. Someone was scrambling up out of the crater. Her field scan showed her a large person. Higher, with an integral force field that was barely functional.

'Troblum, she broadcast.

He stumbled to a halt at the top of the crater. Head swinging round as if he were drunk.

The Alexis Denken broke surface and accelerated hard. Ten combatbots shot out of its forward hold to add their protective cover. And another craft was suddenly streaking in towards the villa at mach nine, slicing round the low surrounding hills in a cacophony of brutalized air.

Paula touched down on a patch of muddy soil that minutes before had been a pleasant herbaceous border. The first starship had reached the crater, its profile a classic rocketship cone with eight radial forward-swept tailfins. Its nose dipped down towards Troblum, an airlock irising open.

'Stop, Paula told him. Then her field function showed her another figure emerging out of the ground into the ruins of Florae's villa. This one was glowing white, completely impervious to any field scan. Paula instinctively ignored Troblum, knowing she was now confronting the real threat. They faced each other across the steaming remains of the swimming pool.

The Alexis Denken came thundering through the monsoon surrounded by its entourage of combatbots. It halted behind Paula, hovering a couple of metres off the ground, and extended its force field to envelop her. Enough firepower to vaporize a medium-sized city focused on the lambent figure standing calmly inside the shattered walls. Troblum vanished inside his starship's airlock, and the craft swung through ninety degrees to point at the storm clouds. Then the third starship arrived. Paula expected it to fire on Troblum's ship. But instead it took up position behind the white figure, mirroring Paula and the Alexis Denken. Troblum's ship accelerated upwards at twenty-five gees. The Alexis Denken reported a great deal of powerful weapon systems in the interloper's starship were powered up.

'Marius, is that you? Paula asked.

The white figure pointed. Somehow Stubsy Florae had survived the carnage. He was crawling over the smashed wooden floorboards, blood seeping from dozens of lacerations.

'Damn it, Paula hissed. If she slugged it out with her opponent the outcome was uncertain. ANA had equipped her well, but the Faction whose representative she was obviously facing had a pretty formidable arsenal, too. If she won, she'd never know who was challenging her, and through her ANA, so brazenly. There would be nothing left of the vanquished except a dispersing ion swarm. And whoever won, it would mean the certain bodyloss of Stubsy Florae, and probably his death. There might even be more survivors hidden in the villa's wreckage; he did have several of the stupid Amazon bodyguards. Despite all the traits and qualities she had cast off over the centuries, her certainty of right and wrong remained absolute. She, Paula Myo, did not have the right to put civilians in danger, even civilians as repugnant as Florae. Her place in the universe was to uphold the law. However inconvenient Florae was at this moment, she could not risk allowing him to come in harm's way.

In any case, Florae would be a valuable witness. An opponent such as a Faction was best dealt with by ANA, not herself and a representative clashing in this fashion.

She stood still, staring at the cold glowing figure on the other side of the pool. Her field scan probed at the lustrous force field, but couldn't find a single flaw. One thing: it wasn't Marius — too short.

The white figure was drawn up into its starship. A hand was raised in a mocking wave. A silly wiggle of the hips and then the airlock closed, cutting off the shining aurora. The starship slid smoothly into the storm clouds, creating a dark whorl as it vanished into the stratosphere. Paula used the sensors on the Alexis Denken to track it as far as possible. The stealth effect came on when it was clear of the ionosphere. There was a minute quantum signature which the smartcore could just detect as it accelerated high above the equator, then it must have dropped into hyperspace. The finest sensors ANA could devise picked up a tiny disturbance among the quantum fields which indicated an ultradrive. Then there was nothing.

Paula put her lips together and whistled a long single note. The combatbots hovering above the villa showed her Stubsy Florae writhing in agony on his decimated wooden flooring. She hurried over in time to see strange grey growths blooming from his mouth and nose.

Her u-shadow opened a link directly to his microcellular clusters. 'Florae? Can you receive this?

The furry grey substance was emerging from his eyes.

'Who was it, Florae? Do you know who did this?

The only reply that came down the link was a burst of white noise.

'Okay, I'm getting you into a medical chamber. My ship has the best in the Commonwealth. You'll be fine. She picked him up and flew straight into the airlock, ordering the smartcore to initiate level one decontamination procedures. She really didn't like the look of the grey fungal stuff.

'Hang on in there, Florae, you'll be okay. You stay with me, understand?

It only took her a few seconds to get to the cabin, but he was convulsing by the time she lowered him into the coffin-sized medical chamber. The steel-sheen malmetal top closed fluidly over him.

A scan revealed that the grey substance had invaded his entire body, consuming and corrupting every organ. It had twined itself round his nerves, not damaging them, but embracing them. Paula watched the read outs in disgust and dismay as the intruder fed a continuous stream of impulses into every nerve fibre in Florae's body. Fronds inside his brain stimulated selected neural pathways to ensure his consciousness remained intact.

There wasn't enough of his original flesh left for the medical chamber to sustain. As Paula watched, Florae died in as much agony as it was possible for a human nervous system to conduct.

'Extract his memorycell, she ordered the medical chamber. But even that wasn't possible, the grey fronds had gnawed away at the memorycell, breaking it apart. She reviewed the read outs with growing alarm. The grey stuff seemed to be some kind of biononic viral, capable of breaking down both organic and inorganic compounds. It was already seeping into the instruments and manipulators interfaced with Florae's body, transforming them into more of itself, an effect inching into the casing of the medical chamber.

'Hell! she grunted. The Alexis Denken shot out of the atmosphere to an altitude of five thousand kilometres, then ejected the entire medical chamber. It tumbled away from the starship, sunlight glinting off its bright metal and plastic surfaces. Paula swept a powerful gamma-ray laser through it several times, making sure every molecule of the viral was disassociated; then finished it off with a single disruptor pulse. The now white-hot slag of the medical chamber burst apart in a sparkling swam of effervescence.

Several ground-based sensor systems locked on to the Alexis Denken. The smartcore received identification demands from every city on the planet. Paula simply ignored them, and flew back down to the villa gain.

The combatbots were circling overhead as the monsoon continued to soak the rubble. Long rivulets gurgled along the cracked paving, thick with scum and powdery mud. Paula's armour boots splashed through them as she made her way cautiously to the crater. The torn earth walls were mildly radioactive. Spybots swooped down to scan the remnants of the underground chamber. The first thing they detected amidst all the charred plastic and warped metal was the burned body. It appeared to be another of Florae's bodyguards. Then they picked up the signature of the grey substance. There was a patch clinging to a chunk of fractured rock. Its edges rippled as it sought to grow.

'Damnit, Paula swore. There was nothing for it. She called two of the combatbots down, and began a systematic sterilization of the site using gamma-lasers. That was when she called ANA. 'Things are getting a little crazy out here, she confessed.

'The Accelerators must be desperate to keep Troblum silenced.

'No. That's not what happened here. Paula was standing in the remnants of the lounge, using her field scan on the broken fragments of the exotic matter generator. There wasn't much left, and she was fairly certain her own firepower hadn't been wholly responsible. It had self-destructed at some point during the fight. 'Whoever was here could have eliminated him the second he turned up. They didn't. They wanted to use him as bait for me. This exotic matter system was intended to capture me. It's an extremely elaborate trap. Someone went to a lot of trouble. I got lucky Troblum's ship arrived when it did, another second and I'd would have been engulfed.

'You have acquired a great many enemies over the years.

'Yes, but this one has the backing of a Faction. They had an ultradrive ship effectively equal to the Alexis Denken, they had this revolting viral, and they knew I was coming to meet with Troblum. Logically, they must be allied with the Accelerators, yet they didn't eliminate Troblum. Who would the Accelerators possibly turn to at this point, who then wouldn't do what they needed most and silence Troblum? It's not logical. This person certainly doesn't seem to have any moral qualms about killing anyone. And I was obviously intended for the torture chamber, or some variant. Even as she said it, a really bad feeling was growing in her mind. She remembered that ridiculous wiggle which the glowing white figure had performed as it ascended into the starship. There was certainly one person who would fit the bill — but that wasn't possible. She was very definitely in suspension, and had been for over nine hundred years. Of course, if anyone had the ability to break her out, it would be a Faction… 'They wouldn't dare, she whispered. But the Accelerators were becoming increasingly arrogant. And they had been planning their moves for decades.

'What do you intend next? ANA asked.

Paula stared round at the rain-sodden area as the lightning flickered again. 'I need a full forensic examination here. It's a long shot, but if there's anything that will tell us where the exotic matter cage was built and by whom, I need to know.

'I will dispatch a team immediately.

'Thank you. I'm going to investigate Troblum a little closer. I need to work out where he's gone. There's nothing else I can do until Oscar snags the Second Dreamer for us.

'As you wish.

Paula looked up into the wild clouds, wishing she could see the stars. 'Any change on the devourment phase?

'Not yet.

'Will you be able to survive it?

'I don't know. What will you do?

'Ultimately? If it can't be stopped. I'm not sure. The High Angel will take me to another galaxy if I want. But right now we need to prevent our dear species from making things any worse.

Araminta didn't sleep the whole night long. How could she?

No, she'd said.

No to the Skylord. No to the entity that was offering to guide a goodly portion of humanity to what they regarded as their nirvana.

No. Said because: I'm the Second Dreamer.

It's me. Mel

Oh, Ozzie, please help me. This simply cannot be.

Me, she kept turning that over and over. How could it be me? Because of some distant ancestor she'd never even heard of until the other day, this Mellanie and her friendship with the Silfen. All that, all those unknowns from centuries ago had come pressing down on her, had taken away her destiny, her self-determination. Fate had chosen her.

Me!

And now the million, the billions, of Living Dream followers would look to her to help them join with the Skylord. And she'd said no.

The Skylord had been surprised. Shocked, even. She'd felt that wounded astonishment linger as she withdrew her mind from contact. That wasn't an answer which fitted its reality. She might just have well said no to gravity for all the sense it made.

What she'd done terrified her. But it was instinctive. She didn't want to be the Second Dreamer. Just hours before the contact she'd decided her future after days of soul-searching and self-discovery. She was going to be Mrs Bovey(s). She was going to get herself more bodies and become multiple. And they'd live here in this grand house, or a new one she'd build, equally delightful. And half of their bodies would be in bed together the whole time. She would make him as happy as he made her. And the future would be bright and lovely and full of promise. There might be children. What kind of children did multiples have? Did he want them? They'd never talked about any of this yet. So much was waiting for her out there in the years to come, so many discoveries. So much joy.

Of course she'd said no. What else could she say?

I will not be a part of that. That is not me.

Billions wanted it to be. They were going to insist.

But they will never know who I am. I will never talk to the Skylord again.

That was the decision she'd made when dawn came to the sky outside the bedroom. She was wretchedly tired, and shaking. There were dried tears on her cheeks from the quiet sobbing in the lonely hours as gentle rain had pattered against the window. But she knew her mind now. She would stand firm.

On the big bed beside her the blond teenage Mr Bovey lay on his back with a slight frown, mouth twitching as he dealt with a sour dream.

Nothing as bad as mine, she told him silently. He too would never know, she decided, the burden would be too much. This will end. Eventually. I will endure and ride it out.

Araminta bent over and kissed the youthful body. Gently at first. On his brow. His cheek. His mouth.

He stirred. The frown eased away. She smiled at that, and kissed his throat. Her hands caressed the supple muscle on his chest as the melange program rose out of her lacunas. Her raging thoughts stilled as she breathed slowly and carefully, following her own deep rhythms to achieve the composure she sought. Now she could concentrate fully on the body beside her.

For the full hour which followed there were no distractions, no external thoughts and doubts. It was so good to forget Skylords and Second Dreamers and Living Dream, replacing them with good dirty human sex.

'Forgive me, especially after this morning, but you don't look so good, Mr Bovey said.

Araminta nodded grudgingly as she finally climbed out of the big bath. It was such a luxury just lounging in oiled, scented water rather than snatching a quick minute in a spoor shower. One her poor body deserved. 'Your fault, she teased. She couldn't quite put the right emphasis behind it. Her thoughts were drifting back to the revelations of last night with the surety of a tide.

It was the young Celtic one who handed her a huge towel. 'Are you all right? You're not having second thoughts?

'Ozzie no! This is the only truly good decision I've made. Probably ever.

He smiled proudly, but couldn't completely hide his worry. 'You seem… troubled. I'm concerned.

She started to rub the water off her legs. Its been a big week.

I'm all right, just didn't sleep well, that's all. I'll take some kind of pep infuser when I get home.

'Home? ' he frowned.

'I've still got to get the apartments finished. We both know I need the money.

'Right. He scratched at his hair, looking perplexed. Araminta wasn't used to that. Whenever they had serious conversations Mr Bovey always preferred to use his middle-aged black-skinned body, the one she'd had their very first date with, who almost qualified as the father figure. She never had worked out if that was deliberate on his part.

'Look, he said. 'I hate to be the one with the bad news, but you clearly haven't accessed the Unisphere this morning.

Just the way he said it made her heart sink. She had told her u-shadow to suspend any Unisphere contact before they went to bed last night; now it reconnected her and began pulling out priority news items. 'Oh, Great Ozzie, she gasped. It was all there. The invasion by Ellezelin forces down by the docks. Paramilitary troops moving across the city. Large capsules patrolling the skies, halting any civilian traffic.

When she rushed over to the window she could make out several of the capsules floating passively above the River Cairns, insidious dark ovoids set against the dusky dawn-lit clouds. Colwyn's weather-protection force field was on, covering the entire city. It wasn't any storm the invaders were interested in, they were preventing any capsules from leaving.

And worse, much much worse, the message from Director Trachtenberg at Centurion Station about the Void starting to expand. A devourment phase all the commentators were calling it. And they were equally clear that it was the fault of the Second Dreamer for rejecting the Skylord. No such thing as coincidence was the phrase that kept reverberating round her head. Everyone was using it.

'I can't stay here, Araminta moaned.

'You're not serious? It's dangerous out there. They're restricting the reports, but our fellow citizens are not taking this lightly. There's been several clashes already, and it's not even breakfast time yet.

They're here for me, she realized. A whole world invaded, violated because of me. Ozzie, forgive me.

'I'll just go straight home, she said stubbornly. 'I have to get to the apartments. They're all I've got, you can see that, can't you? She felt shabby saying that, it was emotional bullying, but all she wanted to do was get away from him. It was completely wrong, this was the person she was planning to marry, hes should be trusted. She just couldn't risk trusting him with something of this magnitude. He'd agreed to marry a girl struggling to make it as a property developer, not some walking galactic catastrophe.

'I do understand, he said, so very reluctantly. 'But they've shut down all the capsule traffic. Half of mes are stuck all across town.

Araminta started to pull her clothes on. There was a whole closet in the bathroom which was hers, so at least she could dress practically with dark jeans and a blue sweater. 'My trike pod is in the garage. I left it here a couple of weeks back. Her u-shadow was hurriedly checking travel restrictions in Colwyn City. The traffic management net carried a full proscription on non-official air vehicles, backed by the certificate of the Mayor's office and the Viotia Federal Transport Agency. However, ground vehicles were still permitted to operate in the city precincts, with an advisory caution that citizens should only use them for essential trips. There were a great many links to official Viotia government bulletins about their inclusion in the Free Trade Zone at core planet level, and how after a brief transition period everything would return to normal and a strong economic growth phase would begin, bringing a major upswing to everyone's lifestyle. Just for an instant she recalled Liken and his grand plans for the Free Trade Zone, but she dismissed those thoughts at once.

'Let some of mes go, Mr Bovey said. 'I can check the place over for you.

'I am not going to start our life together by being dependent on you, she said, hating herself now.

He looked even more unhappy. 'All right. Ozzie, but you're obdurate.

'Think of it as tenacious, and how that works in your favour in bed.

'Ozzie help the paramilitaries if they get in your way. But his sympathetic smile wasn't exactly wholehearted. 'I don't suppose one of mes can come with you?

'Have you got a ground vehicle? she asked.

'No.

'You're really sweet. Still want to marry me?

'Yes.

'Even when there's going to be many mes?

'Just take care.

There was a whole team of hims assembled to wave goodbye to her when she clambered on to the trike pod. She was mildly surprised to find the power cell still had half a charge left. All his familiar faces wore the same mournful expression as she waved airily. Then she set off down the narrow gravel track which cut through the grounds to the road outside. There was a point when she'd just passed the last of hims when she thought her resolution might buckle and send her rushing back, confessing everything. It was coupled with a horror that she'd never see him again, that no matter her determination this was all too big for her to cope with.

If that's so, then I can't drag him down into it.

So she kept the trike steady and true, riding across the garden that retained its light coating of glistening moisture from last night's rain. The old iron gate at the end of the track creaked as its actuators swung it open for her. Then she was out on the empty road lined with tall lackfol trees whose reddish-green loaves were chittering in the gentle breeze that stirred under the city's force field dome.

The worst part of the trip was riding over the big single-arch bridge to the northern bank. She felt horribly exposed to the big capsules that slid through the air on either side of the bridge. It was so strange seeing the city without its normal capsule traffic zipping about, as if the metropolis was injured somehow. People on the bridge seemed to share the feeling. Many citizens had decided to walk to work, showing their defiance through an obstinate insistence on pursuing their normal day as best they could. Public cabs still hummed along the central rails, packed tight with commuters. And she'd never known so many people actually had trike pods; a great many of them clearly hadn't been outside their garages for years.

As she cleared the apex of the long bridge, Araminta allowed herself to dip into the local gaiafield, receiving the strident emotions of her fellow residents, the determination and anger they radiated and supported each other with. It was a buoyant kinship; though she didn't dare allow any of her own feelings to trickle out. She was all too conscious of people like Danal delving into the confluence nests, trying to locate any hint of her thoughts, her location, her identity. And how was that for irony, one of her hunters buying an apartment from her, actually living next door to his prey, neither of them knowing. She wondered if he'd be able to scent the guilt on her.

Ahead of her she could see three capsules hovering over the far end of the bridge. Dozens of the suited paramilitaries were clustered there, examining everyone coming over. She almost turned around there and then, but that would draw attention to her. And they'd be watching the whole bridge for such a reaction, she was sure of that. So she pressed on, wondering what that ancestor Mellanie would do: she who'd bequeathed so much trouble into Araminta's easy life. Was she some kind of tough government agent, a War hero; why was she a Silfen friend? Araminta promised herself that when she got back to the apartments the first thing she'd do was look up the woman whose fault this all was.

The paramilitaries were simply standing waiting in intimidating ranks, holding long rifles across their chests as everyone from the bridge walked or drove past them. The Unisphere nodes at the end of the bridge were querying u-shadows. Araminta sent her identity certificate, looking nervously at the bulky figures, wondering what their faces looked like. They were sharing nothing with the gaiafield, which was strange for anyone affiliated with Living Dream must surely have gaiamotes. Were they nervous? They must know an entire planet hated them.

Whatever smartcore the Living Dream forces were using to try and identify the Second Dreamer didn't seem unduly interested in Araminta. None of the paramilitaries showed any interest in her as the trike trundled past them. Just on the other side, a group of local youths was gathering. Shouts echoed through the damp air, directed at the paramilitaries. Several marques of construction site bot waddled and rolled towards the dark ranks, waving power tools threateningly and leaking miscreant programs that blocked and distorted the cybersphere nodes.

By the time she was a hundred metres along Gathano Avenue past the bridge, the paramilitary squad commander finally took action against the taunts and belligerent bots. The shouting increased in volume and anger, interspaced with the unpleasant high-pitched humm of energy weapons directed at the bots. Araminta increased her speed as a pair of capsules swept overhead to reinforce their colleagues. The last thing she could afford now was to be taken into custody.

By the time she reached her apartments in the Bodant district forty minutes later the number of people milling round in the park outside was disturbing. She knew she was being prejudiced, but most of them looked like the kind of gang members which the Unisphere news always claimed had a stranglehold on the neighbouring Helie district. When she allowed their gaiafield emissions to register, she found an atmosphere of dark resentment swirling across the park, more frightening than the anger of the commuters. There was purpose here. Violence wasn't far away.

She steered the trike down into the underground garage, thankful for the dual gate security; then took the lift up. When the doors opened on the fourth floor Araminta prayed that Danal and Mareble were either out or wouldn't hear her crossing the vestibule — how good had she made the sound proofing? The Living Dream followers had only moved in two days ago, declaring they could no longer wait until the official completion date, which left her with a load of work to finish for them before the full price was deposited in her account. Not today!

The door of the apartment she was using closed behind her and she pressed her back up against it, as if reinforcing the charming old-fashioned brass lock. Breath hissed out of her in a sorrowful gasp, and she slowly slid down onto the parquet floor.

I can just stay here. I don't need to go out. I can get nutrient fluid for the culinary unit pumped in. I can work on getting the last two apartments finished. By the time that's done all this will have blown over.

Except for the Void expansion phase. But the Raiel will fight that, that's what the Unisphere shows say.

It was a pitiful delusion, she knew.

Maybe thirty minutes later Cressida called. Just seeing her icon appear cheered Araminta up no end. If anyone knew what to do it would be Cressida. And maybe, just maybe, she could tell her cousin about being the Second Dreamer.

'Darling, how are you? Where are you?

'I'm okay, thanks, I'm at the apartments.

'Oh. I thought you were with Mr Bovey.

'I was. I came home this morning.

'You crossed the city yourself?

'Yes. It wasn't any trouble. I used my trike pod.

'Dear Ozzie, that was stupid, darling. You're not to do anything like that again, do you understand. I mean it. Life is about to get very ugly here. I've been talking with my contacts in City Hall and the state government house. These Living Dream bastards are not going to go home. Viotia has been royally screwed by our crap-for-brains Prime Minister.

'Yes. I know, she said weakly.

'And the worst place for anyone to be right now is Colwyn City. They think that dickhead the Second Dreamer is living here. And there's no way he'll escape. They've broken just about every single article of the Commonwealth constitution by invading us, they're not going to stop now. Do you know who've they've sent to oversee the search?

'No.

'Well don't tell anyone, but Cleric Phelim himself has come through the wormhole to take charge.

'Who's that?

'Oh, darling, keep up! He's Ethan's chief of staff, the enforcer himself. A greater turd you will not meet, and I include your old chum Likan in that list.

'Oh, great Ozzie, Araminta drew her knees up to her chin and hugged her legs tight.

'Sorry, darling, didn't mean to worry you excessively. We'll be all right, of course. Which is actually why I'm calling. There's a way out, if you're interested.

'What way out? The weather dome is on, no one can get out.

'Ha, that just deters capsules. After all the damn thing is only there to protect us from clouds and wind, not ward off Ocisen Empire warships or the Void boundary. There's actually a big gap, well twenty metres anyway, between the lower edge of the dome and the ground to allow normal air flow. We'd all suffocate in a week without that.

'So we can get through?

'We can just walk out until they seal that up with their troops, yes. Even then there are various tunnels available if you know the right people. My u-shadow will send the files over for you. Anyway, the point is: some friends and I are chartering a starship. We're leaving completely, not just Colwyn but Viotia itself. There's a seat on it for you if you want, I'm holding it as part of our family's block booking.

'Urn… but Mr Bovey?

'Darling, you'd need five starships to get all of hims off. Be realistic. And be sensible. In times like this you have to think about your own arse.

'But they're not letting anyone out of the city, let alone offplanet.

'You leave that to us. Anybody who believes Living Dream is some kind of irresistible force has clearly forgotten about lawyers. We're chartering a foreign-owned starship with full diplomatic status. If Phelim tries restricting that he'll find himself staring down a Commonwealth Navy warship disruptor cannon. Let's see who blinks first then.

'I see.

'So are you in or out?

'I… I don't know.

'There's one thing, darling, which I'm going to have to bring up. It won't be cheap. Where do you stand on selling the apartments?

'Oh. Not good. I still don't have deposits on the last two, and I haven't completed any of the others. Nobody's going to buy anything now.

'Yes, that is a problem. You didn't find that offload sucker like I told you then? Never mind. You should never underestimate the market when it comes to making things happen for a profit. Give it a day and there'll be venture groups on half the External worlds offering Viotia citizens cash for their business and properties; it'll be way below yesterday's market rate, but they'll be thinking long term. Once Living Dream grabs the Second Dreamer things will start to stabilize. Give it twenty years and everything will be back to normal, and those properties will be five times the value.

'If it's going to be normal again, why are you leaving?

'Normal for a Free Trade Zone hagiocracy planet, darling. Which I have no intention of spending the rest of my lives on, thank you very much. I want a nice liberal market-based democracy with all the opportunities for misunderstanding and conflict that entails. Wherever there's an argument you'll find us lawyers offering to help. And help equals lots of money. On which subject; I've already transferred my cash accounts offworld.

'Already?

'Certainly, darling; the banks were keen to welcome me. And I wasn't exactly the first. There's enough money flying offplanet right now to leave our beloved Prime Minister a magnificent economic nightmare by lunchtime, never mind tomorrow. The only thing she has left to worry about is how painful her bodyloss is going to be when her previously loyal voters get their hands on her. So — do you want me to see if I can offload your apartments for you? I have some finance seeker semisentients I can assign the problem to.

'Urn, yes. Yes, I suppose so.

'Great, so I'll reserve that ticket for you.

'Yes. Do that. Araminta just said it without thinking. She didn't want to leave, but Cressida had to be placated somehow, and anything else might be suspicious. Ozzie, it didn't take me long to become a paranoid schemer, did it?

'Don't worry, Cressida said. 'Ten days from now we'll be sipping cocktails on the pool terrace of La Cinal on Etinna. It'll be fun, a new beginning.

The call ended, and Araminta stared at the semi-decorated open-plan living room in a mild daze. She couldn't believe that even Cressida could abandon her whole life with such casual ease. But then that was Cressida for you, thinking faster and smarter than anyone else. She'd probably run through the whole shock, anger, assessment, calculation, and action stages in the first hour; while Araminta was still firmly mired in the shock segment. Certainly she'd never thought what life on Viotia would be like after things settled down; and of course Cressida was right, they would be part of the Free Trade Zone for ever now. Unless the Senate and Navy intervened, or Viotia's residents organized a rebellion.

Or the Void devours us.

Whatever the future outcome, Cressida was right about one thing, Araminta couldn't just wait around hoping to avoid detection. She started to think what it must cost politically and economically to invade a planet. Cleric Conservator Ethan and his sidekick Phelim wouldn't do that and then just hope they'd stumble across the Second Dreamer. They'd have a plan. And it would be a good one.

Araminta forced herself to get to her feet. She didn't know what she was going to do, but doing nothing was not an option.

It took two hours, and a stint in the ship's medical chamber, but Troblum eventually stopped shaking. When he emerged he could barely manage to cover the couple of metres from the chamber to his big chair. He sank into its padding, fearful he would start trembling again. The medical read out in his exovision showed him just how many drugs were coursing through his bloodstream right now, working in conjunction with his biononics to suppress his body's animal reactions. He had been terrified.

He was also rather surprised that he was still alive. All he could remember of the neutron laser shot was a dazzling flash, and a noise that was so great his bones had felt it rather than his ears. His biononics were still repairing his retinas and inner ears. How he staggered into the ship's airlock was some kind of miracle; the smartcore had to give him directions, telling him how to move every limb.

But he was alive, and almost intact. The smartcore had used sensors to follow the Cat's starship flying away from the villa, then vanishing. Her stealth systems were as good as his own if not better. He hadn't waited around to find out how good Paula's ship was, he'd simply stealthed up and dropped into hyperdrive. Now he was sitting in transdimensional suspension ten lightyears out from Sholapur.

'You were lucky, Catriona Saleeb said.

'I know. He glanced at the single item of his collection to survive. Mellanie Rescorai's handheld array lay on the decking where he'd dropped it. The foxory casing was blackened round the edges, the outline of his hand clearly visible. He closed his eyes and turned his head, making sure he was looking up at the ceiling before he opened his eyelids again. All of it, gone. The entire collection. Destroyed by his own hand. Every unique significant piece. It was as if history itself had been weakened.

'You won't be again, Trisha Halgarth said, twirling a strand of Catriona's hair round her index finger as she nestled up against her friend. 'I'm surprised the Cat didn't finish you off.

'I'm not, Catriona said. 'She's going to come after you, Troblum. She's going to catch you. And then you'll die. It'll probably take several years.

'Shut up! he yelled. 'Shut up. Support me.

'Okay, Catriona said, she cuddled Trisha. 'You're not safe as long as the Cat is around.

'And Paula didn't kill her off, Trisha said, sounding vaguely puzzled. 'So you've got two options left.

'Two? he queried.

'Go after her yourself, and finish the job.

'No! That's not an option. Only Paula can do that. She's still the only one I trust. I can't believe ANA is so compromised. That's got to be down to flaws in the Unisphere which a Faction can manipulate.

'Think on it, Catriona said earnestly. 'The Cat is allied with the Accelerators, they gave her everything she wanted, ship, weapons, the lot; and somehow she knew where you'd be. You can't trust ANA, not any more. I certainly don't, she added haughtily.

'It has to be the Unisphere, he said, more to himself than the girls. 'They intercepted my message.

'Which only makes your position worse, Trisha said. 'That leaves option two. Run! Run far and run fast. We've got to make it to another galaxy. Mellanie's Redemption can do it. You'll be safe there.

'What if Living Dream is right and the Void works for them? he asked. 'What if the Cat gets inside? What if she can manipulate it the way the Waterwalker did?

The girls exchanged a look. Both pouted. 'What are you thinking? Catriona asked.

'I should warn them, Troblum said. 'Paula at least. She understands about the Cat. Paula knows she has to be stopped. Paula wouldn't give up.

'So give her a call, and let's get out of here, Catriona said.

Troblum couldn't help it, his gaze had dropped to Mellanie's array again. 'My collection is gone because of her. The damage. Just thinking about it was threatening to send his body back into shock again. Medical read outs edged back towards amber alerts. 'It was all I ever had, Troblum wailed. He began to curl up, as much as he ever could, his belly squashing out across his upper legs. 'It took me centuries to collect them all. They were safe with me, I was their guardian. He was sobbing so hard the words were virtually unintelligible. 'They were so precious, so valuable. They helped make us what we are, they were a part of our evolution. Why did nobody ever understand how important they were?

'Troblum, Tricia crooned. 'Poor Troblum.

'There are other pieces, Catriona said. 'Remember you visited the Smithsonian, they actually let you touch the Charybdis, the curator was so impressed with your own preservation work. She knew you were an equal. You see, so much still remains. And its legacy is for ever.

'Not with her still alive, he muttered darkly. His hand came up to wipe the moisture from his eyes. 'She is the destroyer. She is death. She is the Void: her.

'Call Paula, Tricia said urgently. 'Do it.

'I have to know, he whispered. 'I have to know we're safe. That she's dead for good. I can't live thinking she might appear behind me. That she'll take me, and… And…

Catriona sighed. 'You can never know that.

'Yes I can. He pushed himself up out of the chair, and walked to the back of the cabin. A small doorway expanded, and he squeezed himself through. An equally small companionway let him through into the starboard midsection hold. There wasn't quite enough room for him to stand, he had to crouch, and hunch his shoulders up. No matter how he twisted, his worn toga suit always brushed against the stolen cargo. The little space was crammed with machinery, piled up at random like a cybernetic dragon hoard. One thousand three hundred and seventy-two components, Troblum recalled. He frowned, and picked up the first one. A hyperfield power manifold, a curving sliver of some substance that seemed to alternate between being crystal and metal. He knew what each component was, but there was no structure to the piles; everything had been shoved in at random as his commandeered bots had pilfered it from the Accelerator station's replicators.

So all he had to do was assemble it, start with the central units and slowly create the new machine in the correct sequence, then integrate it with the starship's existing hyperdrive, and he'd have a fully functional ultradrive ship, quite capable of flying to Andromeda, or beyond.

'Can you do it? Catriona asked. Her head was poking through the hatchway, a dubious expression in place.

'It'll work, Troblum said. 'In theory. He couldn't even see the central units.

'Then what?

'We'll have a genuine escape route. But I'm still going to contact Paula.

'Through the Unisphere?

'No. I'm too frightened of the Accelerators' capability. They were the ones who set the Cat on me. Next time it'll be Marius, or someone else who isn't going to be distracted by an old grudge.

'Then how are you going to get in touch?

Troblum picked up a carbon-black icosahedron, trying to index it. 'There is one other person left that I trust implicitly. He's connected to Paula, or at least he was back during the War. I'll tell him what I know about the Accelerators. He can carry the message to Paula. Maybe once ANA knows about the swarm it will stop the Accelerators. The Cat will be on her own then. That's when Paula can finish her.

'Who? Catriona asked. 'Who do you trust?

'Oscar the Martyr.