The Temporal Void

THREE

The night was as black as only Hanko's thick curtains of stormcloud could make it. Wind howled around the ice boulders, creating strange antagonistic harmonics. While overhead occasional forks of lightning turned the tragic landscape into a monochrome silhouette.

Right at the edge of the Asiatic glacier a flare of tangerine light burst into existence, creating an eerie aural blaze around the top of the titanic cliff. It vanished in an instant. The ice trembled in reaction. After a while, the spray of tangerine light gushed up again. Brighter this time. Larger ice fragments jumped and juddered at the vibrations hammering through the surface.

A pause filled by the eternal yowl of the blizzard.

The light appeared once more. This time splinters of ice erupted from the top of the cliff, swirling away into the mile high abyss. A hand wearing a thick grey gauntlet crept up and patted the surface, scrabbling for a firm purchase.

Aaron heaved himself up, and rolled on to the top of tin-glacier. After a moment he clambered to his feet. He swept tin-surrounding area with his biononic field scan function, seeking traces of the ground crawler. The trail it had taken was plain enough, retracing its original route through the boulder field.

He started to run after it.

He was very VERY angry.

The Clippsby cafe on Daryad Avenue served exactly the kind of breakfast Oscar loved. Industrial strength coffee, bacon baguettes, and almond croissants with a dip pot of agal syrup. Despite the three of them wearing the Ellezelin police uniform the owner served them readily enough. The only other customers were also Ellezelin troopers grabbing a late breakfast between alerts. This morning should have been so different. Everyone in the city had stayed up, accessing Justine's heroic dash for the Void. Unisphere and gaiafield alike were enraptured by the appearance of the Second Dreamer, rumour and speculation were currently the foremost indulgence of billions. Yet here in Colwyn the atmosphere of wonder had been ripped to pieces by the welcome team's raid. There had been a lot of people in the park outside the apartment block. They'd reacted predictably enough to such a brash act, taunting the paramilitary troops on the cordon. It was touch and go if a full riot would erupt. As a result, the city seemed even more paralysed than yesterday. Very few citizens were going in to work. They were either too fearful of getting caught up in disturbances; or they were heading out to join the crowd in Bodant and other hot spots where they might get lucky and give some hapless foreign trooper a good kicking. Either way, not much was open in the centre of town.

Oscar accepted another refill from the waitress, smiling in gratitude. The cafe owner might have cajoled her to serve him, but she certainly didn't have to smile back as she was pouring. 'So what now? he asked Tomansio as the woman stomped off and the privacy shield shimmered on around their table.

'Information is the key, as always, Tomansio replied, trying not to frown at the food piled up in front of Oscar. For himself he'd ordered a smoked gruslet and cream cheese sandwich to go with his green tea. 'We know without any doubt that the Second Dreamer was in that apartment block. Which means either the welcome team have him, and major Honilar will find that out for sure in the next six hours, or he escaped before we got there.

'We were there fast, Beckia said. 'I don't think I could have got out, not without a lot of fuss.

'This man is smart, Tomansio said. 'Using Danal's apartment was a superb misdirection.

'But how could he have got out? Oscar asked. 'They would have seen any capsule lifting from the apartments.

'Stealth? Beckia suggested. She wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction. 'But if he's got a stealth capsule why would he actually commune with the gaiafield from Danal's apartment? That doesn't make any sense.

'The only practical escape route would be some kind of tunnel not on the city plans, Tomansio said. 'And the apartments are being refurbished by a whole load of different developers. That would give him plenty of scope for such an activity.

'That presupposes he knew he'd need an escape tunnel, Oscar said. 'How would he know Ethan was going to annex the whole planet and flood the city with paramilitaries?

'Connections in Living Dream, Beckia said with a baffled tone. She shook her head. 'That doesn't make any sense either. If you have those kind of connections, why go on the lam like this?

'You don't suppose this is Inigo, do you? Oscar suggested.

Tomansio pulled a breath through clenched teeth. 'I'd hate to rule it out, but this simply isn't Inigo's way of doing things. Hi' doesn't need to sneak around. For a start, his word alone is the only thing which could stop Ethan's insane Pilgrimage.

'Not so insane, Beckia muttered. 'And not so easily stopped. Not any more. The whole of the Greater Commonwealth just watched Justine's ship go through the barrier. The Second Dreamer can get the Pilgrimage inside. That's a phenomenal boost to Living Dream's credibility.

'It also secures Ethan's leadership, Tomansio said. 'Even if Inigo did turn up now, he might not have the authority to pull it off.

'Wouldn't be the first time a religion outgrows its messiah, Oscar said.

'No indeed. So… we're left with the same problem everyone else has: finding this extremely slippery Second Dreamer.

'I don't believe in secret tunnels, Oscar said. He drank some of his coffee, enjoying the bitter liquid burning its way down his throat. It had been a long time since he'd got some sleep. 'There's something about this which isn't right.

'Care to elaborate?

'I can't, unfortunately. I'm just not convinced that the Second Dreamer is some kind of supersmart covert operative. Living Dream had to out him in the first place, now he's communing with a Skylord, which is something Inigo never managed. That doesn't come over as someone who's thought out the consequences of their actions.

'He managed to elude us, Tomansio said reasonably. 'That takes a lot of talent and thought.

'Does it? No offence, but we were rushed, as was the welcome team.

'The welcome team has spent months training for this.

Oscar gave the bottom of his coffee mug a miserable glance. 'I don't know. I just don't get what his long plan is. Everything he's done says to me that he's reacting to events, not controlling them. What we have is a normal bloke caught up in monstrous events and doing his best to keep afloat.

'He could be getting help from some Faction, Beckia said.

'From what my source tells me, he hasn't, Oscar said. 'But we can't rule it out.

'Okay, enough, Tomansio said. 'It's pointless to argue this. Once we find him, we can ask him. In the meantime, we have ourselves the mother of all shadow operations here. He opened a secure link to Liatris. 'Have you located Araminta for me yet?

'No. Sorry, boss. She's disconnected her u-shadow from the Unisphere. Hardly surprising after the apartment raid. I've got monitor programs loaded into every node in the city ready for when she comes back on line. Interestingly, so do a number of other people. And I'm also watching her credit account, but until she comes back out of the Stone Age she's invisible to me.

'All right, what about her history? Anything there to clue us in? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Someone she'll turn to?

'She's an interesting girl. Recently divorced.

'Husband's location?

'On Oaktier, and migrating inwards.

'Ozzie! Okay, give me something in the city, even if it's just which salon she uses.

'She doesn't have a regular salon.

'Liatris!

'Don't panic, I've got some nuggets for you. And trust me, this took some serious reference matching on her data patterns.

'Go.

'Her cousin, who handled the divorce, is Cressida, a very senior partner in the best law firm in town—extremely well connected locally. And, incidentally, she and a whole group of friends are just about to mug Ethan. Get this, they've hired a passenger ship from Dunbavand lines, one with full diplomatic status to evacuate themselves.

'Really? Tomansio's mind popped a burst of mischievous delight into the gaiafield.

'Relevant? Oscar asked.

'The Dunbavand family is a major Far Away political force. God help Living Dream if they try and interfere with their ship's flight schedule. Forget diplomats squabbling in the Senate; the original Dunbavand patriarch was a Starflyer War hero, which gives his descendants a certain kind of very stubborn mindset. They really would consider dispatching a warship into Viotia orbit to enforce their right of passage. Smart lady, this Cressida.

'One of the tickets she booked is for Araminta, Liatris told them. 'She's also trying to find an offworld investment consortium to buy Araminta's apartment development project.

'Then we watch Cressida.

'Already set up. I've got more scrutineers and monitors surrounding her than Living Dream have followers.

'Excellent. Until Araminta makes contact with Cressida we concentrate on our original objective, riding the welcome team's data wave. Anything from Cheriton?

'No. He's gone down to the docks with Mareble to try and get Danal out of major Honilar's clutches. Once he's done that, we'll have us a very strong ally among the confluence nest technicians.

It might have been the lack of sleep this morning, or the really very strong coffee numbing his synapses, but Oscar was slow mulling over their discussion. Why is she hiding? The welcome team raid was scary, sure, but that wouldn't make her do this, unless she was in the apartment block. And if she was there…

'Araminta also spent a weekend with Likan, Liatris said.

'No shit? Tomansio said.

'I'm not sure it's significant. Likan normally works his way through two or three women a week in addition to his harem, and Araminta seems to have been playing the field since her divorce.

'I used to work for Nigel Sheldon, Oscar said. 'I even met him a couple of times when Wilson and I were building up the Navy. He'd be horrified about this modern ideology that's hijacked his name.

'And the relevance is? an exasperated Tomansio asked.

Oscar gave him an apologetic shrug. 'Sorry. Just thinking.

'Is she seeing anyone special? Tomansio asked Liatris.

'Not that I've found yet. I'm running traffic analysis on her capsule, but it's got to be slow and discreet, there are another three similar investigations that I spotted, and that's in addition to Living Dream, which is now officially interested in her. But the local police have found her trike. It was parked at the Tala mall yesterday afternoon. Her last confirmed sighting. Major Honilar has ordered the records from every city sensor to be shoved through visual recognition filters to work out where she went. That should keep them busy for the rest of the day.

'Thanks, Liatris.

'She has to be able to tell us something, Beckia said. 'She had to be badly frightened to vanish like this. I guess that's what Major Honilar does to people.

'Agreed.

Oscar grinned at the two of them. Beckia had said it without even realising, but then it would take someone with his background to make that particular connection. If anyone in the Commonwealth knew all about vanishing, and staying vanished, it was Oscar Monroe. Which just left motivation…

Tomansio caught the grin and frowned. 'What?

'Don't you get it? Oscar was delighted with himself. Well, how about that, the old relic has still got it.

'Get what? Beckia asked.

'I spent decades living a lie, hiding my actual self from everyone I knew and loved and worked with. It's actually a lot easier than you'd think. So I guess it takes one to know one.

Tomansio's square jaw dropped. 'Oh great Ozzie… you think?

'I think it's highly likely.

Beckia hunched forwards, giving Oscar an astonished look. She's the Second Dreamer?

'Give me a better candidate.

'Bloody hell.

'It won't take Honilar long to work it out.

'And when he does, she'll be in deep shit, Tomansio said urgently. 'No local girl will able to stay ahead of the welcome team.

'She's done pretty well so far, Oscar protested.

'You can only get so far on luck, and she's used up her quota. We need to supply some help. Liatris, start laying a false data trail for the good major.

'Give me ten minutes, I'll have him running all over town.

'She was there, wasn't she? Beckia said with growing admiration. 'Somehow. In the apartment when we were looking.

'Unless she spent last month digging a tunnel, yes, Oscar said.

Tomansio gave him a certain look. 'It's still cordoned off.

'Let's go.

Their borrowed capsule was parked on the pad outside. Oscar raced past the waitress, feeling only mildly guilty for not leaving a tip.

It took Araminta two cups of tea and half the packet of biscuits to work up enough nerve to shove the crate to one side and open the door a fraction. There was no one in the vestibule. No sound from anywhere inside the building as far as she could tell. Outside, it was different. The angry shouting was loud. There were thuds as lumps of stone and concrete landed around the paramilitary troops; glass was being smashed constantly. The distinct humming of capsules ebbed and flowed. She strapped on her tool belt, shrugged into a thick fleece jacket to cover it, and headed for the stairwell.

The cordon included a shield reinforcing the broad garage door, which buzzed as if a high voltage current was running through it. In the dim lighting which pervaded the ramp, Araminta could just see a dull sparkle shimmering off the door's surface. There was no way she could get out, it would take a good quantity of enhanced explosives to break through. She turned and headed to the other side of the garage which contained the utilities support area. It was dark inside the first room. Still reluctant to use any power, she fished a torch out of her belt, and walked between two rows of big tanks. At the far end was a smaller door into the waste handling room. She'd only been in here a couple of times before, to make sure the interface with her new units was compatible.

Bulky, quite primitive-looking, machinery filled most of the space; big metal spheres with lots of piping snaking about between them. Araminta wiggled between a couple of water sanitizer cisterns. Behind them, the side wall was a sheer surface of reinforced enzyme-bonded concrete. Just above her head was a rectangular hole where six feed pipes went outside to connect with the main civic water supply. The gap between the top of the pipes and the edge of the concrete was about half a metre. She clambered up one of the sanitizer cisterns, wincing every time she gripped a hot pipe by mistake. That put her level with the hole. A metal grid covered the far end. Grass and soil was pressed up against it.

Gritting her teeth in determination, she dropped her thick fleece and wormed her head and shoulders into the hole. She still had to stretch to apply the power socket against the grille's locking bolts. They were stiff from disuse, and she was scared of making too much noise with the power socket; but after several minutes cursing and blinking sweat from her eyes, the grille came loose. Then it took another five minutes pushing and shoving before the grass and soil gave way. The tool belt had to be discarded before she could claw her way through the uncomfortably claustrophobic gap.

Araminta crawled out onto the narrow strip of grass between the apartment wall and the wooden fence. Blouse torn on snags, skin scratched and bleeding, trouser knees muddy, hair a tangled mess, hot, flushed, and sweaty. She glared back at the little hole. I can't have put on that much weight!

The noise of the crowd was a lot louder. Amplified voices were constantly warning them to back off. A capsule slid over the band of sky above her. She quickly pulled her tool belt out of the hole, and started using the screwdriver on the fence boards. With three of them unfastened she could slip through the triangular opening and into an almost identical strip of ground on the other side. The neighbouring building was a combination of retail and office units; half of which were unoccupied and available for a low rent. She crept along the side of the building to the waste casket bay at the back. The gates beyond opened on to a thin alley of badly cracked concrete. Someone had left an old jacket on the ledge running along the bay. She pulled it on over her torn blouse, and slung the tool belt over her shoulder. Then taking a breath she sauntered out into the alley.

Two of Ellezelin's armour-suited paramilitaries were standing on cordon duty outside the back gate to the apartment block. Araminta ignored them, and walked off down the alley. Every second she expected a challenge, but it never came. After twenty metres she made a sharp left turn down another alley, taking her out of their view. Then she just kept walking.

After for ever he strode through a white jungle. Trees of translucent crystal towered above him, refracting a soft shimmer of pure sunlight, sprouting long white leaves. The undergrowth was thick, creepers and bushes mangled into dense tangles of silver hues that were impossible to push through. White clouds scudded overhead. A cloying mist wove long swirling streamers round the shiny tree trunks, reducing visibility. White birds darted about, triangles of feathers fluttering fast. White rodents scampered round his booted feet. His boots were clotted with white mud from the steaming loam.

'I know it's difficult, said the voice behind the trees. 'But you have to choose.

He longed for colour. Darkness, even. But all the jungle offered was faint shadows. Shapes were starting to blur together. Losing cohesion. The blazing universe was absorbing him. When he lifted up his hands they were hard to see. White on white. Just looking at them was dizzying.

'You can lose yourself. Lose what is. Lose what you have done. Your life will never have existed. Sometimes I wish I could offer that to myself.

Then the enemy started to close in. He saw them all around, little flickers of motion darting through the undergrowth. They were waiting for him. He knew it. It was an ambush.

He yelled defiance at them. His biononics unleashed a terrible burst of energy. Clumps of undergrowth disintegrated into kinetic maelstroms. He was thrown from side to side by the sharp leaf and stone fragments swatting against him. Vision reduced, but still it was all white: in front, on both sides, above, below. White. White. White.

Through it all crept the enemy — malicious, determined, lethal. He blasted away at them. Seeing them burn. Powerful white flame consumed them, sending torrents of white smoke into the sky.

Shot after shot was fired into the suffocating uniform whiteness. It began to constrict about him. No matter how violent his energy discharges they couldn't penetrate it.

'Help me, he cried out to the voice. 'Take me out of this. I choose. I choose! I remember I chose. I wanted not to happen.

He could no longer tell which way was up, and tumbled through the whiteness. His own screams were loud in his ears as the whiteness slipped and banged against his suit visor. Then he hit something which stopped his headlong rush with a suddenness that knocked the wind from him. There at last was another colour, red sparkles of pain danced across his vision as he drew a desperate breath. He closed his eyes, squeezing the lids shut then blinking them open.

Shards of grey-black rock lay sizzling against the ice, slowly sinking in through the puddles they were creating.

'Shit, Aaron groaned gloomily. He forced himself on to all fours, then slowly staggered upright.

The whiteout had got to him, providing an insidious outlet for the demons churning around his subconscious.

What the hell is inside me? What did I try and cast away?

He shook his head, running a full status check through his biononic systems, and reviewed the routines in his macrocellular clusters as well. Cooler air blew into his helmet, allowing him to take some sobering breaths. Looking around he saw he'd left the field of ice boulders behind. The wind had dropped, leaving just a few flurries of snow skipping through the air. Steam was pushing up out of a dozen craters where his energy shots had vaporized the ice. He could see the serrated crystalline boulders lining the horizon behind him. Exovision superimposed his route, sketching it with simple lines of glowing orange. The ground crawler had been easy to follow through the field, scraping past boulders to leave crumbled shards on the ground, or where Inigo had simply carved his way through the smaller gaps. Now they were out on the open top of the glacier it was hard to tell.

Aaron trotted away from the area he'd devastated, circling round. There was no indication of the ground crawler at all. The thin dusting of ice shifted continually, completely eradicating any sign of the tracks. As he stood and watched, his own footprints were smeared away behind him almost as soon as he made them. There was no residual heat signature. It had been at least six hours since Inigo and Corrie-Lyn had driven out of the boulder field. On this frozen world, their infrared traces would have vanished within twenty minutes.

He had absolutely no way of telling which way they'd gone.

'Fuck it. There were no options left. His inertial guidance mapped a route back to Jajaani, via the Olhava camp, the only route he was sure didn't have glacier cliffs or other obstacles. Not that he'd ever get there before the planet imploded, he reflected; but if any rescue attempt was going to happen, that would be where the starship landed. It was all he had left. Simply lying down and waiting for the end wasn't him. Whoever me is.

He started to run again. His biononic energy currents reconfigured to scream a distress signal into the eternal storm.

The local star's azure spectrum shone brightly on the hull of the Mellanie's Redemption as it dropped out of hyperspace five hundred kilometres above Orakum. Troblum accessed the external sensors, seeing a planet that was essentially the same as every human-settled world in the Greater Commonwealth. Blue oceans swathed in puffy white cloud, brown land masses with a fuzz of green. Its electromagnetic emissions were a lot lower than a Central world, reflecting the relatively small population of Advancers and naturals. The kind of world that provided an ideal quiet life. Knowing what he did about Oscar Monroe, Troblum wasn't at all surprised that the old War hero had chosen this place to settle

He ordered the starship's smartcore to enter the atmosphere in full stealth mode. His muscles ached from the crouch position he'd been compressed into for the last ten hours. Even now that he'd finally made some headway into cataloguing and arranging the components into distinct piles, the starboard midsection hold was still badly cramped. He was beginning to worry about the assembly process, which was going to require a decent volume to work in. Not that he was anywhere close to starting that yet.

When Mellanie's Redemption passed through the ionosphere he went back into the cabin and took a quick spore shower. There were still sore patches on his skin where the medical module had repaired the damage he'd received at Florae's villa.

'You should put some cream on those, Catriona told him. The beautiful girl's curly hair bobbed about as she tilted her head to one side, registering deep concern.

'It doesn't matter, he grunted back.

'It matters to us, Trisha cooed.

Troblum pulled his shabby purple toga suit on, somehow strangely concerned about his dignity in front of the two girls. Having them see him naked was oddly disquieting. Back at the Arevalo apartment they never did, the daily routines were all perfectly established. He was comfortable with those. But here in the starship's cabin there was little privacy, and the projectors could throw the images just about everywhere. 'Thank you, he said, hoping it would shut them up — he didn't want to load in program restrictions, not now he'd constructed their personalities so perfectly. 'I'm all right. The last seam on the suit fastened up, and he straightened himself without wincing.

'What are you going to ask him? Tricia asked as the starship sank down through the clouds. Far below the fuselage the sensors had already picked out the white circle of the house set in its rambling grounds on the edge of a vast prairie of native vegetation.

'I just want five minutes of his time, that's all. Then this will all be over.

Troblum switched the stealth effect off when they were below five hundred metres. The starship settled on the big patch of level grass where two capsules were already parked in the shade of tall reddish-brown trees. He walked down the airlock stairs, sniffing the faint alien pollen in the air. Two figures were already hurrying down the spiral stair that was wrapped round the house's central pillar. Although he normally hated the countryside, Troblum had to admit the raised house in this bucolic setting was fabulous.

His u-shadow reported pings being aimed at him by the men walking towards him. He responded courteously enough with his identity certificate, praying they wouldn't send too many queries about him into the Unisphere. The Accelerators would be waiting for any giveaway, though even if they confirmed his location he should be relatively safe from Marius here.

'I'm Dushiku, the first man said. 'Can we help you?

'Is that really your starship? the second one asked. He was younger, definitely a first lifer, everything about him leaked eagerness and an endearing naivety, not just his gaiafield presence. 'It looks fantastic'

'Thank you.

'Are those wings?

'Heat radiators.

'Oh.

'Jesaral, enough, Dushiku chided.

'Sorry.

'I'd like to speak to Oscar, please, Troblum said.

Their attitude changed immediately. Dushiku chopped off his gaiafield emissions as his face hardened. While Jesaral pouted and allowed a wave of upset and worry to spill out of his mind.

'Oscar is not here, Dushiku said stiffly.

'Have I said something wrong?

'No, Jesaral said, his handsome face frowned in misery. 'It's just that Oscar isn't very popular round here right now. He left us in a hurry a few days ago. Apparently we don't mean nearly as much to him as he does to us. That's always good to know, isn't it? Poor old Anja is still crying her eyes out.

Dushiku's arm went round the younger man's shoulder, squeezing in comfort. 'It's okay, he'll be back.

'Who cares? Jesaral said with sudden contempt.

'Do you know when he'll be back? Troblum asked.

'No. Dushiku gave him a sharp look. 'Do you know him?

'We have a mutual friend. It is rather important I contact him.

'His u-shadow is blocking our calls, Jesaral said. 'But don't let that put you off, you might have better luck.

'I'll try that, thank you.

'Really? Dushiku said. 'Why didn't you do that originally instead of coming here?

'I, er… Troblum's social program reported that Dushiku was becoming irate and curious, and he should say something soothing. It didn't say what. 'It's complicated. Where's he gone?

'Ask her, Jesaral said with a effusive glower.

'Who?

'That Paula Myo character. She was the last of his old friends to turn up here unannounced. I didn't know there were so many of you.

Troblum stood perfectly still, staring at the now-wary men. That's a big coincidence. Very big. Why would Paula visit Oscar? And what is he doing now? Could they be working together? I didn't see him at Florae's villa.

'Do you know her? Dushiku asked.

'I know of her. I have to go now. Troblum turned, and made for the airlock ramp.

'Hey!

'Sorry to have bothered you.

'What the hell did you want from him?

'Nothing. Nothing at all.

'Who in Ozzie's universe are you people?

With the ramp under his feet, Troblum felt a lot safer. I U was already ordering the smartcore to power up the drive.

'Give him back to us, Jesaral yelled. 'I want Oscar back. I want my Oscar. You bastard.

The airlock closed. Mellanie's Redemption lifted immediately, accelerating hard, only just keeping subsonic. Troblum knew that was ridiculous, Oscar's lovers didn't present the remotest threat. Yet he wanted to get away from them fast. The stealth effect shrouded the fuselage in a refractive smear as they reached the cloud level. Troblum checked, but there were no sensors probing the sky hunting for him.

'Well they were terrifying, Tricia said contemptuously. She and Catriona were snuggled up together on the cabin's long couch.

'Worse than the Cat.

'You were lucky to get out of there alive.

'Shut up, Troblum snapped.

Both girls pouted, then turned to each other, pawing and stroking like kittens. Troblum ignored them and slumped into a big chair. He was still shocked by the revelation. Paula Myo had visited Oscar! It was the last thing he'd expected. He let out a small grunt of admiration. That was it. Of course, those two working together would be the last thing anyone would expect. So what's he doing for her?

The starship reached four hundred kilometres altitude. Troblum told it to go ftl, and fly ten light years clear from Orakum.

Oscar's Unisphere code hung in his storage cluster. Immensely tempting. But since Sholapur he simply didn't trust the unisphere. Knowing Oscar and Paula were in contact surely gave him some kind of advantage. He just couldn't think what.

Catriona raised her head, and gave him an affectionate look. 'So where are we going?

'Nowhere, he said, coming to a decision. 'I'm going to assemble the ultradrive. After that I'll do what I can to warn Paula and ANA. At least if it all goes wrong then, I can run.

Paula hadn't visited Paris for decades. The city had reduced considerably since its heyday of the First Commonwealth era. ANA had been as ruthless here as it had everywhere on Earth, pruning away buildings it considered irrelevant. Residual national nostalgia didn't carry much weight in its hard-nosed analysis. However, the truly historic remained. The Eiffel Tower, of course. Arc de Triomphe. Notre Dame. The Palais de la Concorde. Most of the original buildings along the Seine.

She teleported in from Sky Pier station above Bordeaux, materializing outside the ancient five-storey building where she'd spent so many centuries working before the days of ANA and Higher culture. Beside the door, the original brass sign still gleamed against the dull stonework.

INTERSOLAR COMMONWEALTH

SERIOUS CRIMES DIRECTORATE

Paula gave it a melancholy smile, and walked into the marbled entrance hall. So many memories haunted this place. Embedded in the structure, they sprang to life everywhere she looked. Images and sounds stronger than the gaiafield could ever produce, and far more meaningful. All those colleagues she'd worked with over the centuries, the cases they'd solved, the battles against innumerable chiefs and political appointees and lawyers. They all echoed round her, welcoming her back.

An ANAdroid was waiting for her at the lift door, a human simulacrum with featureless gold-brown skin. It wore a simple blue and green suit uniform identical to all its kind. There were tens of thousands of them in the city, performing the maintenance and support functions which the antique buildings and their priceless contents needed. Stabilizer generators alone couldn't preserve the city's fabric, not when it was still in use by nearly eighty thousand humans.

'Welcome back, Investigator Myo, it said as the lift doors opened. The voice was as genderless as the body.

'Thank you. Paula put her hand on the security pad, allowing the management system to confirm her DNA. Her u-shadow then had to go through a further lengthy authorization procedure before the lift would descend. They passed through at least two force fields on their way down to the vault. There was also an exotic energy scrambler field around the three sub-levels, preventing anyone from teleporting in, or opening a wormhole inside.

The lift opened into a long hall. It reminded Paula of the ANA reception facilities, where thousands of recently downloaded bodies waited to see if their minds would adapt to the expansion and freedom inside ANA itself. Only here, instead of the glowing violet spheres, the floor supported long rows of dark sarcophagi.

'This way, the ANAdroid said, and gestured politely.

Paula accompanied it, their footsteps echoing round the vault. 'How many are stored here? she asked.

'We currently provide suspension for eighteen hundred and forty-three people.

She wondered how many she was responsible for entombing down here. A good percentage, I'll guess.

'Most still have several hundred years to serve on their sentence, the ANAdroid said. 'Some exceptional cases will remain down here a great deal longer. A few are even scheduled to remain for longer than the city has already existed.

'Yes, Paula said as they stopped beside one of the bulky suspension cases. And this is one of them. 'I'd like to see her, please.

'You may use a field scan. It will not interfere with the suspension systems, they are quite robust.

'Open it.

'As you wish.

The suspension case's malmetal lid flowed apart. Paula looked down at the body inside. The Cat lay there, her body webbed with the silver threads used to provide long-term suspension, ensuring her cells remained intact throughout the sluggish centuries as she lay poised on the cusp between life and death. 'All hail Schrodinger, Paula muttered. Her field scan swept through the Cat, confirming the small scars and burn patches that she'd acquired in that last ferocious firefight which resulted in her capture. The hospital had healed her for the trial. At the time, several senior members of the Directorate, and indeed the President's office itself, had questioned why Paula had allowed her to survive. Political types to whom the rule of law was an irksome guideline to be bent or broken with impunity at every convenience.

Paula nodded in satisfaction. This was definitely her old adversary. The original one at least. Not that originality stood for much any more.

'How many people have visited her?

The ANAdroid wasn't designed for surprise, but it somehow managed to convey that impression. 'Your inspection three hundred and eighty years ago is the only one, Investigator.

'Thank you, she told the ANAdroid. That was the time when a political group on Far Away had boasted that they'd managed to extract their idol from purgatory. They hadn't of course, it was just a bid to gain more influence.

The lid flowed back into place, sealing the Cat back into a darkness that was due to last for another four thousand years.

'Are you satisfied now? ANA: Governance asked as Paula emerged out into the mellow Parisian daylight.

'Not entirely, no.

'It is not possible to break into the Directorate vault.

'I know. But there are a few other possibilities. Resurrecting her is something I've given a lot of thought to over the centuries. There are still plenty of fanatics out there.

'The Knights Guardian don't actually want her alive and walking round. It is politically convenient to have a leader who will return in the far future. That gives them plenty of leeway.

'Now where have I heard that before.

'This is a strange weakness of yours, Paula.

'We're all entitled to one.

'So do you still believe it was her on Sholapur?

'I think it's a strong possibility that I encountered a full clone version.

'Her DNA is probably easy to obtain. But where would they get a copy of her memory? We know she never had a secure store, she was too worried your Directorate would gain access to it.

'Her weakness, Paula said flatly. 'However, there is one copy that I know of. I'll check it out.

'I'm not being critical, but there are other matters that require attention. Quite urgent attention. If the respite Justine has bought us is to have any value, I must know what the Accelerators are planning.

'Are you trying to guilt me into chasing round after Marius and his cronies?

'I have to use guilt?

'If the Cat has been brought back in some form by the Accelerators, they clearly want her for some very dirty deniable work. But, as I suspect they're discovering, she's not easy to control. Her personal agenda will always come first. I can use that to catch her. Once she's in custody, she can be fully interrogated.

'An interesting application of logic'

'But logical nonetheless.

'Assuming you're correct about Sholapur.

'I believe a great deal of my usefulness to you comes from my instinct, a facet of personality you have yet to acquire.

'Correct.

'Thank you. However, you are right about following other leads. I reviewed Troblum's file on my way here. That presentation he made to Kazimir was very interesting.

'Yes. I considered it to be well argued, and highly plausible.

'That's not what I mean. It implies he has a very strong knowledge of the Dark Fortress itself.

'The Navy maintains an effective force around the Dyson Pair, it would not be possible for him to gain access to either of I hem.

'It would if he was part of the Navy science team. There aren't many people, especially Highers, who have his physical profile. Please review all the Navy personnel to have served at the Dyson Pair since the Starflyer War.

There wasn't even a moment of hesitation. 'That was an excellent deduction. I have the file.

Paula examined it. The identity was recorded as one Kent Vernon, a physicist from Salto. Exoimage showed her a face similar to Troblum's, but with ebony skin. 'He darkened his pigmentation considerably, though that face is definitely recognizable. Oh, of course, that name. He is descended from Mark Vernon. She smiled at the memory of Mark, a man really out of his depth, but a thoroughly decent human being. 'And Mark was married to Liz, who was Afro-American. Very neat, she complimented. 'If lacking in imagination. I'm surprised his Accelerator controller allowed that.

'He served a six month tour duty on the Navy Exploration Division science ship Poix fifty-six years ago, ANA reported. 'That particular research mission was concentrating on the inner two lattice spheres. They made some progress mapping tin-integral quantum function. Though the navy project is still ongoing; we still don't quite understand the mechanism behind the Dark Fortress.

'Even you?

'Even me.

'And according to his file "Kent Vernon" subsequently downloaded into you, Paula said as she scanned the exoimage. 'That ties up any loose ends as far as an inconvenient outside investigation is concerned. So let's see what real facts we can find. Her u-shadow called up the records from Troblum's apartment, and Daroca's utilities. Those for the period fifty-six years ago were already deep cached, but they were soon accessed with her authority rating. 'Look at that power consumption rate, she said.

'Nominal, for ten years. Implying Troblum wasn't there. Whatever he was doing took him off Arevalo for a decade.

'What kind of device takes a decade to build?

'His planet-shifting ftl drive has taken longer.

'Yes, but that was his personal obsession, and he was doing it with a minimal MEA budget. What would take the Accelerators ten years, with all their resources? And how is it connected to Dark Fortress technology?

'That was what Troblum wanted to tell you.

'Why didn't he just come straight out with it? she said in annoyance.

'He is a genuine paranoid. Understandably, given the clandestine projects he's been associated with, and under the supervision of Marius. A paranoia which was fully vindicated by events on Sholapur. He has probably left the Commonwealth altogether now. His starship seems quite capable of such a flight, even without ultradrive.

'I'd certainly like to leave, so I can believe that, Paula admitted. 'Unfortunately, wishful thinking is a luxury right now. List everyone who served with Troblum, and mine their history, please; start with his captain.

'The captain of the Poix was Donald Chatfield. A Higher, currently resident on Ganthia.

'All right, I concede this is more pertinent than the lead I have on the Cat. I'll go and interview Chatfield.

'As you wish.

'And you really can't guess what the Accelerators might have built?

'No. According to Gore, they wish to duplicate me and fuse this replica with the Void to initiate post-physical evolution. The systems to initialize another such as myself would be complex, but they wouldn't require any input from the Dark Fortress technology.

'Will that fusion work?

'Who knows?

'Very well, I'll call in as soon as I have something. Paula activated her field interface function, designating her exit coordinate. Earth's T-sphere immediately translated her back up to Sky Pier. As she crossed the reception centre to the station terminus her u-shadow told her Kazimir was calling.

'Bad news, he said.

Paula's heart performed a little flutter. There weren't many people left in the galaxy she cared about, but Justine was one of them. 'Justine?

'No. I have no further information on mother, which as far as I'm concerned is good news… But I am in contact with the Lindau.

'I don't know the ship.

'It's the Navy scout I dispatched to Hanko to monitor the whole Aaron situation for you.

'And?

'They don't have the best sensors in the fleet, but there's something wrong with the planet.

'Wrong in what way?

'Its gravity. We believe someone has fired a Hawking m-sink into it.

'Oh Christ. No! Why would they do that? It's a dead planet anyway.

'The Restoration project base at Jajaani has stopped broadcasting. Lindau is still picking up some of the project's surface beacons, so it looks as if the base itself was targeted.

'But an m-sink? That's a monstrous overkill. We know those ships were ultradrive, they'll be equipped with weapons powerful enough to take out an undefended civilian base.

'I don't know the reason, I'm just reporting the results. Naturally, there's no sign of either ultradrive ship.

'Naturally.

'However—

'Ah! Yes?

'The Lindau has also picked up a very powerful distress signal from the surface. It's a standard biononic emission. Nobody listed as a member of the Restoration team was Higher.

'So it's either Aaron, or Inigo himself.

'Yes. Which leaves me with a rather painful decision. With an m-sink eating away at its core, that planet isn't going to last much longer. The Lindau estimates a few hours more at best before the mantle starts to readjust prior to implosion, at which point nothing is going to survive. So, do they land at Jajaani and see if there are any survivors?

'No, she said immediately. 'They have to recover whoever is sending that signal with biononics.

'One person.

'If the m-sink hit at Jajaani, there will be nothing to recover from there, not even bodies, and certainly not any secure memory stores. Everyone working in Restoration projects knows there are risks, they all have back up memories and DNA samples on their homeworld. They will be re-lifed. If there is the slightest chance that survivor is Inigo, or can tell us where Inigo is, then you have to rescue them.

'I was thinking along those lines myself, but it's always satisfying to receive your endorsement. I'll speak with the captain, and keep you updated.

'Kazimir.

'Yes?

'Warn them to take extreme precautions. If it is Aaron down on the surface, there's no telling what he'll do.

'I know. I'll emphasise the need for caution.

Paula drew a deep breath, and gazed down through the transparent hull section of Sky Pier's reception centre. Bordeaux was spread out below the station, lush and beautiful in the lazy sunlight. She'd visited a few times when the vineyards were still producing their renown wine, and the remaining citizens stubbornly resisted the advances which the Commonwealth provided. Something about the area and its culture had made her feel comfortable and welcome, satisfying that deep human yearning for a simple life, a fundamental which had never been sequenced out of her psyche by her creators. She wondered what its long-departed people would make of today's life with all its associated bizarre problems. Somehow she suspected they'd be less than impressed.

Looking down on the region again, a small part of her wanted to just teleport down there and settle in one of the remaining homes. Cut off communication, deactivate her biononics; leaving her far away from Kazimir and Aaron and Marius and the Cat, and all the rest of it. Supposedly, there were several primitive groups on Earth, living as their ancestors had two thousand years ago. ANA always denied it, but rumours persisted. Not this time, though, she decided. So she walked into the terminus with its glowing Cherenkov light from the wormhole which led back to Orleans. From there another wormhole connected directly to Arevalo. By the time she got back to Daroca spaceport, the Alexis Denken would have been resupplied, and the medical chamber replaced. The starship would be ready to fly her onwards. Again.

It had been over a year since Araminta had visited the house. At the time, she'd looked on the compact drycoral building as a development project, seeing costs and returns in everything, ignoring the family which had welcomed her in and given her a lovely Sunday dinner. Now, when the door opened, and Tandra's face peered out, Araminta couldn't help herself, she burst into tears. Life hadn't been so bad back when she was waiting tables in Nik's. It really hadn't, she'd been part of a larger collective family, Tandra and the other waitresses had included her in their gossip and lives, they'd hung out together between shifts, and some evenings they'd gone out in a big group having a good time even though she'd been flat broke. The very same people she'd ignored and left behind once Laril's money had come through. Tandra's immediate unqualified concern and graciousness at the stray appearing unannounced on her doorstep simply made Araminta feel even more wretched.

'There there, Tandra crooned and gave her a motherly hug. 'It's all right. Martyn, her husband was also attentive, clearing the kids' toys from the settee in the living room. Mixal and Freddy, their five-year-old twins, were given fruit smoothies to hush them up while Araminta blew into tissues and tried to get her sobbing under control. 'I'm sorry, she wailed. 'I shouldn't have come. I've nowhere else to go. And at the back of her mind was the worry that just by being here she was putting Tandra's family in danger.

'You're more than welcome, and you know that, her old friend told her. 'Did you have a fight? Have you left him? She was giving Araminta's roughed up clothes a highly suspicious examination.

'No. Nothing like that. There's a whole bunch of people in the park outside my apartment. They're very angry. The invader soldiers are there as well. I was frightened.

'Those bastards, Martyn grunted.

Tandra shot him a warning look, her gaze darting pointedly to the twins who were watching intently over the back of a chair they were sharing. 'Yes they are unpleasant people, who have behaved wrongly, she said with parental formality. 'However, the law will prevail, and they will be expelled from our world.

Martyn rolled his eyes. 'Yes. They will.

'And until they do, you can sleep on the couch, Tandra assured her.

'Just for one night, Araminta promised. 'That's all. I need to get myself back together.

'No boyfriend? Martyn asked.

'Not right now, Araminta lied.

He didn't say anything, but his tight little smile triggered a fresh wave of Araminta's guilt. She didn't dare delve into the gaiafield to learn his emotional state.

'We're staying here at home for the rest of the afternoon, Tandra said. 'The twins are having the day off school as a treat, aren't you?

'Yes! they yelled gleefully.

Martyn was looking out of the window. 'How did you get here?

'Walked.

'From where?

'Hodant.

'Th;it's miles!

'They won't allow capsules to fly, and my trike pod is being fixed.

Tandra and Martyn exchanged a look. 'You sit there and rest, Tandra said. I'll give those clothes a wash. Martyn, some tea.

'Coming right up.

'Thank you, Araminta said meekly.

Tandra waited until he'd vanished into the galley kitchen. 'Anything else you need to tell me?

Araminta shook her head. 'I really will go in the morning. I've already got an idea what to do. There's someone I need to talk to. I'll call him tomorrow. When I've worked out how to.

'Okay. I'd better go get a robe for you. Martyn will have a heart attack if he sees you walking round the place in your underwear. She patted her own legs. 'He's only used to women a size or ten bigger than a youngster like you.

Araminta grinned. 'I missed you.

'Sure you did. Out there enjoying yourself every night, I bet you thought of me the whole time. She gave the twins a critical look. 'I swore I'd never have any kids again this life around, this one would be for me, but what the hell… A girl doesn't stand a chance with a Love God like Marty.

Araminta started laughing. Then stopped, casting a guilty look at the kitchen archway.

'That's better, Tandra said. 'You have the world's greatest smile, honey, that's why the rest of us always insisted on pooling the tips on your shifts. She ruffled both of the children as she went past. They gave her an adoring look. 'I just love the sleepless nights, the worry, losing my figure, no money, and lack of sex. It's character building.

'I'm going to find out myself one day.

'Sure you will. And your introduction starts today. Her voice rose a couple of levels. 'Guess what, Aunty Araminta is on dinner duty tonight. Then she's going to give you both a bath and wash your hair.

'Yes! the twins yelled jubilantly.

'Still want to stay?

'Oh yes, Araminta said. This house, Tandra, the twins: it felt like an oasis of decency amid the madness raging outside. After the last two days, she badly needed to remind herself what normal was. Then I might be able to work out how to get back there myself.

Seven hundred years ago, Wilson Kime had officially handed over control of the Commonwealth Navy to Kazimir. It was the fifth time Wilson had held the role of Supreme Commander, on that occasion it was essentially a ceremonial appointment, lasting a single year before he downloaded into ANA. His final farewell to the physical.

After the formal hand over for the benefit of the President, senior Senators, and Unisphere reporters, the two of them had gone up to the Admiral's office on the top floor of the thirty-storey Pentagon II tower. Wilson had given Kazimir two pieces of advice as they stood looking across the agreeable parkland of the Babuyan Atoll dome.

'Don't ever give in to political pressure, Wilson had said. 'I've been President myself, so I know the convenience of a military who'll snap to and say yes to every dark instruction you issue. Resist them. Stick to the fundamentals. We have two roles as ordained by the Senate in more honourable times: protecting the human race in all its forms against alien aggressors, and peaceful scientific exploration of the galaxy. That's all. Don't let the Executive wear that down. The general population must have faith in us.

'I can hold the line, Kazimir assured him.

'And second, feel free to change this goddamn office. I always hated it; never got round to redecorating, so now every crappy white molecule qualifies as tradition because this is the way it was when we gained our victory over MorningLightMountain. Every other admiral from Rafael onwards just rolled over and accepted that. I want you to give the conservation fascists a good kicking and bring in your own furniture.

Kazimir smiled at the man's strange passion. They shook hands. 'I will, he promised.

To date, he'd proudly held that line through some extraordinary difficult political events. The second promise hadn't been broken, exactly. Like Wilson, he just hadn't got round to changing things yet.

Today he looked out of the office to see a circular habitat that also hadn't changed that much in the last seven centuries. Pentagon II was still the same (which was more than could be said of the original back on Earth that ANA had decided wasn't significant enough to maintain); several buildings had been reshaped, High Angel adapting their growing-stone material in accordance to each new set of human requirements. It was the living parkland itself which had seen the most alteration, the average level of the tree canopy had risen by over fifty metres since the day Kazimir had assumed command. Under the protective dome of the Raiel arkship, the organic environment was perfect. Every species of tree prospered in a way they could never do on a planet with variable seasons and winds and fires and earthquakes and diseases and parasites and bark-eating creatures. Here there was no real reason for them to die, so they just kept on growing, nurtured by their flawless climate. There were some monster arboreals out there, twenty or so had even reached the same height as Pentagon II, their osmosis now assisted by High Angel which had reduced the gravity field around them, allowing nutrients to flow unhindered all the way to the topmost branches. It was a forest which could never exist on a planet, and all the more alluring because of it.

When he glanced up, Kazimir saw Icalanise was a slim tawny crescent overhead. The New Storm seemed to bulge out of the Great Northern cloudband. He'd been watching the moon-sized storm growing for two centuries now, absorbing all the smaller storms it clashed with to become the largest of all the gas-giant's cyclonic swirls. Human starships flittered around the orbital cluster of stations and micro-gee factories like a metallic shoal, mostly Navy craft, with a few commercial freighters and passenger ships. High Angel was still the largest navy port in the Greater Commonwealth. Its residents took a lot of pride in that, supplying a disproportionate amount of officers.

Kazimir gathered his thoughts and returned to his big white desk. The office's ancient tragwood furniture really was aesthetically awful, made worse by the clinical glowing walls and ceiling. But he did concede it was comfortable as he sank back into the cushioning.

'Convene the ExoProtectorate Council, he told his u-shadow. The office dissolved from his natural vision, leaving him in the perceptual conference room with its white and orange furniture (not much of an improvement on his own, he reflected sadly) looking out over the tempestuous furore of the Millavian plains.

Gore and Ilanthe appeared first, sitting next to each other. The Accelerator faction representative had changed her appearance since the last meeting, allowing her dark hair to hang down to her waist in a single tail wrapped with red leather bands; she wore a stylish black dress of horizontal pleats. She nodded politely to Gore, who was in his golden incarnation, dressed in a perfectly tailored tuxedo.

'Any news of Justine? Ilanthe asked.

Gore's gaze flicked to the chair Justine had occupied last time the Council convened. 'Nothing. I guess we'll have to wait to see if the Second Dreamer deigns to reveal anything to us.

Crispin Goldreich arrived. The ancient Senator gave Justine's chair a look. 'Gore. Kazimir, he said formally. 'My sympathies to both of you.

'Yeah, thanks, Gore said.

'I prefer to consider her successfully positioned to assist us further, Kazimir said. 'She has achieved something remarkable, after all.

'Yes, Crispin said sheepishly.

Creewan materialised in his chair, to the left of Kazimir. The Custodian faction member gave the Admiral a formal bow. He hadn't completed the motion when the Darwinist faction representative, John Thelwell, arrived in a seat on the opposite side of the table. The two of them always seemed to appear at the same time. Kazimir wondered idly if there was some kind of alliance involved, though how such diverse factions could find any common ground was a mystery.

'Aren't you going to activate Justine's ANA personality? John Thelwell asked in some surprise.

'Why? Gore asked. 'Her actual is still alive. Duplication is still our biggest anathema, isn't it? Or have you converted to that pervert multiple philosophy.

Thelwell threw up his hands. 'Fine. If that's how you want to play it.

'If you're ready, Kazimir said. 'I have the secure link to the Yenisey available.

'All right, Gore said. 'Let's take a look and see what the Ocisens have come up with.

Captain Lucian was proud of his small crew. For nine days the Yenisey had flown in pursuit of the greatest fleet of warships the Ocisens had ever assembled. If intelligence summaries about the Starslayer class ships was correct, then not even MorningLightMountain had enjoyed this level of firepower to deploy against the Commonwealth. Unsurprisingly, then, tension on board had been building as they closed on the fleet. Yet he considered they'd coped remarkably well. This mission wasn't anything they'd expected or trained for, however as one they had risen to the challenge. Toi, the systems officer, actually relished the chance to confront the Ocisens.

'They've learned nothing in five hundred years, she said. 'They genuinely believe we're just a bunch of decadent animals who got lucky on the technology front. We are the classical immovable object in their way, and all they do is crack what passes for a head against us. They don't try to learn or adapt.

'This fleet is proof they have tried to think round the problem, Kylee, the first tactical officer argued. 'They saw what they needed to overcome us, and they set out to obtain it. That's adaptive.

'They set out to steal it, Toi said.

'Negotiating an allegiance is hardly stealing.

'I don't believe they could do that. They found the leftovers of a post-physical, and bootstrapped themselves up a whole weapons-level.

'Even that's pretty adaptive.

The argument had been just about continuous. The four of them had completely different positions, not that it interfered with their tasks. Although Lucian was slightly concerned about Gieovan, the second tactical officer, whose solution to the whole Ocisen problem was unpleasantly crude. He would be allying himself directly to the Accelerators at download, Lucian decided, if not the Isolationists or possibly the more radical Darwinists. For a moment, he did worry about confronting the fleet with Gieovan's hand on the trigger of their formidable arsenal. But none of them ever allowed their personal views to affect their professionalism. He was confident they'd deliver the result Admiral Kazimir had tasked them with.

For eighteen hours they'd flown beside the Ocisen fleet in stealth mode, and monitored the alien warships. To Lucian's huge relief, they were all Ocisen.

'Unless they've got stealth, Kylee pointed out after the first hour.

'You can't stealth a continuous wormhole drive, Gieovan countered. 'In any case, you can only minimalize the hyperdrive emission and damp down its distortion effect. You're never truly stealthed to a top-level sensor array. Detection and concealment technology are a constant race for superiority.

'But we're not registering anything? Lucian asked.

'No, captain, Gieovan. 'We could use more active scanning, of course, but that would give us away.

'Let's not make this any more difficult. Continue monitoring their communications. We need to identify the command ship.

The Ocisen fleet hierarchy was of course a replica of their imperial structure, with the Emperor's nest having ultimate authority. Individual captains had very little leeway. Consequently the communication traffic reflected that, with one ship issuing orders to everyone else. There was no cross-ship chatter.

Once they'd identified the command ship beyond any doubt, Lucian called Admiral Kazimir and received authorization for the interception.

'Knock them out of ftl, Kazimir said, 'and deliver our warning. They are to turn around or every ship will be disabled.

'I'm not quite sure we can achieve that, Lucian said. 'The Yenisey packs a hell of a punch, but there's over two and a half thousand ships out there, including nine hundred Starslayers. If even twenty of them combine, they can get through our shields.

'Lucian, I could never countenance disabling the fleet in deep space, not when they're already so far past the Empire's boundary. They simply don't have the ships nor resources to mount a viable rescue operation. The crews would perish. That is not something I wish to have on my conscience, nor that of any of my officers. No, today is simply a reminder of our technological superiority. I suspect it will have to be repeated several times until they realize they cannot physically achieve their goal.

'Understood, sir, Lucian said with some relief.

The four of them settled on their couches in the main cabin, and merged with the smartcore. It gave them a perceptual viewpoint from the front of the fuselage. Yenisey curved away beneath them, the main hull was a fat cylinder eighty metres long, with a conical nose section. Midships sprouted three radial fins supporting bulbous weapons nacelles, each of which curved down to a sharp point. A uniform luminous blue representation of hyperspace flowed around them, as though they were some yacht sailing an ocean.

Lucian was fed senses that revealed flaws in the blueness, a constellation of dark splinters surrounded by a green haze of exotic energy: the Ocisen warships. He directed the Yenisey until it was holding station a kilometre away from the command ship.

'Are we ready? he asked quietly.

'Yes, sir, Kylee replied.

'Excellent. Gieovan, you have fire authority as of now. Keep scanning for any anomalous activity — just in case. Toi, I want total systems availability, high-status. He scanned the Ocisen ship. It was two hundred and fifty metres long, a fat ovoid shape, with thin edges like curving wings. The hull was rough, strewn with irregular lumps, as if it had somehow become encrusted with barnacles during its flight. Although the scan couldn't perceive its colour, he knew it would be a dull metallic shade, dappled by furry green patches. All Ocisen starships were like that after they developed their semi-organic extrusion technology.

'Pull it out, he told Kylee.

The Yenisey's energy manipulators produced wildly fluctuating waveforms that intersected the exotic energy cascading fluidly around the Starslayer. Instabilities immediately started to skitter along its wormhole. Kylee analysed the modifier effects which the warship's drive exerted in an attempt to regain control, and simply overwhelmed them with the raw power available to the Yenisey's systems. The rest of the fleet shot away from them as the wormhole's pseudofabric broke down. Within a second they had vanished into the blueness.

Spacetime reasserted itself, swamping the blueness with infinite black. Stars shone with unwavering intensity. Eight hundred metres away, the massive Ocisen warship started a laborious tumble. Its protective force fields flickered dangerously as uncontained energy pulses swept out from the ruined drive.

'Attention Ocisen ship, Lucian broadcast. 'This is the Greater Commonwealth Navy ship Yenisey. You are hereby ordered to turn your fleet around and return to—

'Oh, shit, Gieovan gulped.

A smooth spherical starship appeared from nowhere a kilometre ahead of the Starslayer. Its force fields were impenetrable. The Yenisey couldn't even get an accurate quantum signature scan to determine what kind of drive it used.

'Admiral, Lucian called urgently. 'We can't—

The unknown ship fired.

'What the fuck was that! Gore yelled as the secure link abruptly vanished.

Kazimir took a second to review the TD link data, he was so surprised. His tactical staff had produced a number of scenarios, mostly incorporating the Ocisens utilizing weapons technology they'd procured from a more advanced species. This hadn't been a remote consideration.

'I don't recognize that design at all, Ilanthe said. 'Do we have any spherical ship on the Navy's intelligence registry?

'There are some species that utilize a sphere, Kazimir said slowly as his u-shadow supplied their most highly classified data. 'But we don't list anything that can disable the River-class star ships quite that quickly.

'Disable? Gore snapped. 'What is that, the new politically correct term for blowing it to shit?

'All we know so far is that the Yenisey's TD link has failed— Kazimir began.

'Come on!

'I'm afraid I agree with Gore, Ilanthe said. 'That was not a warning shot. Yenisey is a warship, one of the best we've got, and designed to operate at long distances. The last thing that fails is the communication. After all, we kept in touch with Justine until the Void swallowed her.

'My staff will run a full analysis, Kazimir said. 'It should help define the nature of the attack.

'The weapon, you mean, Crispin said. 'I'm with Gore on this, Admiral, you can't start hiding behind language. All of us here today are long past that.

'You are correct, Kazimir said, knowing that they were right, the Yenisey was lost with all hands. It was hard, he hadn't lost a starship in combat in six hundred years, not since the last Ocisen expansion wave. The crew would be re-lifed, of course, but still he had to endure the fact that he'd sent them out there into a hostile environment, while they were woefully under-equipped. It was a classic command failure, deploying your people on the

basis of bad information under political pressure. The wonder of hindsight.

'In the light of this catastrophe, I propose we send our deterrent fleet to intercept the Ocisen Empire ships, Ilanthe said. 'I don't believe we have any choice. Following the loss of the Yenisey, we are seeing a very real and credible threat to the entire Commonwealth. Who knows what that unknown ship is capable of.

'They are still a long way off, Kazimir said. 'We can use that interval to discover what their full potential is.

'You're playing God with our future, Creewan said. 'I for one won't tolerate that.

Kazimir gave him a withering look. 'I hardly think one unknown warship constitutes an end to our civilization.

'You don't know it's just one, Ilanthe said. 'You don't know if that was their best weapon, or their equivalent of a bow and arrow. Kazimir, what is wrong with you? You are charged with defending our entire species. Will you please act as if you care?

'I care very much indeed. I continue to maintain we need intelligence on the ally which the Ocisens have found themselves. I would like to propose that we send at least one more scout mission to determine what we can of the threat level. We do have time, and I am reluctant to formulate a final response without greater intelligence.

Ilanthe glanced round the table. 'I will support that on the condition you at least mobilize the deterrent fleet. If the next interception is destroyed, then the deterrent fleet must be deployed against the Ocisens.

'I second that, Gore said.

The other three gave their assent.

'I will dispatch four Capital-class ships, Kazimir said. 'They should be there within five days.

'I'm not familiar with Capital-class ships, John Thelwell said. 'Are they part of the deterrent fleet?

'No. They are a grade below that. But I am confident they will be able to hold their own, at least until we know more about the Ocisen's allies.

Gore and Kazimir remained in the perceptual reality after the others left. Outside the window, the ice meteorites fell in silent splendour, triggering vast electron webs across the dark sky.

'You know, in all my time, and for all my clout with ANA, I've never managed to get a single hint out of it concerning the deterrent fleet, Gore said.

'I would hope not, Kazimir told him. 'It is our ultimate defence. Its nature should not be available for scrutiny and discussion, however well intentioned. It is enough that we have it.

'Now there's the thing, see. Down at my most basic level, I'm an old fashioned boy, rooted in the physical and distrusting of politicians. I'd hate to think our entire survival prospects are based on a cosmic-sized poker bluff. His golden face looked straight at Kazimir. 'Do we actually have a deterrence fleet, son? Is it real?

'It is real, Grandfather. And if the Ocisen allies prove stronger than our Capital-class, I will personally lead it into battle against the Empire's fleet.

'All right then. Forgive an old man his quirks.

'Of course.

'So what do we do about your mother?

'Wait until she contacts us.

'You think she will?

'I think she's probably Mayoress of Makkathran by now.

'Yeah, Gore grunted. 'You're probably right. But how will we ever know?

'Ask the Second Dreamer.

Aaron was making good time. He'd already retraced the entire route back to the Olhava camp. Now it was just a simple jog across nine hundred kilometres of a dead planet's broken, frozen, radioactive ground, and he'd be back at Jajaani. Which the impact would have reduced to a fractured nightmare of geology where the few survivors from the outlying camps would be mounting futile rescue attempts. Still, it was his only chance. Not that cheating death meant anything to him. This way was the only possible way to salvage his mission. He was still furious at himself for being so gullible. Inigo must have been playing him from the moment he walked into the excavation chamber. Leaking weak thoughts and meek emotions into the gaiafield, lulling him to a level of trust. Stupid. I would never have let it happen if I was thinking straight.

But too late for self-recrimination now. If he did get out of this, he'd have to maintain a keen watch on his own motivations and responses, make sure they hadn't degraded further under the assault of the unknowns in his subconscious.

The land he was jogging through was an ancient undulating volcanic plain, scoured of vegetation and crisped over by a thick skin of ice; residue of the deluge that had swept down from the highlands to the south during the last burst of weather before the temperature plummeted. Odd splinters of rock stuck up through the dull grey crust, torn out of the bedrock by the final inundation of water. Ice particles swirled constantly, as patchy as any summer morning fog. Dense clouds zephyred round in the windshadow of the outcrops, drumming hard on his suit as he moved through them.

His macrocellular clusters were still picking up the beacon line back to Jajaani. There was no communication traffic — other than his own distress call. The beacons simply stood there, tiny glows of virtual light across the forlorn world. The next one was eight kilometres ahead.

Aaron's u-shadow reported someone sweeping a communication beam across him. He shook his head in disbelief, momentarily suspicious this was another attempt by his subconscious to subvert him. Exovision displays started to show solid data. The broadcast point was directly overhead, and using the same emergency band as his own distress call.

'This is the Navy scout ship Lindau, are you receiving us?

Aaron stopped dead, and lifted his head to the dreadful tumble of grey clouds. 'Hello?

The signal beam immediately strengthened and focused. 'Ozzie be damned, who the hell are you?

'Cyrial, he said, picking a name at random from the Restoration staff they'd interviewed back at Jajaani.

'Well, Cyrial, this is the luckiest day of your lives. Stay put, we're coming down to pick you up.

'Have you found anyone else?

'No, sorry, you're the first.

Aaron stood and waited as the scoutship fought its way through the clouds in a burst of violent lightning. Ingrav units strained against the wind, lowering it metre by metre. The ship was a broad cylinder, thirty-eight metres long, its comprehensive sensor clusters retracted into stumpy fins around its midsection. Two thermal dissipater rings around the rear fuselage glowed a bright ruby-red, indicating how much power it was drawing on to hold steady against the fierce atmosphere. Snow hammered against its force field, kicking out a blue sparkle.

Malmetal landing struts swelled out fore and aft, and it came to rest ten metres in front of him.

'You will never believe how good you look to me, Aaron told his rescuers.

'We got us a pretty good idea. The airlock expanded open, and a short ramp slid out. 'Sorry about this, but we've been told we have to take precautions. Nobody knows who attacked the Restoration project base. We have to hold you in isolation while we scan you and confirm your identity.

'Man, you can shack up with every daughter I ever fathered for all I care. I'll even give you their Unisphere codes. Pretty things they are, too. Aaron brought every weapons insert he had to full power, adjusted his biononic energy currents for extreme combat, and walked up the ramp.