'Don't beat yourself up over it. Happens to the best of us. So what did he want to know?

'He asked me to guess where Inigo might be.

'Clever man. Which is curious in itself. There aren't many humans who knew of your little problem. One of them must have joined up to a Faction. So what did you tell him?

'I guessed Inigo might be on Hanko.

'Hanko? But it's just a radioactive ruin. She stopped, examining the idea. 'But, Earth aside, it is his ethnic birthworld. Still, an odd choice.

'Are you aware he was born Higher?

'No I was not! That has never been on any file. Are you sure?

Qatux's biggest tentacles waved in agitation. 'I am forty years of his early life, Paula. Through me you are talking to the young Inigo.

'If ANA: Governance and I didn't know, then its pretty certain very few other people did, either. That changes his whole profile. No wonder nobody could ever find him. As a Higher he has much greater personal resources.

'Will you go after Aaron and Corrie-Lyn?

'I'm not sure. I hadn't envisaged Aaron being so close to finding Inigo. But even if he is on Hanko it'll take Aaron a while to actually track him down. I need to consult with ANA: Governance on this. Thank you for helping, Qatux.

'You are welcome, Paula. Always.

She was on the verge of asking to be teleported back to her ship when she hesitated. 'What do the Raiel think of the Pilgrimage?

'That it is incredibly foolish. Opening the Dyson Alpha barrier was one thing, but this takes your obduracy to a whole new level. Why does ANA: Governance allow it?

Paula sighed. 'I have no idea. Humans always want to test their boundaries, it's an instinctive thing.

'It is a stupid thing.

'We're not as old as you. We don't have species-wide wisdom, let alone responsibility.

'Higher humans do.

'The tenet of universal responsibility is the root of their culture, but as individuals they have a long way to go. And as for ANA, it's like the intellectual equivalent of primordial ooze in there; who knows what's going to come wiggling out triumphantly at the end of the day. I'm beginning to doubt ANA: Governance's ability to keep order.

'Are you serious?

'I don't know, she admitted. 'This whole event has me badly troubled. There are too many people playing with catastrophic unknowns. Part of me, the old part that worships order, wants to shut down the entire Pilgrimage project. It's obviously a monstrous folly. Yet the liberal side of me agrees that these people have a right to seek happiness, especially when nothing in the Commonwealth appeals to them. It's indicative of our cultural heritage that we cannot provide a home for everyone.

'But Paula, their «right» to seek the solution of perfection in the Void will endanger the rest of the galaxy. That right cannot be permitted.

'Quite. And yet, we don't have conclusive proof that the Void will respond the way you claim.

Qatux was silent, as if startled. 'You doubt us, Paula?

'Humans need to know things for themselves. It is our nature, Qatux.

'I understand that. I am sorry for you.

'We're being too melancholy. I give you my word I'm working to try and sort out this mess.

'As always you are honourable. I hope you succeed. I would not like to see our two species fall into conflict.

'We won't.

The High Angel teleported Paula back into the cabin of the Alexis Denken. Like all modern starships the cabin could provide her with every physical necessity; like a hotel room with a particularly bad view. She ordered up a plain chair and took her guitar out of the storage locker. Music was something she'd come to late in life. As her genetically ordained compulsions were slowly erased, so she found her cultural horizons expanding. Art was a whole area she could never quite appreciate, she was always looking for rationalist explanation in every work. Literature was a lot more satisfactory, stories had a point, a resolution. Not that there were many books released into the Unisphere these days, current writers tended to produce outlines and scripts for sensory dramas.

But the classics were enjoyable enough; the only genre she tended to shy away from was crime and thrillers. Poetry she ignored as an absurd irrelevance. Music, though, had something for every mood, every place. She took a great deal of pleasure from it, listening to everything from orchestral arrangements to singer songwriters, jazz to gaianature tonality, choral to starsphere dance. The Alexis Denken would often streak between star systems reverberating to the sounds of Rachmaninoff or Pink Floyd or Deeley KTC.

Paula sat back and started to pluck a few chords at random, then gradually dropped into Johnny Cash's 'The Wanderer'. She didn't try to sing; there were some limits in life you just had to accept. Instead the smartcore projected the Man in Black into the cabin, and he started to croon along to her melody.

The song helped her think.

She knew she should be heading straight for Orakum or even Hanko, but she was feeling a lot more troubled by Qatux's last comment than she ought to have been. It seemed as though this whole Pilgrimage situation was designed to disrupt her judgement and objectivity.

That, or I'm just getting lonely and uncertain in my old age.

Paula finished strumming. The Man in Black gave her a forlorn look, and she waved her hand dismissively. The smartcore cancelled the projection.

Her u-shadow opened a link to Kazimir — someone who did have empathy for her position.

'What can I do for you? he asked.

'I'm at the High Angel. Aaron gave Inigo's memorycell to Qatux. Someone knew about our friend's predilection.

'Did Qatux review it?

'Oh yes. Qatux told Aaron that Inigo was probably hiding out on Hanko.

'Interesting. Presumably that's where the Artful Dodger aka the Alini is heading?

'Yes.

'Another ultradrive ship arrived in system just before the Artful Dodger departed. The Navy commander at High Angel said it stood off in the cometary belt, and left in hot pursuit.

'Does every faction have ultradrive ships? she asked indignantly. 'Justine caught the Delivery Man using a Hawking m-sink on Arevalo.

'So she told me. I consider it significant that the Factions are openly using such technology. This whole Pilgrimage event could well be the trigger for an irreversible culture spilt within the human race.

'Whose side will you take?

'The Navy was created by ANA to protect humans from stronger, hostile aliens. That is what it will continue to do until I am removed from my position. If ANA chooses to leave the physical universe, I will stay behind and ensure that whatever sections of us remain continue to receive that protection. Is that a side, do you think?

'No. But it's certainly a plan.

'Are you going after Aaron?

'Not immediately. Can you provide some protection for Hanko and Inigo, if he's there?

'I will observe and advise you of developments; but you know the Navy cannot intervene directly in the internal affairs of Commonwealth citizens. Despite the scale of the problem, that's what this is.

Paula was thrown by the answer. She was expecting Kazimir to be a lot more helpful. 'A thousand years ago I stuck to the rules, too. No good comes of it. You need to bend a little, Kazimir.

'You and other representatives exist so I don't have to. You handle the grey areas, while I deal in black and white.

'There's no such thing.

'Nonetheless, I operate within a set of rules that I will not break.

'I understand. Just do what you can, please.

'Of course.

The Artful Dodger dropped out of hyperspace five thousand kilometres above Hanko's equator. Sensors examined the surrounding environment, bringing up several amber warning symbols, and even a couple of red ones. The local star had an abnormally large number of sunspots chasing across its surface, producing a dangerously thick solar wind. Below the starship's metallic purple hull, a global cloud blanket reflected the star's sharp white glow back into space, its uniform glare broken only by the vast aural streamers that lashed across the stratosphere. Above the atmosphere monstrous arches of violet fluorescence soared out far beyond geosynchronous orbit, engorged Van Allen radiation belts that choked the planet with a hurricane of high-energy particles. The Artful Dodger s hull sparked with a corposant discharge as it slid across into a high inclination orbit.