Handle's brief call had been very unsettling. He'd never failed her before. The implications were terrible, as she managed to explain in remarkably few words. He only wished he had time to make Troblum suffer for his crime.

He streaked through the three-way junction which put him into sector 7-B-5. Some idiot technician was walking down the middle of the corridor, going back to her suite after a long shift. Marius charged past her, clipping her arm which broke instantly from the impact. She was spun round, slamming into the wall. She screamed as she crumpled to the floor.

The door to Troblum's suite was dead ahead, locked as of two minutes ago with Marius's own nine-level certificate to prevent the little shit from leaving. The suite's internal sensors showed Troblum sitting at a table slurping his way disgustingly through a late night 'snack'.

Marius began to slow as his u-shadow unlocked the door. It expanded as he arrived, and he coasted through. Troblum's head lifted, crumbs of burger bap dropping from the corner of his mouth. Despite bulging cheeks he still managed a startled expression.

A disruptor pulse slammed into him, producing a ghost-green phosphorescent flare in the suite's air. Marius followed it up immediately with a jelly gun shot. He would obliterate the memorycell in a few seconds, then that would just leave Troblum's secure store back on Arevalo.

Instead of disintegrating into a collapsing globule of gore, Troblum simply popped like a soap bubble. A rivulet of metal dust spewed out from the wall behind the table where the jelly gun shot hit. Marius froze in shock, his field scan functions sweeping round. It hadn't been Troblum. No biological matter was in the room. His eyes found a half-melted electronic module on the seat, ruined by the disruptor blast. A solido projector.

Marius was perfectly still as he stared at it. 'What happened? Neskia asked as she strode into the suite. Her long neck curved so her head could see round Marius.

'It would appear Troblum isn't quite the fat fool I'd taken him for.

'We'll find him. It won't take long. This station isn't that big. Marius whipped round, the wide irises in his green eyes narrowing to minute intimidating slits. 'Where's his ship? he demanded.

'Sitting in the airlock, she replied calmly. 'Nobody enters or leaves without my authorization. 'It better be, Marius spat.

'Every centimetre of this station is covered by some sensor or other. We'll find him.

Marius' u-shadow ordered the smartcore to show him the airlock. The Mellanie's Redemption was sitting passively at the centre of the large white chamber. Visually it was there, the airlock radar produced a return from the hull. The umbilical management programs reported a steady drain of housekeeping power through the cables plugged into its base. He queried the ship's smartcore. There was no response.

Marius and Neskia stared at each other. 'Shit! Four minutes later they walked into the airlock. Marius glowered at the long cone-shaped ship with its stupid curving tailfins. His field scan swept out. It was an illusion, produced by a small module on the airlock floor. He smashed a disruptor pulse into the solido projector, and the starship image shivered, shrinking down to a beautiful, naked young girl with blonde hair that hung halfway down her back. 'Oh Howard, she moaned sensually, running her hands up her body, 'Do that again.

Marius let out an incoherent cry, and shot the projector again. It burst into smouldering fragments, and the girl vanished.

'How in Ozzie's name did he do that? Neskia said. There was a hint of admiration in her voice. 'He must have flown right past the defence cruisers as well. They never even saw him.

Marius took a moment to compose himself. 'Troblum helped design and build the defence cruisers. Either he infiltrated their smartcores back then, or he knows a method of circumventing their sensor systems.

'He compromised the station smartcore, too. It should never have let the Mellanie's Redemption out.

'Indeed, Marius said. 'You will find the corruption and purge it. This operation must not suffer any further compromise.

'It was not me who compromised this station, she said with equal chill. 'You brought him here.

'You had twenty years to discover the bugs he planted. That you failed is unforgivable.

'Don't try to play the blame game with me. This is your foul up. And I will make that very clear to Ilanthe.

Troblum turned on a heel, and walked back to the airlock chamber's entrance. His dark toga suit adjusted itself around him, once more giving off a narrow black shimmer that concealed his feet. He glided with serpentine poise down the corridor towards the airlock chamber which contained his own starship.

His u-shadow opened a secure link to the Cat's ship.

'It's so nice to be popular again, she said.

'We have a problem. I want you to find Troblum. Eliminate that shit from this universe. In fact, I want him erased from all of history.

'That sounds personal, Marius dear. Always a bad thing. Messes with your judgement.

'He's heading for Sholapur. In five days' time he will meet with an ANA representative there, and explain what we have been doing. His ship has some kind of advanced stealth ability we didn't know about.

'Gave you the slip, huh?

'I'm sure you'll be more capable of rectifying our mistake.

'What do you want me to do about Aaron? He's still down on the planet's surface.

'Is there any sign of Inigo?

'Darling, the sensors can barely make out continents. I've no idea what's going on down there.

'Do as you see fit.

'I thought this was all critical to your plans.

'If Troblum exposes us to ANA there will be no plans, there probably won't be an Advancer Faction any more.

'The strong always survive. That's evolution.

'Paula Myo is the representative ANA is sending to collect Troblum.

'Oh Marius, you're too kind to me. Really.

It should have been tempting. Alone in a small starship with three amazingly fit men, who would probably have been honoured to got to bed with him. Oscar had been delighted when Tomansio had introduced his team. Liatris McPeierl was his lieutenant, a lot quieter than Tomansio, with a broad mouth that could flash a smile that was wickedly attractive. He would handle the technical aspects of the mission, Tomansio said, including their armaments. Gazing at the pile of big cases on the regrav sled which followed Liatris about, Oscar had his first moment of doubt; he didn't want to resort to violence, though he was realistic enough to know that wasn't his decision. Cheriton McOnna had been brought in to help because of his experience with the gaiafield. There was nothing about confluence nest operations which he didn't know, Tomansio claimed. Oscar was slightly surprised by Cheriton's characteristics, they were almost Higher; he'd altered his ears to simple circle craters, his nose was wide and flat, while his eyes were sparkling purple globes, like multifaceted insect lenses. His bald skull had two low ridges reaching back from his eyebrows over his cranium to merge together at the nape of his neck.

'Multi-macrocellular enrichment, he explained. 'And a hell of a lot of customized gaiamotes. To prove it he spun out a vision of some concert. For a moment Oscar was transported to a natural amphitheatre, lost in a sea of people under a wild starry sky. On the stage far away, a pianist performed by himself, his soulful tune making Oscar sway in sympathy.

'Wow, Oscar blinked, taking a half step back as the vision cleared. He'd almost been about to sing along, the song was familiar somehow — just not quite right.

'I composed it in your honour, Cheriton said. 'I remember you told Wilson Kime you liked old movies.