A vibration in the air. Heavy feet crushing tender stalks of grass. He raised his head to see a line of black armoured figures marching towards him. Long flames billowed from vents in their helmets as they roared their battle call. His breathing quickened as he tightened his grip on the daggers. The smell of charred meat rolled across the grassland. Aaron gagged on the terrible stench. Coughing violently, he sat up on the couch in the ground crawler's cabin.

'Shit, he spluttered, then coughed again, fighting for breath. Doubling up. Exovision medical displays showed him his biononics assuming command of his lungs and airway, overriding his body's struggling autonomic functions. He wheezed down a long breath and shook his head as the artificial organelles stabilized him.

Corrie-Lyn was gazing at him from her couch on the other side of the cabin. She'd drawn her knees up under her chin, a blanket wrapped round her shoulders. For some reason she made him feel guilty. 'What? he snapped, all caffeine-deprived bad temper.

'I don't know, she said. 'Those warriors represent being trapped, I think. But they came to you outside your home. You were unable to escape what you are, what you had grown into.

'Oh give me a break, he growled, and tried to swing his feet off the couch. His blanket was wrapped round his legs. He pulled it off in an angry jerk.

Corrie-Lyn responded with a hurt scowl. 'They could also be a representation of paranoia, she said with brittle dignity.

'Fuck off. He told the culinary unit to brew some herbal tea. To purge the soul. 'Look, he said with a sigh. 'Someone has seriously screwed with my brain. I'm bound to have nightmares. Just leave it, okay.

'Doesn't that bother you?

'I am what I am. And I like it.

'But you don't know who you are.

'I told you: drop this. He settled into one of the two forward seats, and stared out of the thick windscreen slit. The ground crawler was lumbering forward, rocking about as if they were riding a ocean swell. Outside, the weather hadn't changed for the whole trip, a thin drizzle of ice particles blown along at high speed. High overhead, the dark underbelly of the cloud blanket seethed relentlessly, flickering with sheet lightning. They were traversing a drab landscape, where flood streams had gouged out deep sharp gullies. Broad headlight beams slithered over the dunes of filthy snow which migrated across the permafrost. Occasionally the surface of iron-hard soil was distended by some ruins, or stumps. Otherwise there was nothing to break the monotony.

Corrie-Lyn climbed off the couch without a word and went back to the little washroom compartment at the rear of the oblong cabin. She managed to slam the worn aluminium door.

Aaron rubbed his face, dismayed by how he'd handled the situation. Something in his dreams was eating away at his composure. He hated to think she was right, that his subconscious had somehow squirrelled away a few precious true memories. The personality he had now was simple and straightforward, uncluttered by extraneous attachments or sentimentality. He didn't want to lose that, not ever.

By way of apology, he started entering a whole load of instructions into the culinary unit. Thirty minutes later, when Corrie-Lyn emerged her breakfast was waiting for her on a small table. She pouted at it.

'The crawler's net reckons we're about ninety minutes from the camp, he said. 'I thought you'd want to fortify yourself before we reached them.

Corrie-Lyn was silent for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgement at the peace offering, and sat at the table. 'Has anyone been in contact?

'From the camp? No. They'd talked to someone called Eri-cilla last night, telling her their estimated arrival time. She'd seemed interested, though she laughed at the idea of any of her colleagues being an abandoned lover. 'If you knew any of my team mates you'd know you're wasting your time. Romantic they're not.

'We're still connected to the beacon network, Aaron said sipping another herbal tea. 'Nobody is owning up, yet.

'What do we do if he's not there?

Aaron resisted the impulse to look her up and down again. When she came out of the washroom she'd changed into a pair of black trousers and a light green sweater with a V-neck. Her hair was washed and springy. No cosmetic scales on her face, but her complexion glowed. Clearly she was ready for her chance to reignite some of the old passion should he be there. She'd kept her gaiamotes closed up fairly tight since leaving Kajaani, but the occasional lapse had allowed Aaron to sense a lot of anticipation fermenting in her mind.

'I'm not sure, he admitted. 'Time isn't in our favour.

'And if he is there? What if he doesn't want to be hauled back to Ellezelin?

Just for an instant something stirred Aaron's his mind. Certainty. He did know what was going to happen afterwards. The knowledge was all there waiting for him. Ready for the moment. 'I'll just tell him what I have to. After that, it'll be up to him.

Corrie-Lyn gave him a mildly doubtful stare before tucking in to her first bacon sandwich.

Camp, Aaron decided, was a rather grand description for the place where the team working in the Olhava province has set themselves up. A couple of ground crawlers were parked next to each other in the lee of some rugged foothills. Malmetal shelters had expanded out of their rear sections to provide the team with larger accommodation. But that was all.

Aaron parked a few metres away, and they both pulled on their bulky surface suits. Once his bubble helmet had sealed, Aaron went into the tiny airlock, and waited for the outside door to slide aside. He was immediately hit by the wind. Ice fragments swirled round him. He walked carefully down the ramp, holding the handrail tight. The wind was squally, but he could stand upright. There were enhancer systems built in to the suit for when the storms really hit. Its main purpose was to protect him from the radiation.

Although there wasn't too much physical effort involved, he wished he'd nudged their ground crawler closer to those of the team. He took nearly three minutes to cover the small gap and clamber into a decontamination airlock on the side of one of the shelters. Corrie-Lyn was grunting and cursing her way along behind him.

Ericilla was waiting for them in the closet-sized suit room. A short woman with a frizz of brown hair flecked with grey. She smirked as Corrie-Lyn wriggled out of her surface suit, licking her lips in merriment. 'No man is worth this, she announced.

'He is, Corrie-Lyn assured her.

Aaron had already extended his field scan function, probing the whole camp. He'd detected four people including Ericilla. None of them were Higher.

Ericilla beckoned. 'Come and meet the boys.

Vilitar and Cytus were waiting for them, standing in the middle of the shelter's cluttered lounge like an army of two on detention parade. Nerina, Vilitar's husband gave Corrie-Lyn a weary look.

'Oh shit, Corrie-Lyn said despondently.

Nerina poked Vilitar in the chest. 'Well that lets you off…

The two men relaxed, grinning sheepishly. Aaron sensed the tension drain away. Suddenly everyone was smiling and happy to see them.

'I thought there were five in your team, Aaron said.

'Earl is down in the dig, Ericilla said. 'The sensor bots picked up a promising signal last night. He said that was more important than, well— The way she left it hanging told them she was on Earl's side.

'I'd like to see him, please, Corrie-Lyn said.

'Why not? Ericilla said. 'You've come this far.

It was another trip outside. The entrance to the dig was on the other side of the shelters. A simple metal cube housing a small fusion generator and several power cells. An angled force field protected it from Hanko's venomous elements. There was a decontamination airlock to keep the radioactive air out so the team's equipment could work without suffering contamination and degradation. Big filter units filled the rest of the entrance cube, maintaining the clean atmosphere. The temperature inside was still cold enough to keep the permafrost frozen. Aaron and Corrie-Lyn kept their helmets on inside.