Gore said nothing as his solido followed her down the grand staircase to the entrance hall. She suspected that he suspected.

Kazimir teleported into the marbled entrance hall; appearing dead centre on the big Burnelli crest. He was dressed in his Admiral's tunic. Justine had never seen him wear anything else in six hundred years. He smiled in genuine welcome and gave her a gentle embrace, his lips brushing her cheek.

'Mother. You look wonderful as always.

She sighed. He did look so like his father. 'Thank you, darling.

'Grandfather. He gave Gore a shallow bow.

'Still holding up in that old receptacle, then, Gore said. 'When are you going to join us here in civilization?

'Not today, thank you, Grandfather.

'Dad, pack it in, Justine warned.

'It's goddamn creepy if you ask me, Gore grumbled. 'No one stays in a body for a thousand years. What's left for you out there?

'Life. People. Friends. True responsibility. A sense of wonder.

'We got a ton of that in here.

'And while you look inwards, the universe carries on around you.

'Hey, we're very aware of extrinsic events.

'Which is why we're having this happy family reunion today. Kazimir gave a small victory smile.

Justine wasn't even listening to them any more, they always ran through this argument as if it was a greeting ritual. 'Shall we go, boys?

The doors of the mansion swung open and she walked out on to the broad portico without waiting for the others. It was a cold air outside; frost was still cloaking the deeper hollows in the lawn where the long shadows prevailed. A few clouds scudded across the fresh blue sky. Pushing its way through them was the Ocisen Empire ship sliding in from the south-east. Roughly triangular, it measured nearly two hundred metres long. There was nothing remotely aerodynamic about it. The fuselage was a dark metal, mottled with aquamarine patches that resembled lichen. Its crinkled surface was cratered with indentations that sprouted black spindles at the centre, whilst long boxes looked as thoughthey'd been welded on at random. A cluster of sharp radiator fins emerged from the rear section, glowing bright red.

Gore gave a derisive chuckle. 'What a monstrosity. You'd think they could do better now we've given them regrav.

'We took five hundred years to get from the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk to the Second Chance, Justine pointed out.

Gore looked up as the alien starship slowed to a halt above the mansion's grounds. 'Do you think it'll have jets of dry ice gushing out when it lands, or maybe they've mounted a giant laser gun that'll blast the White House to smithereens?

'Dad, be quiet.

The ship descended. Two rows of hatches along its belly swung open.

'For fuck's sake, haven't they even heard of malmetal? Gore complained.

Long fat landing legs telescoped out. The movement was accompanied by a sharp hissing sound as high pressure gas vented through grilles in the undercarriage bays.

Justine had to suck her lower lip in to stop herself giggling. The starship was ridiculous, the kind of contraption Isambard Kingdom Brunei would have built for Queen Victoria.

It touched down on the lawn, its landing pads sinking deep into the grass and soft soil. Several radiator fins sliced down into silver birch trees, their heat igniting the wood. Burning branches dropped to the ground.

'Wow, the damage it causes. How will our world survive? Quick, you kids flee to the woods, I'll hold them off with a shotgun.

'Dad! And cancel your solido, you know what the Empire thinks of ANA personalities.

'Stupid and superstitious.

His solido vanished. Justine watched his icon appear in her exoimage. 'Now behave, she told him.

'That ship is leaking radiation all over the place, Gore commented. 'They haven't even shielded their fusion reactor properly. And who uses deuterium anyway?

Justine reviewed the sensor data, scanning the ship's hotspots. 'It's hardly a harmful emission level.

'The Ocisens aren't as susceptible to radioactivity as humans are, Kazimir said. 'It's one reason they were able to industrialize space in their home system with what equates to our mid-twenty-first-century technology. They simply didn't require the shielding mass we would have needed.

Halfway down the starship's fuselage a multi-segment airlock door unwound. The Ambassador for the Ocisen Empire floated out, sitting on top of a hemispherical regrav sled. Physically, the alien wasn't impressive; a small barrel shaped torso wrapped in layers of flaccid flesh that formed overlapping folds. Its four eyes were on serpent stalks curving out from the crest, while four limbs were folded up against the lower half of its body. They were encrusted in cybernetic systems, amplifying its strength and providing a number of manipulator attachments ranging from delicate pliers up to a big hydraulic crab pincer. Further support braces ran up its body, resembling a cage of chrome vertebrae that ended in a collar arrangement just below the base of the eye stalks. Patches of what looked like copper moss were growing across various sections of its flesh; they sprouted small rubbery stalks covered in minute sapphire flowers.

Justine bowed formally as the sled stopped in front of her, floating half a metre off the ground, which put the Ambassador's eye stalks above her. Even with the regrav unit and the physical support it was obvious the Ambassador had come from a low-gravity world. It sagged against the metal and composite structures holding it up. Two of the eye stalks bent round so they were aligned on her.

Ambassador, thank you for visiting us, Justine said.

'We are pleased to visit, the Ambassador answered, its voice a whispery burble coming from a slender vocalizer gill between his eye stalks. Translated into English by the sled processors, a speaker on the rim boomed the reply to Justine.

'My home welcomes you, she said, remembering the formality.

Another of the Ambassador's eye stalks curved round to stare at Kazimir. 'You are the human Navy commander.

'That is correct, Kazimir said. 'I am here as you requested.

'Many of my nest ancestor cousins fought in the Fandola assault. Thin droplets of spittle ran out of the Ambassador's gill, to be absorbed by drain holes in its support collar.

'I am sure they fought with honour.

'Honour be damned. We would have enjoyed victory over the Hancher vermin if you had not intervened that day'

'We are friends with the Hancher. Your attack was ill-advised; I warned you we would not abandon our friends. That is not our way.

The fourth eye stalk turned on Kazimir. 'You in person warned the Empire, Navy commander?

'That is correct.

'You live so long. You are no longer natural.

'Is this why you are here, Ambassador, to insult me?

You overreact. I state the obvious.

'We do not hide from the obvious, Justine said. 'But we are not here today to dwell upon what was. Please come in, Ambassador.

'You are kind.

Justine walked into the entrance hall with the Ambassador's sled gliding along behind her. Somehow it managed to keep a distance that wasn't too close as to be blatantly rude, but still close enough to be disconcerting.

Kazimir's icon blinked up beside Gore's in her peripheral vision. 'You know, he said, 'the Ocisens only started painting their sleds black after they found out humans are unsettled by darkness.

'If that's the best they can come up with it's a wonder their species ever survived the fission age, she replied.

'We shouldn't be in too much of a hurry to mock them, Gore replied. 'However much we sneer, they do have an empire, and they would have obliterated the Hancher if we hadn't stepped in.

'I'd hardly consider that to be an indicator of their superiority, Justine told them. 'And they're certainly not a threat to us. Their technology level is orders of magnitude below Higher culture, let alone ANA.