Which was quite subtle for an Ocisen, Justine thought. She stood and accompanied the Ambassador back out to its ship. Gore materialized beside her as the hulking machine rose into the sky.

'Allies, huh? You know anything about that? he asked Kazimir.

'Not a thing, Kazimir said. 'They could be bluffing. Then again, if they are serious about stopping the Pilgrimage, they will need allies. They certainly can't do it alone.

'Could it be the Raid? Justine asked in surprise.

Kazimir shrugged. 'I doubt it. The Raiel don't go sneaking round doing deals to pitch one species against another. If the Empire had approached them, I feel confident they would have told us.

'A post-physical, then?

'Not impossible, Gore conceded. 'Most of them regard us as vulgar little newcomers to an exclusive club. Those that talk to us, anyway. Most can't even be arsed to do that. But I'd be very surprised if one had. They'd probably be quite interested in observing the final devourment phase.

'How about you? Justine enquired lightly.

Gore smiled, snow-white teeth shining coldly between gold lips. 'I admit, it would be a hell of a sight. From a distance. A very large distance.

'So what do you recommend? Justine asked.

'We certainly need to start the motion in the Senate, Kazimir said. 'The Ambassador was quite right. I don't think we can allow the Pilgrimage to launch.

'Can't stop 'em, Gore said with indecent cheerfulness. 'It's in the constitution.

'We do have to find a solution, Justine said. 'A political one. And quickly.

'That's my girl. Are you going to address the Senate yourself? You carry a lot of weight out there: history in the flesh.

'And it would be helpful to get confirmation from the Raiel, Kazimir said. 'You do have the personal connection.

'What? Justine's shoulders slumped. 'Oh hellfire. I wasn't planning on leaving Earth.

'I expect the Hancher Ambassador would like some reassurance, as well, Gore added maliciously.

Justine turned to give her father a level stare. 'Yes, there's a lot of people and Factions we need to keep an eye on.

'I'm sure Governance knows what it's doing. After all, you were its first choice. Can't beat that.

'Actually, I was second.

'Who was first? Kazimir asked curiously.

'Toniea Gall.

'That bitch! Gore spat. 'She couldn't get laid in a Silent World house the day after she rejuved. Everyone hates her.

'Now Dad, history decided the resettlement period was a minor golden age.

'Fucking minuscule, more like.

Justine and Kazimir smiled at each other. 'She was a good President as I recall, Kazimir said.

'Bullshit.

'I'll go and visit the Hancher Embassy on my way to the Senate, Justine said. 'It would be nice to know about the Empire's military movements.

'I'll start reassigning our observation systems inside the Empire to see if we can get a clearer picture of what's going on, Kazimir said.

As Justine's body teleported out of Tulip Mansion, Gore's primary consciousness retreated to his secure environment within the vastness of ANA. As perceptual reality locations went, it was modest. Some people had created entire universes for their own private playground, setting up self-governing parameters to maintain the configuration. The bodies, or cores, or focal points they occupied within their concepts were equally varied, with abilities defined purely by the individual milieu. Quite where such domains extended to was no longer apparent. ANA had ceased to be limited to the physical machinery which had birthed it. The operational medium was now tunnelled into the quantum structure of spacetime around Earth, fashioning a unique province in which its manifold post-human intelligences could function. The multiple interstices propagated through quantum fields with the tenacity and fragile beauty of a nebula, an edifice forever shifting in tandem with the whims of its creators. It was no longer machine, or even artificial life. It had become alive. What it might evolve into was the subject of considerable and obsessive internal debate.

The Factions were not openly at war over ANA's ultimate configuration, but it was a vicious battle of ideas. Gore hadn't been entirely truthful when he claimed to be a Conservative. He did support the idea of maintaining the status quo, but only because he felt the other more extreme factions were being far too hasty in offering their solutions. Apart from the Dividers, of course, who wanted ANA to fission into as many parts as there were Factions, allowing each to go their own way. He didn't agree with them either; what he wanted was more time and more information, that way he believed the direction they should take would become a lot more evident.

He appeared on a long beach, with a rocky headland a few hundred metres ahead of him. Perched on top was an old stone tower with crumbling walls and a white pavilion structure attached to the rear. The sun was hot on his head and hands; he was wearing a loose short-sleeve shirt and knee-length trousers. His skin was ordinary, without any enrichments. The self-image and surroundings were taken from the early twenty-first century, back when life was easier even without sentient machines. This was Hawksbill Bay, Antigua, where he used to come with his yacht, Moonlight Madison. There had been a resort clustered along the shore in those days, but in this representation the land behind the beach was nothing more than a tangle of palm trees and lush grass, with brightly coloured parrots zipping between the branches. It didn't have the wind that blew constantly through the real Caribbean, either; although the sea was an astonishingly clear turquoise where fish swam close to shore.

There was a simple dirt path up the headland, leading to the tower. The pavilion with its fabric roof covered a broad wooden deck and a small swimming pool. There was a big oval table at one end, with five heavily cushioned chairs around it. Nelson Sheldon was already sitting there, a tall drink resting on the table in front of him.

In the days before ANA, Nelson had been the security chief for the Sheldon Dynasty, the largest and most powerful economic empire that had ever existed. When the original Commonwealth society and economy split apart and reconfigured as the Greater Commonwealth, the Dynasty retained a great deal of its wealth and power, but things weren't the same. After Nigel Sheldon left, it lost cohesion and dispersed out among the External Worlds; still a force to be reckoned with, politically and economically, but lacking the true clout of before.

Over two centuries spent looking after the Dynasty's welfare had turned Nelson into a pragmatist of the first order. It meant he and Gore saw the whole ANA evolution outcome in more or less the same terms.

Gore sat at the table and poured himself an iced tea from the pitcher. 'You accessed all that?

'Yeah. I'm interested who the Empire has as an ally, or even allies.

'Probably just a bluff.

'You're overestimating the Ocisens, they lack the imagination for a bluff. I'd say they've managed to dig up some ancient reactionary race with a hard-on for the good old days and a backyard full of obsolete weapons.

'ANA: Governance is going to have to give that one some serious attention, Gore said. 'We can't have alien warships invading the Commonwealth. Been there, done that. Ain't going to let it happen twice. It was one of the reasons we started building ANA, so that humanity is never at a technological disadvantage again. There's a lot of very nasty hardware lying round this galaxy'

'Amongst other things, Nelson agreed sagely. 'We are going to have to give the Void some serious attention soon — just as the Accelerators wanted.

'I want us to give the Void serious attention, Gore said. 'We can hardly claim to be masters of cosmological theory if we can't even figure it out. It's only the analysis timescale which everyone disagrees on.