'So that's who you're working for, the anti-Pilgrimage lobby.

'There's no guarantee that Inigo will stop the Pilgrimage if he comes back. You know him better than anybody. Do 1 speak the right in that?

She nodded forlornly. 'Yeah. I think you might.

'So help me find him.

'I can't do that, she said in a low voice. 'How can you ask when even you don't know what you'll do to him if we find him.

'Anyone who has hidden himself this well is never going to be taken by surprise even if we do manage to track him down. He knows there are a lot of serious people looking for him. Besides, if I wanted to kill him, why would I take the trouble of hunting him down. If he's off the stage he can't direct any of the actors, now can he? So if I want him back, I must want him back intact.

'I don't know, she said weakly.

'I saved your life.

Corrie-Lyn gave him a sly smile. 'The software running you saved my life. It did it because you needed me. I'm your best hope, remember.

'You're my number one choice.

'Better get ready to schmooze number two.

'Not even my liver could take another night in Rakas. I do need you, Corrie-Lyn. And what about you? What do you need? Don't you want to find him? Don't you want to hear why he upped and left you and all the billions who believed in him? Did he lose faith? Was Living Dream just that all along, nothing more than a dream?

'Low blow.

'You can't do nothing. You're not that kind of person. You know Inigo must be found before the Pilgrimage leaves. Somebody will find him. Nobody can stay hidden for ever, not in this universe. Politics simply won't allow it. Who do you want to find him?

'I… I can't, Corrie-Lyn said.

'I understand. I can wait, at least for a little while longer.

'Thanks. She put her head down and started to eat her French toast, almost as if she was ashamed by the decision.

Aaron didn't see her for nearly three hours after breakfast. She went back into her bedroom and stayed there. His u-shadow monitored a small amount of Unisphere use; she was running through standard information files from the Living Dream fanes in the city. He had a shrewd idea what she was looking for, a friend she could trust, which meant things could well be swinging his way. If they set foot outside it wouldn't be long before Manby or his replacement were racing up behind them, guns flaring.

When she came out she was wearing a loose-neck red sweater and tight black trousers, and a silver necklace made a couple of long loops round her neck before wrapping round her hips. She'd fluffed her dark hair neatly, and infused it with purple and green sparks that glimmered on a long cycle. He gave her an appreciative smile. Which she ignored.

'I need to talk to someone, she announced.

Aaron tried not to make his smirk too obvious. 'Sure thing. I hope you're not going to insist on going alone. There are bad people out there.

'You can come with me, but the conversation is private.

'Okay. Can I ask if you've already set up a meeting?

'No.

'Good. Don't call anyone. The Ellezelin cybersphere has government monitors in its nodes. Manby's team will fall on you like a planet-killer asteroid.

Her expression flickered with worry. 'I already accessed the Unisphere.

'That's okay. They probably can't trace your u-shadow access, he lied. 'Do you know where this person is likely to be?

'The Daeas fane, that's over on the south side of the city.

'Right then, we'll take a taxi to that district and land a couple of blocks away. Once we're at the fane we'll try and get a visual on your friend.

'He's not a friend, she said automatically.

Aaron shrugged. 'Whoever the person is. If we find him then you can have your chat in private, okay. Calling him is our last resort; and please let me do that. My u-shadow has fixes available that should circumvent the monitor systems.

She nodded agreement, picked up her scarlet bag and wrapped a long fawn-coloured scarf round her shoulders. 'Let's go.

Aaron was perfectly relaxed in the taxi flight over the city. He spent it looking down on the buildings, enjoying the vertical perspective as the towers flipped past underneath. The inhabitants certainly enjoyed their roof gardens, nearly half of them had some kind of terrace fenced in by greenery; swimming pools were everywhere.

He didn't know what the outcome of Corrie-Lyn's meeting would be. Nor did he really care. His only certainty was that he'd know exactly what to do when the time came. There was, he reflected, a lot of comfort to be had in his unique level of ignorance.

They landed on an intersection at the edge of the Daeas district. It was a commercial area dominated by the monolithic buildings that had been the Ellezelin Offworld Office, the ministry which had masterminded the Free Market Zone and Ellezelin's subsequent commercial and diplomatic domination of neighbouring star systems. Now the structures were given over to hotels, casinos, and exclusive malls. They walked along the ornate stone facades towards the fane, with Aaron making sure they didn't take a direct route. He wanted time to scan round and check for possible — make that probable — hostiles.

'Did you know he was leaving before he actually went? Aaron asked.

Corrie-Lyn gave him an unsettled glance. 'No, she sighed. 'But we'd cooled off quite a while back. I hadn't been excluded, exactly, but I wasn't in the inner circle any more.

'Who was?

'That's the thing. No one, really. Inigo had been getting more and more withdrawn for a long time. Years. Because we were so close, it took a time for me to notice how distant he was growing. You know what it's like.

'I can imagine, he said, which earned him a frown. 'So there was no one event, then?

'Ah, you're talking about the fabled Last Dream, aren't you? No, not that I was aware. But then that rumour had to come from somewhere.

Even before they won a majority in Parliament, the Living Dream's Chief Councillor of Riasi boasted that you could never travel more than a mile in the city without encountering a fane. The buildings didn't have a specific layout: anything which had a hall large enough to accommodate the faithful, along with office space and living quarters, would do. Given the inherent wealth of the Daeas district it was inevitable that the local fane should be impressive; a contemporary Berzaz cube, with horizontal stripes twisted at fifteen degrees to each other, their fluid-luminal surfaces shining with an intensity that automatically matched the sunlight, delineating each floor in a spectromatic waterfall. The overall effect was a city block that was trying to screw itself into the ground. It was surrounded by a broad plaza with a fountain at each point. Tall jets squirted out from the centre of inclined rings that were ticked out with ingrav to make the water flow upslope.

Aaron scanned round the bustling plaza, performing a meticulous assessment of the locale, allowing his combat software to plot escape routes. His u-shadow was busy extracting the civic plans for the neighbouring buildings, along with utility tunnels and traffic routes. Directly opposite the fane's main entrance was an arcade with a curving crystal roof sheltering fifty high-class shops and boutiques on three levels; it had multiple entrances on to three streets and five underground cargo depots, as well as seven cab platforms and ten rooftop landing pads. That would be difficult to cover even for a large surveillance team. Next to it was a staid old ministry building that now housed several financial institutions and a couple of export merchants. There weren't so many ways in and out, but it did have a large subterranean garage full of expensive regrav capsules. The boulevard running alongside was lined with shops and entertainment salons mixed in with bars and restaurants, tables outside played host to a vibrant cafe culture. Aaron's u-shadow called down three taxis and parked them on public pads nearby, paying for them to wait with three independent and genuinely untraceable coin accounts.