It was cooler in the stockroom, the air dry and still. Overhead lights came on to reveal a rectangular room with smooth concrete walls, filled with ranks of metal shelving. The far end was piled up with old advertising displays. His u-shadow reported that it was having some success in blocking the police software from nearby electronics. They would know he was there, but not what he was doing.

The big malmetal door to the loading bay furled aside, and he went out into the narrow underground delivery road which served all the stores. It was empty, the police prohibition on all traffic was preventing any cargo capsules from using it. Ten metres away on the other side was a hatchway into a utility tunnel. His u-shadow popped the lock and it swung open. He sprinted across the delivery road and clambered inside pushing an unresisting Corrie-Lyn ahead of him. The hatch snapped shut.

Aaron scanned round. There was no light in the tunnel other than a yellow circle glowing round the hatch's emergency handle. It wasn't high enough for him to walk along, he'd have to stoop. Corrie-Lyn was sitting slumped against the wall just beside the hatch.

'There are no visual sensors inside the tunnel, his u-shadow reported. 'Only fire and water alarms.

'Water?

'In case of flooding. It is a city regulation.

'Typical bureaucratic overkill, he muttered. 'Corrie-Lyn we have to keep going.

She didn't acknowledge. Her limbs were still trembling uncontrollably. But she moved when he pushed at her. Together they shuffled along the tunnel, hunched over like monkeys. There were hatches every fifty metres. He stopped at the sixth one and let his field scan function review the immediate vicinity outside. It didn't detect anyone nearby. His u-shadow unlocked it, and they crawled out into the base of a stairwell illuminated by blue-tinged polyphoto strips on the wall.

'The building network is functioning normally, his u-shadow said. 'The police sentients are currently concentrating their monitor routines on the fane and the arcade.

'That won't last, he said, 'they'll expand outward soon enough. Crack one of the private capsules for me.

He pulled Corrie-Lyn to her feet. With one arm under her shoulder, supporting her they went up a flight of stairs. The door opened into the underground car park of the old ministry building. His u-shadow had infiltrated the control net of a luxury capsule, and brought it right over to the stairwell.

The capsule slid up out of the park's chuteway at the back of the building, and zipped up into the nearby traffic stream. Police sentients queried it, and Aaron's u-shadow provided them with a genuine owner certificate code. Corrie-Lyn stared down at the sluggish mass of boiling dust behind them. Her limbs had stopped trembling. He wasn't sure if that was the mild suppressor drug he'd given her finally flushing the aerosol out of her system, or a deeper level of shock was setting in.

A small fleet of civic emergency capsules and ambulances were heading in to the fane.

'They just shot at us, she said. 'They didn't warn us or tell us to stop first. They just opened fire.

'I had jumped down a lift shaft to try and get out, he pointed out. 'That's a reasonable admission of guilt.

'For Ozzie's sake! If you didn't have a force field web we'd be dead. That's not how the police are supposed to act. They were police, weren't they?

'Yeah. They're the city police, all right.

'But we did get out, she sounded puzzled. 'There were how many… ten of them? Twenty?

'Something like that, yeah.

'You just walked out like nothing could stop you. It didn't matter what they did.

'That's Higher biononics for you. The only way standard weaponry can gain an advantage is overwhelming firepower. They weren't carrying that much hardware.

'You're Higher?

'I have weapons-grade biononics. I'm not sure about the culture part of it. That way of life seems slightly pointless to me, sort of like the pre-Commonwealth aristocracy.

'What's that?

'Very rich people living a life of considerable ease and decadence while the common people slaved away into an early grave, with all their labour going to support the aristocrats and their way of life.

'Oh. Right. She didn't sound interested. 'Inigo was Higher.

'No he wasn't. Aaron said it automatically.

'Actually, he was. But he kept that extremely quiet. Only a couple of us ever knew. I don't think our new Cleric Conservator is aware of his idol's true nature.

'Are you—

'Sure? Yes, I'm sure.

'That's remarkable. There's no record of it; that's a hell of an achievement these days.

'Like I said, he kept it quiet. No one would have paid any attention to a Higher showing them his dreams, not out here on the External Worlds. He needed to appear as ordinary as possible. To be accepted as one of us.

Aaron gave an amused grunt. 'Highers are people, too.

'Some of them. She gave him a meaningful glance.

'Was Yves the other Cleric who knew about Inigo?

'No. She drew a short gasp, and glanced back. 'Oh Ozzie, Yves! He was unconscious when the fane collapsed.

'He'll be all right.

'All right? she yelled, finally becoming animated. 'All right? He's dead!

'Well, he'll probably need re-lifing, yeah. But that's only a couple of months downtime these days.

She gave him an incredulous snort, and leant against the capsule's transparent fuselage to gaze down on the city.

Shock, anger, and fright, he decided. Mostly fright. 'You need to decide what to do next, he told her as sympathetically as he could. 'Team up with me, or… He shrugged. 'I can give you some untraceable funds, that should help keep you hidden.

'Bastard. She wiped at her eyes, then looked down at herself. Her red sweater had large damp patches, and the lower half of her trousers were caked in blue foam. Her knees were grazed and filthy from the inside of the utility tunnel. Her shoulders slumped in resignation. 'He used to go somewhere, she said in a quiet emotionless voice.

'Inigo?

'Yes. This isn't the first time he took off on a sabbatical and left Living Dream covering up for his absence. But none of the other times were for so long. A year at most.

'I see. Where did he go?

'Anagaska.

'That's his birthworld.

'Yes.

'An External World. One of the first. Advancer through and through, he said significantly.

'I'm not arguing with you.

'Did he ever take you?

'No. He said he was visiting family. I don't know how true that was.

Aaron reviewed the files on Inigo's family. There was very little information; they didn't seek publicity, especially after he founded Living Dream. 'His mother migrated inwards a long time ago. She downloaded into ANA in 3440, after first becoming…

'Higher, yes I know.

He didn't follow the point; but for someone to convert to Higher without leaving any record was essentially impossible. Corrie-Lyn must have been mistaken. 'There's no record of any brothers or sisters, he said.

Corrie-Lyn closed her eyes and let out a long breath. 'His mother had a sister, a twin. There was something… I don't know what, but some incident long ago. Inigo hinted at it; the sisters went through this big trauma together. Whatever it was drove them apart, they never really reconciled.

'There's nothing in the records about that, I didn't even know he had an aunt.

'Well now you do. So what next?

'Go to Anagaska. Try and find the aunt or her children.

'How do we get there? I imagine the police will be watching the spaceports and wormholes.

'They will eventually. But I have my own starship. He stopped in surprise as knowledge of the starship emerged into his mind from some deep memory.

Corrie-Lyn's eyes opened in curiosity. 'You do?

'I think so.

'Sweet Ozzie, you are so strange.