'Okay then! Do you want to get on it right away, or leave it a few days?

'Give it a few days, Troblum said, reading from his social priority list. 'We'll all need a while to recharge after this. I'll start going over the telemetry and give you a call when I think I know what the new bonding field format should be.

'Okay. Massell gave him an encouraging smile as he slid off the casing. 'There's a certain Air technician I've been promising a resort time-out with. I'll let her know I'm free. He gave Emily a blank gaze, then left.

'Will there be the resources to carry on? she asked.

'I don't know. Maybe not from our mutual friend. At the back of his mind was a nasty little thought that this had been the result which benefited Marius best. Just how far would the Accelerator Faction representative go to achieve that? 'But I'll carry it on one way or another. I still have some personal EMA left.

Her expression grew sceptical as she looked round the huge assemblage of ultra-sophisticated equipment. 'All right. If you need any help reviewing the data, let me know.

'Thanks, he said.

Troblum's office wasn't much. A corner in one of the annexe rooms big enough for a large wingback chair in the middle of a high-capacity solido projection array. He slumped down into the worn cushioning and stared through the narrow window into the hangar's assembly section. Now he was alone and the neural chemicals were wearing off, he didn't have the heart to begin a diagnostic review. The drive engine should have slid smoothly out of the extruder and into the modified forward cargo hold of Mellanie's Redemption. He would have been ready to show the Commonwealth he was right by the end of the week, to open up a whole new chapter in galactic history. Highers weren't supposed to become frustrated but right now he wanted to kick the shit out of the Neumann cybernetics.

Some time later that afternoon the hangar security net informed Troblum a capsule had landed on the pad outside. Frowning, he flipped the sensor image out of his peripheral vision, and watched as the capsule's door flowed open. Marius stepped out.

Troblum actually feared for his life. The warning at the restaurant had been awful enough. But Troblum had been so sure the design for the drive engine was valid he couldn't stop thinking that the whole manufacturing process had somehow been deliberately knocked out of kilter — sabotaged, in other words. There was only one person who could have that done. He gave the Mellanie's Redemption a calculating glance. Even with his Faction-supplied biononics, Marius wouldn't be able to shoot through the ship's force field.

It wasn't going to happen. Troblum didn't have anywhere to run to; he certainly didn't have a friend — not one, not anywhere. And if Marius was here to eliminate him, it was on orders from the Accelerators. Hiding inside the starship would only postpone the inevitable.

I must start thinking about this, about a way out.

Reluctantly, he ordered the hangar net to open the side door.

Marius came into the office, gliding along in his usual smooth imperturbable fashion. He glanced round, not bothering to hide his distaste. 'So this is where you spend your days.

'Something wrong with that?

'Not at all. Marius gave a thin smile. 'Everyone should have a hobby.

'Do you?

'None you'd appreciate.

'So what are you here for? I did as you asked, I haven't pressed the Navy.

'I know. And that hasn't gone un-noted. He studied the huge stack of Newman cybernetics through the office window. 'My commiserations. You put a lot of effort into today'

'How did you know…

The representative's eerie green eyes turned back to stare at Troblum. 'Don't be childish. Now, I'm here because you need more funds and we have another little project which might interest you.

'A project? Since he didn't seem in danger of immediate slaughter, Troblum couldn't help the tweak of interest.

'One you'll find difficult to refuse once you know the details. Its an ftl drive which we're putting into production. Who knows? Perhaps there will be some overspill into this which you can take advantage of.

Troblum really couldn't think what type of drive the ANA Faction might want, especially after the last ultra-classified project he'd worked on for Marius. 'And you'll help me acquire extra EMAs for a rebuild here?

'Budgets are tight in these uncertain times, but a swift and successful conclusion to our drive programme would probably result in some unused allocation we can divert your way. However, we also have something else you might be interested in, a bonus if you like.

'What's that?

'Bradley Johansson's genome.

'What? Impossible. There was nothing left of him.

'Not quite. He rejuvenated several times at a clinic on an Isolated world. We had an access opportunity several centuries ago.

'Are you serious?

Marius simply raised an eyebrow.

'That sounds good, Troblum said. 'Really good. I almost don't have to think about it.

'I need an answer now.

Once again Troblum was uncertain what would happen if he said no. He couldn't detect any active embedded weapons in the representative, but that didn't mean death wouldn't be sudden and irrevocable. Talk about carrot and stick. 'All right. But first I have to spend a couple of days analysing what happened here.

'We would like you to fly to our assembly station immediately.

'If I can't settle this problem to my own satisfaction I won't be any good to you. I think you know that.

Marius hardened his stare, his eyes darkening from emerald to near-black. 'Very well, you can have forty-eight hours. No more. I expect you to be on your way by then. He transferred a flightplan file over to Troblum's u-shadow.

'I will be. It took a lot of biononic intervention to prevent Troblum from shaking as the representative left the office. There wasn't anything he could do to stop the sweat staining his suit right along his spine. When the sensors showed him the representative's capsule lifting off the pad, he turned to gaze back into the assembly section. It was all far too neat. The problem on the verge of success. The generous offer to help pay for a solution, plus the unbelievable promise of being able to clone Bradley Johansson. Troblum let his biononic field sweep out to flow through the inert cybernetics. 'What did that bastard do? he murmured. Around him the solido projectors snapped on, filling the air with a multicoloured blizzard of fine equations, sparkling as they interacted. Somewhere there had to be a flaw in the blueprint that had taken him fifteen painstaking years to devise, a deliberate glitch. The only person who could put it there was Emily. He called up the sections she was directly involved with. There was an emotion tugging at him as he started to review the data. It took a while, but he eventually realized it was sadness.

From the office he was visiting in the hangar five down from Troblum's, the Delivery Man could just see Marius's capsule as it took to the air again. All he used was his eyes, there was no way the Accelerator representative could know he was under direct observation. 'He's gone, he reported. 'And that hangar has distorted the spaceport's basic guidance protocols — you can't get there unless you're invited. It's definitely a nest for some bad boy activity. Do you want me to infiltrate?

'No thank you, the Conservative Faction replied. 'We'll use passive observation for the moment.

'What about this Troblum character it's registered to?

'Records indicate he's some kind of Starflyer War enthusiast. His starship fiightplan logs are interesting, he visits some out of the way places.

'Do you think he's another representative?

'No. He's a physicist, with some high-level Navy contacts.