'So you are Protectorate?

'My old partners asked me to let you land. When I enquired, I heard they got leaned on by people high up in the movement, people we haven't heard from in a long time. You made that happen, son, so I'd appreciate it if you don't go all coy with me now.

'Of course not'

'What do you want?

'Information.

'Figured as much. He turned and rested his elbows on the top of the gate. 'You see Georgia out there? She's the one with the dappled mane.

Aaron and Corrie-Lyn walked over to the gate. 'Yes, sir, Aaron said.

'Frisky little thing, ain't she? I can trace her blood-line right back to Arabians on Earth from the mid-nineteenth century. She's as pure as they come. Not an artificial sequence in her whole genome; conceived naturally and born from her mother's belly just as every one of her ancestors have been. To me, that is a thing of beauty. Sublime beauty. I do not wish to see that spoiled. No indeed, I don't want to see her foals improved. She and her kind have the right to exist in this universe just as she was intended to by the planet that created her.

Aaron watched the horse as she cantered around, tossing her mane. 'I can understand that.

'Can you now? And my hat.

'Sir?

Paul took his Stetson off, and examined it before returning it to his head. 'This is the real McCoy, I'll have you know. One of the very last to come out of Texas, over two hundred and fifty years ago in a factory that's manufactured them for damn near a millennia, before ANA finally shut down what it regarded as an inconsequential irrelevance. The once-humans who live on that poor ole world these days don't even make them as a hobby any more. I bought a whole batch and keep them in stasis so every time I wear one out I'll have another a fresh one. I have only two left now. That's a crying shame. But then I don't expect to be around long enough to use that last one. It'll sit right there on top of my coffin.

'I'm sorry to hear that, sir.

'So tell me, son, do you see what I am now?

'Not quite, no.

Paul fixed Aaron with a perturbingly intense stare. 'If I can get all hot under the collar about the purity of a hat, just think what I'm like when human heritage is threatened with extinction.

'Ah.

'Yes. I'm Protectorate, and proud of it. I've played my part in preventing those obscene perversions from spreading their sanctimonious bullshit supremacy across these glorious stars. Higher isn't like some old-fashioned religion or ideology. With them, fellas who hold two different beliefs can argue and cuss about such notions all night long over a bottle of whisky and laugh it off in the morning like gentlemen. But not Higher culture. I regard it as a physical virus to be exterminated. It will contaminate us and take away choice. If you are born with biononics infecting your cells, your choice is taken away from you. You will download your thoughts into ANA. That's it. No option, no alternative. Your essence has been stolen from you before you are born. Humans, true humans, have free will. Highers do not. No indeed.

'And the life they live between birth and download? Corrie-Lyn asked.

'Irrelevant. They're the same as pets, or more likely cattle, cosseted and protected by machines until the moment they're ready to submit to their metal god in a final sacrifice.

'So what's the point in that god creating them?

'Ultimately, there won't be one. Despite the years, this is early days yet. ANA believes it is our replacement. If it is allowed free reign it will see us extinct.

'A lot of species continue after their post-physical plateau, Aaron said. 'For most a singularity is a regeneration event, those that don't go post-physical diversify and spread across new stars.

'Yes. But no longer what they were. Paul gazed out at Georgia again. 'Unless she is protected, the universe will never see her like again. That is wrong. It cannot be allowed.

'The radical Higher movement is almost extinct, Aaron said. 'There are no more infiltrations. ANA saw to that.

Paul smiled thinly. 'Yeah, and ain't that an irony. Maybe the Good Lord is having a joke on his metal pretender over morals.

'I need to ask you about your time as an active Protectorate member.

'Go right ahead, son. I don't know what you are, but I'm pretty sure what you're not, and that's the police or some version of them.

'No, sir, I am not.

'Glad to hear it.

'I'm here about Inigo.

Ah. That was high up on my list. You two looking for him?

'Did you know he was Higher?

Paul's reaction startled Aaron. The old man slapped his hand on the gate, and produced a beaming smile. 'Son of a bitchl I knew it, I goddamn knew it. Hell, he was a wily one. Do you know how long we watched him?

'So you suspected?

'Of course we suspected.

'That means Erik Horovi was Higher?

'Erik? Hell no. Poor kid. He was used just like the sisters by that bastard angel.

'Sisters? Are you talking about Inigo's aunt?

'You don't know so much after all, do you, son?

'No, sir. But I do need to learn. It is urgent.

'Ha. Everything is urgent. The whole universe is in a hurry these days. I know it's that way because I'm older, but damn—

'Erik, Aaron prompted gently.

'We'll start with the angel. You know what they are?

'I've heard of them.

'The radical Highers wanted to convert entire worlds to their culture. They didn't want to give people a choice about it. Like I said, if you're born with biononics you don't have any options in life, in what you become. So back then these angels would land on a planet and do their dirty work; starting the infection which would spread across the entire population. Now the Protectorate watched the spaceports for anyone with biononics, and kept tabs on them while they were visiting. Still do, so I gather. So the angels would land out in the wilds somewhere. They'd jump offship while it was still in low orbit, and their force fields would protect them through aerobraking. He gave Aaron a long look. 'Could you do that?

'Yes, I suppose so. It's just a question of formatting. But back then it would have been cutting edge.

'Oh the bastards were that, for sure. The force fields were what earned them their name. They were shaped like wings, and brought them down to the world amid a fiery splendour. A lot of them got through unnoticed. This time, though, we got lucky; a sympathizer out fishing saw the thermal trail it left over the ocean and called it in. Me and my team tracked the monster to Kuhmo. But we weren't quick enough. By the time we got there it had hooked up with Erik Horovi and Imelda Viatak, who were dating just like normal kids. Now the thing with angels is they're hermaphroditic, and they're beautiful. I mean really beautiful. This one was exceptional even by their standards, either a pretty boy or a real humdinger of a girl depending on your own gender. It was what you wanted it to be. So it made friends with Erik and Imelda and went to bed with both of them. Erik first. Now that's important. Its organs injected his sperm with biononics. Then it lay with Imelda and impregnated her with Erik's altered sperm.

'Contraception? Aaron queried.

'No use. Angels can neutralize it faster than any medic. So the kids find they're having a baby, and the DNA test proves it's theirs no question. Biononics are hellishly difficult to detect in an embryo even today. Back then it was near impossible. So, bang, you've got a challenging in the nest without ever knowing it. Biononics don't come active until puberty, so by then it's too late. Plant enough of them in a population, and a few generations later most of the births are Higher. But we intercepted this little love triangle in time.

'The college art block, Corrie-Lyn said.

'Yes, ma'am. You might say the angel put up something of a fight. But we got it. All you really need to defeat biononics is a heavier level of firepower. The art block got in the way.