Paula had been born on Huxley's Haven, a unique world funded by the Human Structure Foundation which genetically modified every citizen so they would fit into a simple social structure framed within a low-technology civilization. To the horror and dismay of the rest of the Commonwealth, what they condemned as genetic slavery actually worked, producing a population that was mostly happy with their predetermined lot. The few malcontents were kept in order by police officers who received specific psychoneural profiling. Among other traits was a variant on obsessive compulsive disorder to ensure they never gave up the chase. The Foundation had created Paula to be one of them, but she'd been stolen from a birthing ward by a group of radical liberals intent on liberating the poor slaves. She'd grown up in the Commonwealth at large, first becoming an investigator in the Serious Crimes Directorate, and then for the last seven hundred years acting as an agent for ANA: Governance.

Huxley's Haven still existed, its society chugging quietly along on its ordained course without changing or evolving. The Greater Commonwealth had very little contact with it these days; Paula herself hadn't been back for over three hundred years, and that had essentially been nostalgia tourism. There was no need to keep an eye on it. ANA: Governance was very protective of non-Higher cultures. A policy which, ironically, gave Paula very little opportunity to return; her designated task of preventing the ANA Factions pursuing their illegal interference among the External Worlds kept her incredibly busy.

Her u-shadow established an ultra-secure link to Justine Burnelli. 'I'm at the Anagaska clinic, she said.

'And?

'We were right; the raid was organized by a Faction.

'Any clues which one?

'Well Marius and the Delivery Man are hanging round outside, which implies they are as interested as we are.

'Ergo they didn't do it.

'Don't be so sure. I've never known the Accelerators and the Conservatives to be so blatant before. More likely one of them did it, and the other is trying to expose or counter them. You know what they're like.

'Whose memorycell were they after?

'Now that's where it gets interesting: Inigo.

'Oh my. Really? Justine said 'I'm surprised Inigo left himself open to that level of exposure.

'To be exact, Inigo pre-Living Dream. This is an old store.

'How does that help anyone?

'I'm not sure. The Conservatives will benefit if he returns and stops the Cleric Conservator's Pilgrimage project. But there's no way of telling if he will. He might just applaud and join the Pilgrimage himself.

'If one of the Factions full-clone him they'd be in possession of a puppet messiah. Very useful for endorsing your own agenda.

'Except this won't be a full-clone, Paula said. 'This is an early version.

'I have a theory that might fit.

'Go.

'A full-clone early version would presumably be able to receive dreams from the Void just like the original, which would give its controllers a considerable advantage over their opposition.

'You mean they'd be able to reach the supposed Last Dream?

'More likely the new Skylord Dreams. Ethan still hasn't found the Second Dreamer, despite a phenomenal amount of effort. Did you know Living Dream is modifying every gaiafield confluence nest it sponsors? And that's about eighty per cent of the Greater Commonwealth. They're getting desperate; the new dreams are increasing. They're not just fragments any more. Whole sequences are seeping into the gaiafield.

'I don't think Living Dream are behind the raid.

'They'd benefit enormously, Justine said.

'Yes, but, my u-shadow has identified the woman assisting Mr Telfer. It's Living Dream's ex-Councillor Corrie-Lyn. Now persona non grata to Living Dream, and wanted for several bodyloss charges on Ellezelin. The Commonwealth warrants are quite extensive. They also list an accomplice called Aaron, who shares the facial features of Mr Telfer.

'Now that is interesting. Any idea about Aaron alias Mr Telfer?

'No. But the pair of them transferred to a starship immediately after the clinic raid. There's only one starship unaccounted for on Anagaska right now, the Artful Dodger.

'What's the history?

'Standard private yacht, registered on Sholapur.

'Oh now we're getting somewhere. Sholapur: so in other words we don't know who it belongs to.

'Indeed. There's no real background available; however the Artful Dodger was on Ellezelin until just after the ruckus at the Riasi fane.

'Corrie-Lyn used to be Inigo's lover. Could she be pining for him? A full-clone would be one way of getting him back.

'No. She's a pawn. Telfer is using her to get to Inigo.

'How does an out-of-date memorycell help them get closer to him? Enough people have tried to find him. He's probably left the Commonwealth entirely. Either he set off to get into the Void by himself, or he's gone and joined Ozzie.

'He hasn't joined Ozzie. I checked that fifteen years ago.

'I was always envious of the life you lead, Justine said. 'All that glamorous danger and travel, there's something intoxicating about it to a sheltered little rich girl like me. How was Ozzie?

'Like me, essentially unchanged.

'Who do you think this Aaron character is working for?

'As you say, there are a lot of Factions and organizations who would benefit by finding Inigo. This raid simply tells us how urgent their pursuit is becoming. Nobody has been careless enough to show their hand until now.

'So what's your next step?

'This raid is only one aspect of a much larger process of political events. I think it's important to find the Second Dreamer before Living Dream do. That person will obviously play a huge part in determining the outcome of the Pilgrimage.

'Wow, you still think big, don't you?

'I always believed that solving a case is a holistic process. It's one of the few things I have remained true to in the last thousand years.

'And what about Aaron and Corrie-Lyn?

'That's the aspect I'll stay visible on. It won't take Investigator Halran long to identify Corrie-Lyn, and things will become quite public after that. If I start enquiring after the Second Dreamer it will create too much interest amid the factions.

'Would you like me to start looking for the Second Dreamer?

'No. You're highly visible to the factions. Almost as much as myself. I think it would be best if you could keep an eye on the Delivery Man and Marius.

'I'll do that. Who gets to track down the Second Dreamer, then?

Paula smiled broadly, knowing how the Faction agents out in the forest would focus on that and wonder. 'The last person anyone would suspect, of course.

The condition of the utility feed pipes in the third apartment were a lot worse than Araminta had expected. She spent three unscheduled hours that morning tracing them through the walls and floor, supervising the bots as they ripped the corroded tubes out. It all made a great deal of mess, which meant more cleanup, which meant more time not spent on preparing the wall frames for the new fittings, which pushed completion back just that little bit further.

Her u-shadow told her when it was eleven o'clock, which barely gave her enough time for a spore shower in the fourth apartment where she was living. Two of the old shower's five nozzles weren't working, and one of the remaining jets smelt funny. She just had time to apply some freshener and dress in smart trousers and jacket before the clients were due. The perfumed spray damping her skin gave her an unexpected flashback to the day she found out Laril had left Viotia and her liberal use of travel-clean back in those days. All of which gave her a guilty prod that she hadn't been back to Nik's for ages.