Alexis Denken rose from the crumbling ruins of Kingsville, accelerating at thirty gees into the hot pellucid sky. Paula watched the old base dwindle away with mixed feelings. It was good to finally confirm she was up against the Cat, but that knowledge might just have been bought at the expense of time she didn't have.

The planet's curvature slid into the visual sensor image as sin-raced away. Paula was tempted to head over to Kaluga on the southern ocean. Morton still lived there, part emperor part industrialist and by now only a very small part human. The massive company he'd built up made him the nearest thing Kerensk had to a chief executive. She could ask him what he knew about Kingsville and any quiet visitors there. After all, his own memories were down there in the vault. He'd keep a subtle watch, she was sure.

Tempting… but again it was personal. The trail was a hundred years old. Cold even by her standards.

She opened a link to Digby. 'Where is Chatfield?

'Still in deep space, Digby replied. 'But the course is holding constant. We're heading for an unregistered system just inside the Commonwealth boundary.

'I'm on my way.

Purlap spaceport was a small plateau on the eastern side of the capital city. As the planet had only been open to settlement for a hundred and fifty years, it was as neat and level as any development on a new External world could be. Civil engineering crews had cut the last few rocky peaks down flush, then trimmed the edges, leaving a perfectly circular surface two kilometres in diameter. The winners of the terminal building architecture competition had designed a shocking-pink cluster of bubbles arranged like some neon-Gothic molecular structure. One of the lumpy limbs sticking out at a strange angle from the crown of tripod legs had a studio cafe that occupied the entire last bubble. A panoramic strip window gave a near-360 degree view of the sheer rock circle. It was an excellent observation point for starship enthusiasts. Some spent half a day sitting at a table watching the different shapes arrive and depart.

Marius had been there for five hours before the images of the battle over Bodant park overwhelmed every Unisphere news show. He had a thirty second advance warning from his own agents on Viotia that Living Dream had got a fix on Araminta through the gaiafield. They flew their capsule to the exact location at mach three — quite dangerous within a weather dome force field. Unfortunately, speed and determination didn't count for much in the occupied city these days. They weren't even the second team to reach the park. And when they did, their communications dropped out as the dogfight began and three of them jumped into the hysterical crowd of fleeing rioters.

He accessed in amazement as various agents went head to head. It was a domino effect, once the first clash erupted in a blaze of disruptor fire and atom laser shots everyone started to activate their biononics and weapons enrichments. Stealth was abandoned within seconds. Agents went for each other like frenzied animals, desperate that no one else should collect the prize. None of Major Honilar's welcome team even made it past the first three minutes.

Out of the five people he had on the ground, only one survived the clashes to report back. 'She's gone. A team covered for her while she ran off. There are no embedded sensors left anywhere round here, someone took them out. I don't know where she went. Neither do the Ellezelin troops. They're going crazy.

'I see that, Marius murmured, sipping his foamed chocoletto. Exovision was showing him images from reporters on the edge of the park. It resembled some kind of historical war zone with smoking craters, smashed trees, ruined buildings blazing, and people. Injured people. Weeping people. People limping along. Shocked walking-comatose people being shouted at by Ellezelin paramilitaries. Bodies lying on the ground untended. Parts of bodies. Medic zones being established. Capsules circled low overhead, holoprojectors flooding the devastated park with monochromatic light and strobing lasers. Still Cleric Phelim wouldn't allow ambulance capsules to fly.

That, along with the casualty figures and violence, was going to bring a colossal amount of political pressure on Cleric Conservator Ethan. Possibly an irresistible amount.

'She did remarkably well for a complete novice without a single enrichment, he commented.

'I have a scan of the team that helped her.

Marius examined the file images that arrived in his storage lacuna. Eight figures surrounded by flares of energy, battling it out with appalling savagery. Three of them — two men and a woman — had exceptionally powerful biononics he noted. His u-shadow began to run identification checks through Accelerator files — which produced some very interesting results.

'Thank you, Marius said. 'I'll send some replacements to reinforce you. They should be there in a day. Meanwhile, please don't forget your objective. Just because she escaped this time doesn't mean we give up the hunt. You have an advantage now, the welcome team is out of the picture, along with most of our serious opponents.

'Yes sir.

Marius's u-shadow opened a secure link to the Cat's ship. 'I have a new assignment for you.

'Is this before or after I eliminate Troblum for you, and find Inigo?

'Troblum is beginning to look irrelevant. And I'm waiting to see if Inigo survived.

'Aren't you the capable one, darling?

A flicker of annoyance crossed Marius's features. He disliked the way she irritated him, and that it was all deliberate. 'Did you access the tussle on Viotia?

'Yes. Hardly the clash of Titans.

'Actually, it was rather interesting. Living Dream found Araminta. She got away. She was helped by a team of Knights Guardian.

'Really? I trust they won the fight.

He smiled down at the ultradrive starship he was watching. The Cat was remarkably easy to influence. 'Better yet, it looked like they're working for an old friend of yours, Oscar Monroe.

'Oscar the Martyr? I didn't even know he'd been re-lifed.

'Some time ago, actually. And living the quiet life ever since. Interesting psychology. Who would suspect him of getting involved in events again?

'Which makes him ideal for low-visibility operations.

'Quite. And there's a very small number of people he'd do that for. After all, he would only sign on for a worthy cause.

'Brilliant deduction, my dear. No one would expect him to be working for Paula.

'Please remember our prime concern is to deliver Araminta to Living Dream.

'Was that a pun?

'Not intentional.

'I'm on my way.

After the link closed, Marius regarded the starship which the Delivery Man had parked on the seamless rock for several minutes. He decided he was wasting his time. The ship was probably a contingency — the Conservatives didn't know if Aaron and Inigo had survived any more than he did. In which case there were passive sensors he could deploy to watch the ship remotely. He used a coin card to pay his tab, and glided away from the table.

Troblum backed out of the compartment, bending as low as he could, yet still managing to knock the back of his head on the malmetal rim as he went through.

'Ouch! He rubbed at the point, though it was hard bending his arm that far back. Every muscle ached. He was sure his call muscle was about to cramp again from the awkward position he'd maintained while supervising the bots. He'd ignored the growing discomfort last time, and his biononic medical functions had to deal with the sudden flare of pain as his whole leg seized up. Even now it was difficult to put his full weight on it. As a consequence, the Mellanie's Redemption was now operating with a two-thirds internal gravity field. He knew that wasn't good, that his body shouldn't grow too accustomed to an easier environment. It was a mistake he'd made a couple of times before on long flights; mistakes which had taken too long to rectify in the medical chamber.