'Poor bastards, Oscar said as he picked up a small scale applicator brush. 'What do you think Honilar will do with them?

'Good question. How do you prove you're not the Second Dreamer? It's not as if there's physical evidence. I guess if he doesn't get a confession they'll use a memory read.

Oscar shuddered. 'That isn't exactly going to endear them to the Second Dreamer. They need him to help them get into the Void.

'Oscar, face it, with today's medical techniques you can make someone do just about anything you want.

'Medical techniques?

'That's what they started out as.

'I suppose you know how to do that?

'We all had training in that area, yes.

Despite the heavy armour suit with its perfect insulation, Oscar suddenly felt cold.

Paula had rarely experienced a pang of deja vu as strong as the one that hit her when the stained glass door opened and she walked into the entrance hall. And she hadn't even been to the old building before. She walked past the empty concierge desk and stared at the glass cage lift. It was the age of everything around her that was generating that weird sensation tickling the back of her mind. According to the Daroca City Council files the interior was perfectly authentic, exactly as it had been during the Starflyer War. She wasn't going to disagree, as someone who had lived through those times she could feel the decor was right.

The lift took her up to the fifth floor, and she walked into Troblum's penthouse apartment. On the trip over from the spaceport she'd accessed Lieutenant Renne Kampasa's ancient Directorate files on the one time she'd visited — ANA had to deep access the memory. With the file came a note that Troblum had requested access to that same file a hundred years ago, along with associated forensic reports.

His restoration work was excellent, Paula acknowledged as she walked into the huge open plan lounge. The balcony had a magnificent view out over the Caspe River, with the rest of Daroca filling in the background.

It didn't take her long to establish there wasn't anything useful in the apartment, and all Troblum's personal files had boon wiped from the building net. The only mild exception was in the bedrooms, each of which inexplicably had their closets full of girls' clothes. Troblum's own clothes, comprising three ageing toga suits and his unpleasant underwear, were stuffed into a chest of drawers in the master bedroom. For a moment Paula wondered if the dresses belonged to Troblum's girlfriend. She raised an eyebrow when she took out a leather designer miniskirt. It might be slightly prejudiced of her to think it, but what would a girl with a figure to wear such an item see in Troblum? Then she recognized the label, one she hadn't seen for over seven hundred years, and realized that the skirt was also Starflyer War vintage style. She let out a whistle of admiration; he'd even reproduced the girls' wardrobe as best he could.

Now that is true obsession.

Paula started going through the other apartments in the ancient converted factory while her u-shadow accessed the building's net to analyse the remaining files. It was the largest apartment on the third floor which drew her attention. The others were all relatively authentic reproductions, but this one had been modified again. All the internal walls had been removed, and the resulting chamber sealed against the outside atmosphere with a sustainer membrane and clinical-grade air filters. Rows of heavy benches ran the entire length; each one equipped with a series of data nodes and high voltage power sockets. She could see the outlines where objects had once rested. They must have been there for decades to make any kind of impression on the stainless steel surface. The net subsection for the apartment had also been thoroughly wiped.

'Three courier capsules were requisitioned to collect items from the building around the time Troblum disappeared, her u-shadow reported.

'What items?

'Unknown. They were stored in stabilized cases.

'Ah, Paula said. 'I bet it was a collection. Most likely Starflyer War memorabilia. Stubsy Florae often procured historic relics for clients. Where were the cases taken?

'The capsules made three separate trips made to the city spaceport, they were collected by different commercial ships registered in the External worlds. No record of their ultimate destination.

'It was to Florae' She knew it. That's why Troblum was then; to pick it up. And it would have meant a great deal to him. That can only mean he was planning to leave the Commonwealth entirely. She opened a link to ANA. 'Troblum was more scared than I realized.

'Marius does that to people.

'Yes. But there was something else. Remember what he told us when he first made contact. He had something that I would understand, and his mania is the Starflyer War. A time I am familiar with.

'That hardly narrows it down.

'Something else does, Paula said. All she could see was that figure ascending into its ship amid the ruins of Florae's villa. A slight person. That wiggle of the hips, a taunt, a couldn't-care-less contempt. None of today's agents and representatives had that kind of attitude, not even the Knights Guardian. They all prided themselves on their steely professionalism. 'I have a bad feeling about this.

'What feeling?

'I have one last trip to make. I'll tell you after that.

'Can't you tell me now?

'No. Believe it or not, I'd be embarrassed if I'm wrong. You'll think I'm obsessive. I have to know for myself.

'How intriguing. As you wish.

'Are you making any progress on mining Troblum's life for me?

'Yes. In many ways he is an odd person, especially for a Higher. I have a reasonably complete timeline for you. It has some suspicious gaps, and he even served on a scientific mission for the Navy.

'Really. Paula's u-shadow received the file. She scanned the contents list in her exovision; one of the more recent items attracted her. 'A presentation to the Navy about the Anomine and the Dyson Pair barrier generators? And Kazimir himself was there. I'd like a summary of that, please.

'Of course.

'Thanks, I'll review it on my way back to Earth.

'You're coming here?

'Yes, this little problem of mine will only take a moment to confirm. I'll be there in an hour.

Major Honilar rounded up thirty three people from the apartment block, and shipped them back to the security headquarters that were set up in Colwyn's docks. The cordon around the building was maintained, even in the face of growing hostility from the crowd in the park. Five paramilitaries from the support squad made one final sensor sweep after the transport capsules carted off the unfortunate residents, but they found nothing. Once they'd finished they left, reassigned to other more urgent duties. The occupying forces were having a hard time of it;is more and more of Viotia's inhabitants joined the physical pro tests against their presence.

An hour and a half after the last of the suited figures clomped out of apartment four on the fourth floor, the muffled sound of a power tool resonated round the bathroom. One after the other three fixing bolts around the top of the hot water tank spun round then dropped on to the floor. The hemispherical top of the tank tipped up a fraction. Fingers appeared in the gap, and pushed against the thick thermal insulation foam, shoving the top aside. It too fell on to the floor with a loud clang.

'Sweet Ozzie! Araminta groaned.

She took a long time just to lever herself up to a standing position. The cylinder was only just big enough to hold her in terrible crouch position. Every limb throbbed as she finaly stretched them free. Cramp attacked her joint muscles, bringing tears to her eyes. She was close to sobbing when she eventually straightened her spine. It was another five minutes of simple standing and letting the pain subside before she attempted to climb out, using the false wall boxing as a ladder.