He didn't want to be here. It was that simple. This kind of observation was the kind of active operation the Faction had assured him he'd never be involved with. All he ever agreed to do for them was deliver essential items of equipment to the people who would use them. Inevitably, as the years progressed he'd allowed himself to be cajoled into assignments that entailed a great deal more than mere delivery. But this…

Once again he was keeping tabs on Marius. He'd done it before without protesting, though Marius always gave him the creeps. Which wasn't the kind of emotional nonsense a Higher should be infected with. It was just that his opposite number was a lot more professional at all this than he was. Nor did the unfolding events help his equilibrium; Justine's flight into the Void, the destruction of the Yenisey, the Viotia invasion; he couldn't imagine what the end effect on Commonwealth society would be. He just knew his place was at home, caring for his family in the face of such uncertainty. Instead, here he was wandering about with the crowds, making sure he was oozing the same emotional wonder and trepidation into the gaiafield as everyone else, wearing medieval clothes — generally blending in. He could see the Outer Circle Canal through the throng, with several gondolas sailing along sedately, backdropped by the Orchard Palace with its roof that resembled merging waves.

All the time he kept his eye on the wire and wood bridge which led over to the Palace's main entrance. It was the one Marius had walked over not an hour before. Remote sensors secreted around the canal watched the other bridges for him. Infiltrating systems inside the Palace itself was difficult. Living Dream employed some extremely sophisticated shielding and counter-intruder systems, though a number of stealthed micro-bots were currently inching their way inwards. Even if they managed to get past the great halls and into the Mayor's suite of chambers, they'd be too late.

The Delivery Man's biononic field scan function detected a familiar biononic signature ten metres away. He let out a resigned sigh, and turned to see Marius standing waiting. He was getting a lot of disapproving stares as his dark toga suit refracted the bright sunlight in abnormal undulations. But his implacable demeanour was enough to keep them away.

'Gotcha, Marius said.

The Delivery Man nodded. 'Yes. Congratulations.

'Fancy a drink?

'Why not?

Marius glide-walked his way across Golden Park, and over the ginger sandstone bridge into Ysidro. The Delivery Man narrowed his eyes as he took in the circular three-storey building with an improbable hexagonal rustication pattern on the walls. Tall lancet windows gave the appearance of some ancient human castle tower.

'Isn't this the one where— he began.

'Yes, Marius said.

They went into the tavern, and managed to find a quiet table by one of the windows. A waitress took their order, and quickly returned with a hot orange chocolate with marshmallows for the Delivery Man and a peppermint tea for Marius. Once she'd gone, they wove their screening shields together, creating an almost invisible yet secure bubble around the table.

The game is changing, Marius said.

'The game is the same, the stakes are rising, The Delivery Man countered.

'Fair enough. I don't like you because you symbolize what we're attempting to leave behind. But I respect you; you play by the rules. There are some people in our line of work who no longer do that.

'We didn't wreck Hanko.

'Hanko?

'Please! One of you fired a Hawking m-sink into it.

'Did we?

'Yes.

'Are you sure about that?

'Don't do that. Don't call me in for a drink and play the subversion recruiting routine. I chose my Faction because of my beliefs, just like you.

Marius raised his cup in salute. 'My apologies. My point is that you and I are both nearing the end of our usefulness to our respective Factions.

'No. If we hold things together you and I will continue in our current form. Only if you get to enact your particular Armageddon does everything alter.

'You don't have a clue what we're doing.

'Fusion is not a pretty concept. It assumes elevation to perpetual godhood. The conflict here at this table is enough to convince me that should not be allowed to happen; and we both know there are Factions a lot more radical than us.

'My apologies again. You have all the answers.

'Of course, you could choose to come over to us. That would undoubtedly mean the end of your Faction. Problem solved for everyone.

'I don't think so.

'I had to ask.

'I know.

The Delivery Man tried to sip his chocolate through the cap of semi-molten marshmallows. 'So now what?

'As I said, the game is changing. We are entering the last stages of an operation which has been centuries in the planning.

As such, it is no longer a game. Please do not think we will tolerate any interference.

'The human race for all our facets and our institutional stupidity is something I believe in. I admire our diversity, our stubbornness. The dynamic of conflict is one of our greatest traits.

'Please don't give me the "we're at our greatest when our backs are against the wall" speech.

'I can't because you seem to want to eliminate our conflict, our differences, to rebuild us in your image. I will not allow that to happen. My Faction will not permit that.

'Which is my point. You no longer have that luxury of choice, it was taken from you decades ago when we succeeded. This, today, this is just the result of our actions.

'You cannot believe that morally you have the right to elevate everyone to post-physical status whether they want that or not.

'We won't be taking everyone.

'Then stop trying to manipulate everyone.

'You seem determined to remain in the past. Is that your wife's influence?

The Delivery Man placed the chocolate cup on the table, it was all he could do not to shatter the china his grip had tightened so. 'Be very careful.

'We have the right to evolve.

'You do. You do not have the right to evolve the rest of us, nor ruin what we have built in the process.

'Much good your ANA: Governance has done you. It is the most conservative Faction of all.

'It made you possible.

'Exactly. And now like an enfeebled parent jealous of our youth and vision, it strives to hold us back.

'It neither encourages nor refuses your ambitions, it is neutral as always. We, on the other hand, are not. Find a way of doing what you want without harming others, without endangering the entire galaxy.

'We do neither. Von cannot stop us elevating ourselves into something glorious. Do not try. That is what I am saying to you. We have come to the end of this tedious routine, you and I. Next time we meet it will not be sitting in a tavern over a friendly drink.

'If that's the way it is, then that's the way it is. The Delivery Man watched Marius give him a sad little smile, then glide out of the tavern. Only then did he exhale a very shaky breath. 'Oh dear Ozzie, he hissed. 'I can't do this any more.

The storm had been rising steadily for three hours now. A continual cloud of miniature ice daggers were hurtling horizontally through the air, smashing into the ground crawler at close to a hundred miles an hour. The noise was astonishing, as if they were buffeting their way forwards through a jungle of glass.

As before, the land shifted without warning, sending the ground crawler rocking violently. Corrie-Lyn gripped her seat tighter. It was the fifth mini-quake in the last hour. And they were coming closer together.

'I'm sorry, Corrie-Lyn said. She was sitting beside Inigo as he attempted to steer them across hilly land locked into shape by the permafrost. All the loose snow that had accumulated in dunes and crevices was slowly and methodically being swept up by the wind, hardening further as it took to the air to join the atmospheric bedlam. They could see nothing through the narrow windscreen now, even the powerful headline beams created little more than a dusky glow in the merciless blizzard. The ground-crawler's sensors could only scan a derisory fifteen to twenty metres ahead. His biononic field scan function merely supplemented the perception.