Someone pushed a needle into his arm and Corso tasted peppermint on his tongue. Two faces hovered within view, as he saw scissors cutting away his shirt, revealing a wound in his side which was much deeper than he had realized.

For a little while, everything seemed to get increasingly far away.

‘Second wound’s on his other side,’ he heard a doctor say. ‘We’ll have to turn him. Ready . . . now.’

Everything got dark.

Chapter Thirteen

When Corso next opened his eyes, he found himself in a private room inside a hospital. The curtains were open, and the only light in the room came from the twinkling skyline of Unity beyond. The Senate building was visible towards the centre of town, a dome wreathed in artfully tangled girders and lit from beneath by floodlights.

An ambient video loop of a shoreline under a vault of grey clouds cycled across an expanse of wall next to the door. He mumbled a series of commands until he found one that caused the loop to switch off, then let his head fall back against the pillow, enjoying the sudden silence.

‘You’re back, I see.’

Corso lurched up in surprise. Breisch had been sitting the whole time in a chair to one side of the bed, nearly invisible in the shadows.

‘How long?’ Corso managed to ask, before letting his head sink back. His throat and mouth felt raw and ragged.

Breisch lifted himself out of the chair and stepped over to stand beside the bed. ‘You’ve been out cold for two days. The med boys patched you up good, though. That was a hell of a fight.’

‘I thought I was a dead man.’

‘You very nearly were. You kept your head, though, when Jarret didn’t. He thought he had you figured out.’

It was coming back now, yet it all felt like it had happened a million years ago. ‘I remember now. Listen, I’m sorry I—’

‘It’s all right,’ Breisch cut him off. ‘I think we’d gone about as far as we could with your training anyway. I just wanted to be here when you woke up. There’s somebody else here who’s been waiting to see you since they choppered you in.’

Corso watched as Breisch stepped towards the door, pulling it open.

‘Wait. . ’ began Corso.

‘Good luck, son,’ said Breisch. ‘I’ve enjoyed working with you.’ He stepped through and was gone.

Corso stared at the closed door, then tried to lever himself into an upright position. The right side of his chest still felt like it was on fire, so he moved with extreme care. Something shifted against his ribcage under the bed sheet, but before he had a chance to investigate, the door opened again and Dakota walked in.

‘I don’t think they’ll like it if you move around too much,’ she declared, looking him up and down.