Corso froze where he was, then slid back down with infinite care. ‘Until I saw you back there, I was sure you were dead,’ he grunted.

Dakota headed past his bed and perched on the edge of the windowsill. The lights of the city now illuminated her from behind, colouring her skin a pale bronze.

‘In a funny kind of way, I was,’ she replied. ‘And I can’t make up my mind whether I still am.’

He tugged the bed sheet down with his left hand and saw, to his horror, that something not unlike an enormous caterpillar with semi-translucent flesh lay across the gash in his chest. He could see blood – his blood – pulsing through its body, while its dozen legs impaled his severed flesh, holding it in place.

‘The wonders of modern biotechnology,’ Dakota said. ‘But don’t worry. One of the doctors said it’d die and fall off in a couple of days once you’ve healed up.’

Corso let the sheet fall back into place, thoroughly disturbed by the sight.

‘You simply disappeared,’ he said. ‘We got your final warning about the swarm heading our way . . . then nothing. What the hell happened to you, Dakota?’

‘The swarm turned on me the instant I let my guard down.’

She shrugged. ‘I thought I was studying it, while the whole time it was siphoning off the same data you sent to me. When it attacked, I was trapped. I had to use the last of my ship’s energy reserves to send that final communication.’

‘But you got away. You escaped, and now you’re here.’

‘It’s not as simple as that.’

Corso groaned and tried to sit up again. His head was pounding. ‘I need to get up.’

She hopped down from the windowsill and stepped over to the bed, gently pushing him back down. ‘There’s nothing needs taking care of so badly that you have to go anywhere right this instant.’

‘Tell me exactly what happened. What did you mean, It’s not as simple as that?

She forced a faltering smile. ‘You’ll recall how the swarm had gathered close by a red giant. Well, it blew – turned nova. At first I thought it was just the natural end of the star’s life, but I can’t help wondering if the swarm helped it along.’

‘But you jumped to safety before the star turned nova?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’

‘Then . . . I don’t understand.’

‘The next thing I knew, I was most of my way back home. The ship had reduced me to information just before it was destroyed, and used the very last of its power reserves to transmit all of that to another Magi ship, located not much more than a few days out from here.’ She gave him a ghost of a smile. ‘They’d rebuilt me, except it seems something was lost during the transmission.’