Lamoureaux was already there a few days later, when Corso arrived at the spaceport a few kilometres outside Unity. Its turbos humming loudly, his automated taxi blew up a storm of grit as it dropped down on to the blackened concrete plain a short distance from the vehicle that had brought Lamoureaux.

Lamoureaux wore a fur-lined parka, a cheap breather mask strapped over his mouth and nose. The sun was bright, but still low on the horizon, burning away the freezing mist that clung to the ground.

‘Ted,’ Corso greeted him, climbing out of the taxi and stepping towards the other man. ‘Thanks for coming here.’

Lamoureaux nodded uncertainly. ‘I don’t know if you heard the news this morning.’

‘I’m afraid I did, yes.’

The Consortium had finally made their move, taking over the research station servicing the cache within the Tierra system. Legislate – registered military cruisers equipped with newly minted superluminal drive-cores had moved in, while Fleet representatives throughout the system had been placed under arrest.

Lamoureaux nodded. ‘Now maybe you can tell me why I had to come to Redstone under an assumed identity, without my Magi ship.’

‘I’m sorry about all the subterfuge, but it was necessary, believe me. I needed to be sure nobody knew you were here at all.’

‘I watched some of the local news broadcasts. They really don’t like people with implants here, do they?’

‘Not generally, no.’

Lamoureaux reached up to fiddle with his mask. Corso saw he hadn’t put it on right, and stepped forward to adjust the straps for him.

‘I don’t know how the hell you manage to go around with these things on,’ Lamoureaux muttered. ‘I’ve only been out in the open for twenty minutes, and already it’s driving me crazy.’

‘I grew up having to wear these things any time I went outdoors,’ Corso replied, stepping away again. ‘And it gets to be second nature. Might as well complain about having to hold your breath if you go diving. How does that feel?’

‘Better,’ Lamoureaux admitted, tentatively touching the device where it pressed against his face, ‘though I’d still rather not be wearing it at all. Now, do you mind telling me why all the subterfuge?’

‘Because there’s an extraordinary motion due to go through the Senate this morning to have me removed from my seat and placed under arrest on charges of sedition against the state,’ Corso explained.

‘Then we have to get you out of here promptly. We need to get you back to Ocean’s Deep.’

‘No.’ Corso shook his head. ‘By the time we got back there, it’d be just as dangerous. Think about it: the strike against the cache, the dispute over the Mjollnir – it’s all tied together. Now there are rumours the Mjollnir’s going to be leaving orbit again in a few days’ time.’

‘But it only just got here,’ Lamoureaux protested.