He checked the external view to see if anything had changed, and realized the nearest of the Magi ships was drawing closer. By the time it was almost abreast of the cargo ship, the stars were obscured by an energy field.

And then, in something less than the blink of an eye, the coreship was gone, along with its attendant fleet of human and Magi vessels. Instead there was only the broad sweep of the Milky Way, and the diamond sprinkle of stars both near and far away.

A data-file appeared on the display, with a confirmation request. Ty activated it and found himself looking at an up-to-date library of research into the Atn, including not only all of his own published work, but also a set of documents marked ‘classified’.

He speed-read through the summaries of several of the classified files, with a fascination that slowly gave way to anger mingled with envy. Clearly some of his fellow exo-anthropologists had been engaged in classified research for the Legislate: work he’d had no inkling of during his long years of exile.

He read the papers in more detail, soon becoming lost in their minutiae, his struggle for survival on the streets of Ascension now slowly fading into a memory.

Three days later, the same four security personnel escorted Ty into an orbital station within the Ocean’s Deep system. A central hub many kilometres long was surrounded by a series of pressurized rings that spun constantly to provide gravity, all of them connected to the hub by spokes that also served as part of the station’s transport system. He stared around, goggle-eyed, as he was taken down one of the spokes and into the interior of a ring, which proved to be dominated by ancient, crumbling towers of Bandati design. The air smelled sour and damp, and slightly foul.

Enormous windows set into the ring’s inner rim faced in towards the hub, the gas-giant around which the station orbited intermittently visible as the ring turned on its axis. Ty watched for a few moments as the planet slowly slid past.

A shadow passed overhead, and he caught sight of a Bandati soaring from one tower-platform to another, with wings spread wide.

He found Lamoureaux and Willis waiting for him in a prefab admin building located in the shadow of one tower.

‘First things first,’ said Lamoureaux, once Ty’s escorts had departed. ‘You read the files I sent you?’

‘Yes, yes I did.’ Ty gave a little half-laugh. ‘I had no idea Laroque was doing any kind of secret research, or that the Atn were involved in the smuggling of restricted technology. Why would they do that?’

‘They needed things from us. Access to manufacturing facilities, certain processing technologies they could make use of. Sometimes it’s easier for them to barter for what they need than build it from scratch way out there between the stars.’

‘And in return?’ asked Ty.