The first few days, Mirsky had thought all might go well. He believed he could become used to his status as a Lazarus; he made it seem like a joke, that he was back from the dead, this to gently discredit Pogodin's testimony that Vielgorsky had blown Mirsky's brains out. But the joke had not worked.

To the soldiers who had stood guard outside the library, it had seemed as tightly sealed and oppressive as a tomb. And what did you find in a tomb. . . ?

His joke had then become a grim evaluation of reality. Nobody dared flout his rule now; he was a ghost, not the freshly promoted Colonel suddenly made Lieutenant General, not Pavel Mirsky, but a stranger from the depths of the third chamber city.

Superstition. An incredible force among soldiers.

And so, after a week of rule, of struggling to be what his past demanded he be, he had returned to the library. He had been afraid to come back until now, worried that the three political officers would be there to greet him, shoot him all over again.

Superstition.

He had waited for those inside to leave—first, the Chinese man and woman, and then a single Russian, Corporal Rodhzhensky. Only when the library was empty had he entered.

And he had shouted himself hoarse.

He sat in a chair, hand fumbling at the data pillar controls, lifting the lid and dropping it. Finally, he inserted his fingertips into the five hollows. "Law," he demanded. "Law in a deserted city."

The library asked more questions, narrowing his search to a manageable subject.

"Murder," he said.

The material was rich and detailed. Murder was an offense punishable by psychological evaluation and retailoring of the personality, if such was called for.

"What if there is nobody to carry out the punishment?"

It is not punishment, the research voice said, it is redemption, a refitting for society.

"What if there's no law, no police, no judges, or courts or psychologists?"

Suspects can be detained for nineteen days. If that time passes and no judgment is made, or charges specified, suspects are released to the custody of a reintegration counseling clinic.

"And if there's no clinic?"

Suspects are released on their own recognizance.

"Where will they be released?"

Unless otherwise requested, at the scene of their incarceration.

"Where are they taken after capture?"

If they are captured in a structure of adequate size for an emergency medical facility—

He saw a portion of the library, behind a seamless door in the north wall, used as an example: two small, equipment-packed rooms.

—then they are held under sedation until authorities retrieve them or nineteen days have passed. Medical workers serve as police units in emergency.

He had two more days.

Mirsky returned to the fourth chamber and made a pretense of being the commander for a few hours. He met with Hoffman and Rimskaya to continue discussions about opening the second and third chamber city spaces to "settlers."