‘Good travelling with you, Genar-Hofoen,’ Fivetide boomed. They slapped limbs; the man had already braced one leg and the gelfield suit absorbed the actual impact, so he didn’t fall over. They were in the Entity Control area of the Level Eight docks, Affronter section, surrounded by Affronters, their slaved drones and other machines, a few members of other species who could tolerate the same conditions as the Affront, as well as numerous Tier sintricates - floating around like little dark balls of spines - all coming and going, leaving or joining travelators, spin cars, lifts and inter-section transport carriages.

‘Not staying for some rest and recreation?’ Genar-Hofoen asked the Affronter. Tier boasted a notoriously excellent Affront hunting reserve section.

‘Ha! On the way back, perhaps,’ Fivetide said. ‘Duty calls elsewhere in the meantime.’ He chuckled.

Genar-Hofoen got the impression he was missing a joke here. He wondered about this, then shrugged and laughed. ‘Well, I’ll see you back on God’shole, no doubt.’

‘Indeed!’ Fivetide said. ‘Enjoy yourself, human!’ The Affronter turned on his tentacle tips and swept away, back to the battle-cruiser Kiss The Blade. Genar-Hofoen watched him go, and watched the lock doors close on the transit tunnel, with a frown on his face.

~ What’s worrying you? asked the suit.

The man shook his head. ~ Ah, nothing, he said. He stooped and picked up his hold-all.

‘Human male Byr Genar-Hofoen plus gelfield suit?’ said a sintricate, floating up to him. It looked, Genar-Hofoen thought, like an explosion in a sphere of black ink, frozen an instant after it began.

He bowed briefly. ‘Correct.’

‘I am to escort you to the Entity Control, human section. Please follow me.’

‘Certainly.’

They found a spin car, little more than a platform dotted with seats, stanchions and webbing. Genar-Hofoen hopped on, followed by the sintricate, and the car accelerated smoothly into a transparent tunnel which ran out along the underside of the habitat’s outer skin. They were heading spinward, so that as the car gained speed they seemed to lose weight. A field shimmered over the car, seeming to mould itself to the curved roof of the tunnel. Gases hissed. They went underneath the huge hanging bulk of one of the other Affronter ships, all blades and darkness. He watched as it detached itself from the habitat, falling massively, silently away into space and the circling stars. Another ship, then another and another dropped away after it. They disappeared.

~ What was the fourth ship? the man asked.

~ The Comet class light cruiser Furious Purpose, the suit said.

~ Hmm. Wonder where they’re off to.

The suit didn’t reply.