Saul gripped the Cobra close to his chest, remembering the speed with which Mitchell had moved inside the lander.

He stepped cautiously back out into the main office, swinging the barrel of his weapon from side to side.

Nothing to be seen.

He licked his lips and moved on past the desk, and towards the ruined door.

From of the corner of his eye, he saw part of the image in the wall-display move, the beach-front houses rippling. The scene looked like it might be somewhere in the Florida Keys.

Too late, he realized it was a trooper with his chameleon circuitry activated. Saul caught a brief flash of an angry face before something slammed into his skull with terrible force, plunging him into darkness.

Saul woke to the smell of smoke and an intensely bright light shining into one eye.

‘He checks out,’ said a voice from somewhere close by. ‘Minor concussion, but that’s it.’

‘Fine,’ said a second voice, as the light receded.

Someone kicked Saul in the shin. ‘Get the hell up,’ ordered the second voice.

With a groan, Saul heaved himself upright. He looked around to see he was back on the concourse that served the Copernicus– Florida gate. Six troopers – four men and two women – stood in a semicircle gazing down at him, where he had been propped against the wheel of an APC. Their faces streaked with grime, their eyes uniformly bloodshot, they looked more like the walking wounded than anything else.

‘Where the hell did you come from?’ asked Saul, rubbing at the back of his neck. He noticed that the owner of the second voice was a man in his late thirties, his sandy hair cropped short above frightened eyes. The UP ident floating next to his head identified him as a Colonel Bailey.

Bailey responded by dragging Saul to his feet, then slamming him hard up against the APC. ‘How about you tell me what you were doing here in a restricted area?’

Saul glanced to one side, at the open back of the APC, and saw that it was loaded with several crates. The top of one had been ripped open, revealing a load of flat, grey bricks that stirred up a mote of recognition. He knew that he should know what they were, but somehow he couldn’t seem to recall.

‘For Christ’s sake,’ replied Saul. ‘You can see my UP, can’t you? I have clearance.’

‘Yeah – and, according to the last update we got before everything went quiet back home, you’re currently wanted for attempted murder, sabotage and terrorism.’

‘Listen to me, will you? There’s a man here planning to kill us all. We’ve got to stop him.’

‘Answer my question, Mr Dumont.’

‘I’m trying to prevent whatever’s happening back home from happening to the colonies as well.’