The flotilla she chose was accompanied by an armed escort of peacekeepers, who were affiliated to the Accord. She had asked careful questions, teasing significant details out of the few other passengers she risked talking to. It soon became clear that the Accord served more or less the same function as had the Consortium, back in the days when she had last been alive. The peacekeepers were from the military base she had heard of earlier, and were apparently on the lookout for Freehold insurgents trying to make their way over the mountains to the north-east.

It thus slowly dawned on Dakota that the Freehold was no longer the dominant military force on Redstone. It seemed it had lost its long struggle with the Uchidanists, and the vast majority of Freeholders had since decamped to new colonies, while only a fanatical few remained behind to fight for what they still saw as their rightful homeland.

She kept the knitted cap pulled down tightly over her ears as the convoy trundled across the broad inland plains, crossing bridges and parallel series of canals, the mountains growing closer and taller as they drove on through the night.

It was a few hours before dawn when Freehold guerrillas opened fire, from the shelter of a ditch, on the flotilla of peacekeepers escorting them.

The sound of gunfire filled the air, while energy weapons seared her eyes with after-images that took long minutes to fade. Then she heard the dull thud of a detonation, and saw the windows of her transport implode, allowing Redstones poisonous atmosphere to come rushing in.

The lights went out. Dakota struggled through the dark as people all around her fought to find their masks, or escape through the shattered windows of the transport, or both. Fortunately, the mask given to her by Malcolm still hung around her neck by its cord.

She could hear those people who hadnt yet been able to find their breather masks struggling for breath as Redstones native atmosphere flooded in. She managed to pull her own mask over her mouth and nose, then clambered through a window, tumbling out and onto the verge.

It came to her with a horrible shock that most of the people she had been riding with were going to die. The transports heating systems had been faulty, and even while she had slept, she still wore the heavy coat Malcolm had given her. If it hadnt been for that, she would probably have frozen to death within minutes.

She felt a desperate urge to stay and help the pilgrims, but she could see little in the darkness, and with a battle under way all around them, she knew the most she could hope for was to save herself.

The ground shuddered beneath her feet, as a great cloud of ash and fire rose up into the sky from further along the road, revealing the silhouettes of other transports. The sound of the explosion followed a moment later.