Some time later, the trucks had traversed a wide expanse of flat ground to reach the steep hills surrounding the base of a mountain, much of its bulk hidden behind clouds. They continued onwards until they came to a high cliff, in front of which sat what appeared to be a dropship hidden beneath a shroud the colour of the surrounding landscape. The trucks kept going, entering the mouth of a long, sloping passageway at the base of the cliff that appeared to extend deep beneath the mountain. This, she guessed, must be one of the Freehold bases that Tarrant had supposedly been so skilled at smoking out on behalf of the Demarchy.

The truck turned through a series of side-passages before stopping briefly to let Tarrant disembark, then continued on, finally coming to a halt outside a row of prefab buildings lined up against a sloping cave wall. The two Freeholders led Gabrielle inside one of these buildings, before locking her inside a room furnished only with a cot and a chemical toilet. The cot smelled of sour sweat and unchanged sheets.

She peered out through the single barred window in time to see the truck disappearing back the way it had come.

Without sight of the sun or any hint of the world outside, the following hours seemed to stretch into an eternity. There was little for her to do but stare out of the window, watching pallet-laden trucks drive past from time to time, which reminded her of something said during Tarrants conversation with Cuys, about the Freehold preparing for a full-scale invasion of the Demarchy.

Perhaps, she thought, they were getting ready to abandon this complex.

She soon gave up avoiding the malodorous cot, which at least offered the advantage of not being quite as freezing cold as the cell floor. To begin with, she pulled one sleeve of her jacket across her mouth and nose, in an attempt to block out the stink, but when that didnt work she tried sleeping with her breather mask pulled on.

Long hours later she woke with the uncanny sense that she was being watched. She sat up with a start, her heart thudding, at the suspicion that she might no longer be alone in that locked and silent room. Yet a glance confirmed she was mistaken, while the great cave beyond the window was silent.

She could see nothing from the barred window, and it suddenly occurred to her that the complex might already have been abandoned, leaving her here to die alone beneath the mountain . . .

<Gabrielle.>

She gasped and stared wildly around, one hand still gripping a bar of the window. There was no one there, and yet she knew she had heard a voice.