The details of the journey lying ahead of her had been drilled into Gabrielle from such a young age that she could visualize almost every step of the way. A barge would carry her a few hundred kilometres downriver, to the mouth of the Ka River and the city of Dios, not far from the Demarchy of Uchidas disputed border with the River Concord States. And, once there, she would be transported to her ultimate destination: the ancient Magi starship known to the Demarchys citizens as the Ship of the Covenant. The alien vessel still lay half buried where it had fallen from orbit, centuries before, on the slopes of Ascension Peak, a stub of volcanic granite standing guard over the city below.

But there were other things she knew about the Ship of the Covenant that were not public knowledge, and were in fact known only to very few of the high officials accompanying her. The Demarchys own long-term and highly secretive research project had demonstrated almost conclusively that, by the time the next Speaker-Elect was due to depart for Dios in another twenty-one years time, the Ship of the Covenant would have nearly finished the centuries-long process of repairing itself and, when that day came, there was nothing Thijss or Lampards successors could do that might prevent the alien crafts inevitable departure.

On that same day, the Demarchy of Uchida would, in one swift stroke, lose the technological and military advantage it had held over the River Concord States for so very long. There would no longer be any reason for the Accord to maintain its military orbital presence, and war between the Demarchy and its neighbours was only one possible outcome.

Given all that, there was a very real chance Gabrielle might be the last of the Speakers-Elect. It was therefore imperative for the Demarchy that they grab whatever data they could from the alien craft, which could then be traded to the Accord in return for continued protection, not only from rival states but from the renegade Freehold camps hidden deep in the Montos de Frenezo.

Even though she, like all the other Speakers-Elect who had come before her, was outwardly exalted by the Demarchy, Karl had taught her that it was solely because of the advanced scientific data they could each bring back from the Ship of the Covenant that they were in any way valued. And if that ship had only flown off long before now, Gabrielle might never have been forced to undergo this whole insane charade.

But then again, she reminded herself, if it hadnt been for the Ship of the Covenant, there would never have been a reason for her to be born in the first place.