Her will to resist appeared to have deserted her with the loss of Evie. She therefore did as she was told, staring straight ahead as Tarrant secured her to the chair with some elasticated restraints. It would have been better for her, she thought, if she had simply drowned in the Kas freezing waters.

Tarrant stood back. I want to be very clear about this, he began. Were not trying to hurt you here. Those restraints are for your own safety while we try an experiment.

You want me to talk to the Wanderer? Okay, I get it.

You need to think of Bash as being a kind of transceiver, said Tarrant. He can send and receive messages between you and the Wanderer. We need to see if you can establish the same kind of rapport through him that Megan once did.

And if I cant, youll toss me out into space at the first opportunity.

Tarrant seemed to be waiting for some kind of answer.

I understand, she said.

Tarrant nodded perfunctorily. Good. He turned to Sifra. Lets get started.

Sifra stepped over to her, holding a device identical to the one Tarrant had used on the Grand Barge to inject an inhibitor into her neck.

What are you doing? she demanded, twisting away from him as he reached out towards the back of her neck.

Relax, said Tarrant. Before we can start, he needs to install a new inhibitor.

I dont want

Its for your own good, Gaby.

Sifra pressed the device against the back of her neck, just above the raised flesh where her original inhibitor had been located. She tensed, clenching her jaw when she felt something like a needle punching through the skin. Shed be damned if shed let them see how much it hurt. Sifra stepped away from her and went over to join Tarrant, who was making adjustments of some kind to a virtual panel.

The back of her neck began to throb painfully. Something about the pain fuelled her anger, making her want to throw herself at the two of them, to tear at their smug expressions with her fingernails, to rake the flesh from their skulls and listen to their screams. She twisted and strained against her restraints, but it was all to no avail.

Lets ramp back her inhibitor, she heard Tarrant mutter under his breath, as he moved a finger slowly across part of the panel. About . . . there.

Gabrielle opened her mouth to scream obscenities at the pair of them, then glanced at Bashir and saw, with a start, that he was looking directly towards her, his gaze full of furious intensity.

Any further words died in her throat, as Bashs eyes seemed to swallow her up, drawing her inside them . . .

Suddenly she was surrounded by stars wheeling around her head. Something enormous blotted out half the universe, an infinite black horizon into which light fell forever.