Rachel tipped her a wink as she pushed the study door open. The lock had disappeared, leaving a rough semicircle of charred wood. Morgan had been in a hurry.

She walked in feeling better than she had any right to. Rachel had never spoken to her like that before. Friendly. Who'd have thought it?

There were about ten people in the study, four of them sitting at the paper-littered table. She could name seven, five in security, two manor staff. The buzz of conversation faded out, all heads turning to look at her. She saw concern and relief register in their faces. They cared about her.

Morgan rose from his seat and she went to his side.

"OK now?" he asked tenderly.

"Yah. Thank you." She cleared her throat. "I'd like to thank all of you, actually. I'm really very grateful for your support." She sat quickly, not meeting eyes. The chair was the one next to Morgan's, she'd always sat at the head of the table before, or opposite him. No more. She sensed Rachel take up position behind her. "What happened?"

"Ha, you tell me," Morgan said.

"Grandpa said someone had managed to squirt a Trojan into him." Julia glanced up at the rustle of sounds, smiling faintly at the curious glances thrown at her. Her finger lined up on the NN core, ultra-hush belonged in the past too. These were her people, they had a right to know. "His memories are in there, translocated before he died. Still are from what I can gather. He shut himself down to stop the virus spreading. Once we write an antithesis program we can unlock him." She stopped, pleased with herself, gear terminology had all been node-referenced.

"The NN core's still drawing power," Morgan said. "Small but constant."

"Great. What do we do in the meantime?"

"Stay put, I'm afraid. We don't have a lot of choice."

"What do you mean?"

"Piers will tell you."

Julia knew that name. Piers Ryder, one of the security division staff, technical.

He was sitting on the other side of the table from her, none too happy at being the centre of attention, reflected in a slightly strained voice. "One of the assault methods we anticipated was an attempt to knock out the defence gear around the manor with a virus program as a prelude to hardliner physical penetration. Consequently, the gear is all designed to revert to a fully autonomous mode if such a virus is detected in the security datanet. And that's exactly what has happened. For all its power this virus is easily detectable, in fact you can't fail to notice it. From what I've managed to ascertain it only attacks databus management programs, the 'ware processors themselves are left unscathed. Basically it's a spoiler virus, it can't do any actual damage."

"Really?"

Piers Ryder shifted at the irony in her drawl, dislodging some of the sheets of hard copy he'd covered in thin wavery handwriting. "I mean, not long-term damage."