Callum turned around and started pulling at something heavy on the other side. Yuri’s jaw tightened as he saw the state Savi was in.

“Contact the emergency services,” Yuri told Boris as his lost agent was manhandled through the portal. “I need a paramedic team here immediately.”

Moshi followed Savi, then Raina, who gave Yuri a savage scowl when she saw him standing above her.

“Call Kohei,” Yuri told Boris.

Henry came through the circular portal. Then it was Alana blocking the blaze of torchlight. Colin made up the rear.

Yuri squatted down and looked through at Zagreus. Akkar was on his hands and knees, centimeters from the portal.

“Kohei, kill the power,” Yuri ordered. “Now.”

Akkar screamed in fury, flinging himself forward, his hand reaching toward Earth.

The spatial entanglement between Earth and Zagreus ended. Akkar’s fist landed on the paddock tarmac, splattering blood as it rolled to a halt.

“You bastard!” Raina shouted, staring at the severed hand in revulsion.

“Why?” Yuri asked levelly. “Did you want two thousand terrorists living here again, and madder than ever before? Maybe some of them could move into the flat next to yours; I read in your file it’s available to rent. This you would welcome?”

“I promised them,” Callum said, aghast. “I gave them my word they could come back.”

“I didn’t,” Yuri said.

“They’ll kill us if you send us back,” Alana said in a shaky voice.

“So you need to behave then, don’t you? Because Poi Li is pissed with you at a level even I find scary.”

“You can’t do this,” Callum said; he was still on his knees, holding Savi’s hand. He looked up at Yuri, beseeching. “They’re people. You can’t treat them like this; it’s inhuman!”

“No,” Yuri said, suddenly angry. “What they do—what they have done—goes way beyond simple criminal acts. They seek to destroy anything they dislike, no matter that it is enacted legally, or how many people are dependent on it. They smash and ruin others’ endeavors freely, and feel nothing. That is what cannot stand, not anymore. For once I agree with Ainsley and his ultra-rich political collaborators. Your friend Akkar and his allies have been judged, and found guilty. Tough, that judgment didn’t come after million-wattdollar-fee lawyers defended them in public courts, followed by ten years of taxpayer-funded appeals; tough, that we don’t spend hundreds of thousands a year keeping them in prison. But judged they have been, and far more leniently than they judge you or I. And even now, we give them a second chance.”

Raina’s hand shot out, pointing at the inert threader. “That planet is not a second chance. That is a death sentence.”

“Because of what they are,” Yuri sneered. “They have been given an entire world of their own. We provide the means to survive, even to thrive if they learn the basic lessons of society and cooperate rather than fight each other like savages. So I’m really, really sorry if Zagreus isn’t a five-star hotel with room service, but we can’t afford the luxury of tolerating them anymore. This is the humane solution.”