Now feeling suitably clad, he picked up the suit helmet and a shoulderbag full of items that would soon be necessary, and headed for the door leading out of Le Roque’s apartment. Hannah instantly fell into step behind him. Out in the Tech Central control room, Saul checked that Chang and the twins were now back at their consoles, ready to assess damage, or to move station staff to safer locations. Braddock turned towards him, eyeing his new clothing doubtfully.

Saul glanced up at a screen, confirming that the approaching space plane was now only two hours out. This business needed to be resolved before the plane got here – which meant Smith had to die.

‘Hannah,’ he said, ‘I want you to keep watch here. Braddock, you’re ready?’

‘I am,’ the soldier replied.

‘Then we go.’

Braddock and Hannah exchanged an unreadable look, then he handed her one of his collection of machine pistols. She armed it and glanced over at the three seated at their consoles, who looked back at her with some trepidation. Perhaps they thought Saul had just issued their execution order.

‘So you still intend going out to join this Langstrom,’ she stated.

‘Certainly,’ he replied. ‘If I can get direct physical access to the Political Office, I can end this pretty quickly.’

‘This entire situation might have been manufactured just to lure you out there.’

‘Let’s hope not,’ he said. In reality, without Langstrom they didn’t stand a chance.

‘You’re sure?’ she insisted.

‘Sure enough.’ He turned towards the door.

He couldn’t be totally sure, of course, but who could be totally sure about anything? Perhaps undergoing such a dramatic mental transformation could have impaired his judgement. Maybe he had missed some secret communication, some covert agreement between Langstrom and Smith, or between Langstrom and his officers, or perhaps they were following some plan put together long before he arrived here? He just could not know what was going on inside their heads – or, at least, beyond his enhanced ability to read the outward expression of their thoughts. Just as he had already told her: he wasn’t omnipresent nor omnipotent. Yet.