Var shook her head. ‘No direct proof, but the most basic study of resource usage, which I have transmitted to your computers, allows us a lifespan here of five years, maybe a little longer. All living here now are essential, and without them, things would break down a lot quicker. Reduce the personnel and you don’t stretch resources over a longer period, you just kill the base faster.’ After this introduction she went on to tell them the rest: how she herself had killed Inspectorate personnel; how Kaskan had killed the two in Hydroponics, and about his subsequent sacrifice. She noted some angry looks as she detailed the cutting of power to lure Ricard out, but, of course, as a result they had all been left sitting in the cold and dark waiting to die. She then bluntly informed them how she had killed Ricard, sensed their approval, realized that some were now looking at her with something approaching awe, or even fear. Finally she called up video footage recorded from around Earth.

‘Whilst the three of us were preparing for Ricard’s attack,’ she continued, ‘we found evidence of some sort of disturbance going on around Earth. Since then, it seems the action there has escalated. Here is recorded footage from over twenty hours ago.’

‘Mother of God!’ Carol exclaimed.

‘What the hell is this?’ Martinez demanded.

Before answering, Var scanned the shocked faces around the table, let them take it in, begin to absorb the implications. ‘The Argus satellite network,’ she eventually explained, just as another ground-based explosion flared down on the night side of Earth. ‘When I recorded this, about half of the network was already gone. Someone’s been dropping the satellites onto Earth. Something major is happening there.’

‘War?’ Lopomac queried. ‘I did wonder —’

‘Who with?’ Gunther interrupted. ‘There’s revolutionary groups down there, we know, but none of them has the resources to achieve something like this.’

A spear of light cut across the night side, terminating in yet another blast.

‘Civil war,’ declared Lopomac. ‘It’s the only possible answer.’

Var nodded, for that seemed to make sense. ‘A schism must have developed within the Committee. They’re fighting each other.’

Such huge events laid out there for them to witness, yet they had only one crucial point of relevance to what must now happen here on Mars.

‘There’s something else too,’ she said. ‘I’m not really sure what to make of it.’

She flicked to another recorded view showing an object at extreme range but drawing rapidly closer.

‘Argus Station,’ said Lopomac.

‘It’s on the move,’ said Var. ‘Someone must have fired up the Traveller engine on the surface of the asteroid.’

‘They’re going to drop that thing on Earth?’ said Carol, her voice hushed.