‘Yes,’ replied Mersadie. ‘I was born there.’ She moved the glass tile across a slot in the metal game board. The boy frowned at it. His sister sat curled on a chair, eyes sunk in a sullen face, listening. She was older than the boy by at least half a decade, maybe a little more. She was called Mori, and he was Noon. They were Vek’s children. They had found their way into the room she was sleeping in two days ago, and seemed to have adopted her as a curiosity – a distraction from the situation they all found themselves in. She had told them a story, and the boy, at least, had come back for more. Vek had let them, and the bodyguard, Aksinya, had come with them, a cold-eyed shadow at the edge of the room.

Mersadie talked and told stories as the Antius plunged on through the dark of the gulf between Uranus and Jupiter. Apparently, the gas giants were at a stage in their orbital cycle that put Jupiter on a direct course between Uranus and the inner system. There were no explosions now, no rush and boom of sudden events, just the slow, grinding passing of moments as the pressure rose inside the thoughts of all those on board.

‘What’s it like, the Throneworld? What’s it like?’ asked Noon.

Mersadie shrugged, and smiled.

‘I don’t know what it is like now. I haven’t been there for a long time. But do you want to know the truth?’ She leaned across the board of coloured tiles, and lowered her voice to a stage whisper. ‘I always thought it was ugly. There is this haze in the sky. There used to be seas once, longer ago than anyone can remember. Now there is just dust and stink. Lots of buildings grown too high. And there are people, more people than you can imagine.’

‘Where did you go?’ asked Mori from across the room. Mersadie looked around at the girl, who had barely moved but was looking at her with a sharp gaze. ‘If you were away from Terra for a long time – where did you go?’

Mersadie held the girl’s gaze, thinking about how to answer.

‘I went to see the Imperium being made.’

‘What does that mean?’ asked the girl.

‘Enough questions,’ said Aksinya, from the corner.

Mersadie looked at the bodyguard, then back at the coloured tiles on the board, then up at Noon. ‘I think you might have won,’ said Mersadie to Noon.

Alarms screamed out all around them.