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He turned.

There was a hole in the air, a spinning metallic hole. Light spilt out of it into the suite.

There was a female figure standing in the light. Dark stone. She held out a hand to them, her glassy body groaning with the movement. In her other hand there was a long, glittering sword.

194

Roz took a step towards her, reaching for the outstretched hand.

‘See?’ said Chris. 'Not scared now.’

They went to her together.

‘Oh no,’ said Roz. ‘We’re in bloody puterspace.’

Chris looked around. ‘But it’s the suite.’

‘No, look at it. It’s a VR model of the suite. Look at those lines

– it’s not even a good VR simulation. What the hell happened?’

‘We were under psychic attack. A gateway into puterspace opened up. We went through it.’

Chris looked down. He was standing next to his own body, lying face down in the carpet. Roz lay next to him, her lips slightly parted. She looked as though she was asleep.

‘At least, our minds went through it,’ he said. ‘Whoever brought us here created this simulation so we could keep track of what’s happening to our bodies in the real world.’

‘Look at this,’ said Roz. She gestured him over to the suite’s door.

Chris couldn’t see what she meant for a moment. Then he saw that the sliding door was opening, very slowly. Very very slowly.

Just so you could see it.

‘They’re coming for us,’ he said. ‘But we’re in puterspace, so our minds are running much faster than theirs.’

‘You sound far too comfortable with all this,’ said Roz.

‘Haven’t you ever played a video game like this?’ said Chris.

‘In most games,’ said the statue sitting on the sofa, ‘all you can lose is your quarter.’

They whirled, staring at her.

‘Remember me?’ smiled the woman. The obsidian had to stretch and creak to accommodate the expression.

‘No,’ said Chris.

‘Whoever you are,’ said Roz, ‘you’re not the Goddess.’

‘No,’ agreed the statue. ‘I needed a form you’d instinctively trust.’

‘What if we were carrying some terrible secret guilt and knew we deserved punishment?’ said Roz.

195

‘Then you’d be even more keen on facing Justice,’ said the statue. Roz scowled, but Chris was nodding. ‘Well, enough of this banter. You’re both in very deep. I had to burrow into the Temple’s systems and I couldn’t grab much memory without setting off a lot of alarms. That’s why the simulation of the suite is a bit rough around the edges. I uploaded almost your whole minds. It took a surprising amount of room.’

‘Thanks,’ said Chris, meaning it. ‘The state those telepaths got us in, they could have done anything with us.’

‘Sneak attack,’ said Roz angrily. ‘I hate that stuff. There oughta be a law.’

‘There is. These are unregistered psis.’ The door had opened sufficiently for them to make out the faces of the people coming in. Three of them, in ordinary clothes, not robes. ‘They’re planning to interrogate you telepathically.’

‘And then kill us?’ said Roz.

The statue shook its heavy head. ‘They won’t need to. Not once they’re finished with you.’

Roz looked at her helpless body, lying on the floor behind the couch. ‘What do I do?’ she said, standing in front of the people starting to push through the door. ‘I’m a ghost!’

‘Hey, watch this,’ said Chris.

He pressed his thumb against the light control. Instantly, the room was pitch black. A moment later, everything was surrounded by a glowing white outline.

‘You can see now,’ said the statue. ‘They can’t. We need to get your bodies out of here.’

The slow-motion people were just starting to react to the blackness. Chris thumbed the door control, and the doors slammed shut behind them, cutting off the light from the corridor.

‘How are we going to do that? Can you put us back in?’

‘Of course.’

‘Wait,’ said Chris. ‘We’re controlling the lights and the door through the computer system, right? If you put us back in our bodies, we’ll lose that.’

‘I’ll keep you connected up. Trust me, I’m not going to cut and run this time.’

196

Roz looked at her suddenly. ‘FLORANCE!’

‘At your service. I owe you for helping