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Thales did not look at the Baronessa when the ’cast winked out.

‘Your wife is beautiful,’ said Mira.

‘Yes,’ agreed Thales, ‘and clever. But her loyalties are tied, above everything, to the Sophos. I learned that the hardest of ways. Yet today she did not seem herself.’

‘Perhaps she too has been affected by the virus.’

Thales stared at the Baronessa. ‘No.’ His denial was soft and unsure.

‘If your leaders are also tainted by it, you may have difficulty convincing them of any danger.’

‘You don’t think that I should meet them?’

Mira gave the slightest shrug. ‘What are the consequences of this virus?’

‘In truth, I don’t know. I saw signs of apathy among both the young thinkers and the Sophos before I left. I was frustrated but not alarmed, thinking it merely a passing thing, something that would rectify itself with a new crop of free thinkers. I was resolved to fight alone, to continue to ask hard questions when questions seemed passé. It was not until I met Villon that I considered it could be more than a mindset. Now I see that Scolar has fallen ill.’

‘Then will the Sophos believe you? Are they capable of truly grasping or caring about the threat?’

The ’cast display shimmered alive before he could reply.

‘Thales?’

‘I’m here, Rene.’

His wife’s voice seemed sharper. ‘Is the woman you seek to help the fugitive Baronessa from Araldis?’

‘Yes.’

‘On what grounds do you believe Mount Clement can help her?’

Mira left Primo to stand near Thales in the broadcast space.

‘I am Mira Fedor, Rene Mianos.’

Rene inclined her head, eyes narrowing slightly. ‘Baronessa.’

‘I would plead for your help. My baby, conceived on Araldis, has been subject to experiments in the Post-Species worlds. It is only a short time in the womb, and yet it wants to be born. My biozoon is of the belief that the child is not properly humanesque.’

‘The father is alien?’

Thales saw the faint wrinkle of distaste in Rene’s expression, and felt embarrassed by her prejudice.

‘No. We fear it may be a Post-Species hybrid.’

‘That sounds far-fetched, Baronessa.’

The scant colour in Mira’s face drained away, and she suddenly looked so tired that Thales thought she might faint.

He took her arm. ‘Rene, please. I know her, and have travelled with her. The things she says are true. She needs help, or the baby will die. The cell accelerator may save her child.’

Rene looked away from them, as if to someone out of their view. ‘Very well, Thales. I’ll make contact with the clinic.’

‘Thank you.’ Mira steadied herself and nodded to Thales. She left the buccal.

Thales watched her leave, and then looked at his wife.

‘We are alone now,’ he told her.

‘Strange company you keep these days, my husband.’

‘Fortune has taken me in unexplainable directions.’

‘Is it fortune? Your appearance …’

‘The scarring will soften,’ said Thales. ‘And the cause of it is not a story to be told in brief. I had hoped to see you again. I’ve thought of you often.’

‘I’m afraid that your fate is out of my hands, Thales. I would wish you well.’

‘That is all, Rene? That is all you would wish me?’ He couldn’t stop his voice from rising.

She gave him her look of practised patience. ‘That sounds more like you, Thales.’

‘What sounds like me?’

‘You were always so easily hurt.’

Thales faltered for a moment. ‘Is that how you remember me? As weak?’

Her expression softened. ‘Not weak, Thales. But someone with a deep sense of entitlement.’

Suddenly all the nervousness and the expectation of speaking to Rene again drained away in the face of her criticism. ‘I’m not the person you remember, or think you know, Rene,’ he said stiffly. ‘And I’ll manage my own fate. But I would ask one thing for what has happened between us. One boon for a marriage lost.’

She waited.

‘Whatever happens to me in the coming days, please take care of the Baronessa Fedor. So many things depend on her.’

JO-JO RASTEROVICH

‘That’s it!’ Randall called down to them.

Jo-Jo crawled up the crest of a dune and peered over. The Araldis