 
##### ENTITY:

##### The Sentient Being

Published by David Gill at Smashwords

Copyright 2019 David Gill
By the same author

PHASEWAVE – ALIEN CREATION 2017

TELEPORTATION: DO WE BELIEVE 2018
INDEX

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen
PROLOGUE

In the year 2190, Earth is dying and unable to support its population of eight billion human beings, many of whom are suffering from poverty and disease and whose hostile activities are threatening to destroy the whole of civilisation. One man, Jay Conway, the wealthy owner of a company producing biologically-based products, is convinced that his inventions can change the state of the world, but in order to do so, he needs to get away from the daily strife on the planet in order to carry out his research and experiments that involve a combination of artificial intelligence and microbiology. Jay leaves Earth to occupy a space station he has built and two years later successfully produces a viable and pollution-free energy source that will radically change the fortunes of the human race. But he then realises that his invention is capable of achieving much more than he had anticipated and continues his experiment – for a further two thousand five hundred years.

#####  Chapter One

Earth - year 2190

Hugh Barrie, the newly appointed Chief Executive of the Tectile Company, was sitting at a table in a hotel dining room, sharing an evening meal with Jay Conway, the owner of the company. He felt unsettled and preoccupied and was unable to concentrate on the contents of the meal because they were having a farewell dinner, brought about by Jay's decision to leave Earth to face what was, in his opinion, a highly uncertain future away from the planet.

He glanced up from his meal at Jay, who, with his pale skin and piercing blue eyes, in addition to his height, was always instantly recognisable wherever he was. 'Are you still convinced that you can save the world?' he asked. 'I reckon you'll quickly get tired of living on dried food, and we'll soon be doing this again. Seriously, how long to you intend to be away?'

Jay uncharacteristically laughed, for the prospect of spending time in space on his own and carrying out his much-anticipated experiments excited him in a manner to which he was not accustomed. 'If I'm going to make a difference to this planet, I can't be away for too long, so I anticipate that I could be looking to return in a couple of years.' He put down his fork and leaned back in his chair. 'Before I leave, let me give you some advice based on my experience so far: never try to build your own space station. I've practically bankrupted myself doing that, and I now find that I could have rented a government-owned one for a fraction of the price. I also found the training required to operate the thing pretty challenging. Its motors are designed only for manoeuvring, so it's hopelessly underpowered – a rocket ship it is not.'

'I'm sure a man of your calibre breezed the training,' Hugh said, 'and if you'd taken a government-owned product, I doubt you would have been allowed to plaster it with Tectile. Governments can be picky about such exotic requests.'

'I don't think governments nowadays have time to worry about such minor matters, they're all involved in building space vessels for what they believe is going to be a mass evacuation of the planet.'

'Have they yet found any alternative planets to live on?' Hugh asked.

'Not that I know of. Rumours are flying around about a discovery of a block of several inhabitable planets, but nobody seems certain where they are.'

'It's hard to see how this planet can continue as it is,' Hugh said. 'With floods, immigration, diseases and food shortages constantly rearing their heads, this is becoming a place where only the rich can afford to live.'

'If and when an evacuation takes place, only the rich will be able to buy tickets to the stars,' Jay said. 'Earth is almost finished; with its current population, it could implode any day now. I have to complete my project, whatever the cost.'

'Come on, you know it doesn't work that way. The population has already fallen below eight billion, and very soon one half of the population will manage to kill off the other half, and only then, when it falls to about four billion, will we be able to settle down and let the planet recover.' He shook his head and sighed. 'While you're up there, doing whatever you're doing, what exactly are you hoping to achieve?'

'I honestly don't know how this project will work out,' Jay said. 'Our current research operation is constrained by continual power cuts and increasing taxes, plus we pay a fortune to research databanks and third parties, none of which have proved to be reliable resources capable of meeting our requirements. I need to be alone to clear my mind in order to achieve what I want. I'm going to start again from scratch.'

'You've already invented Tectile, which is used on the floors and walls in seventy per cent of new homes being built in the country,' Hugh pointed out. 'Surely that's enough to keep you happy.'

'You know me; I'm never satisfied,' Jay said. 'There are two things I regret not achieving – one was not being able to make the Tectile one hundred percent fireproof, and the other was totally failing to produce it in different colours.'

Hugh chuckled. 'You already do it in three colours – dark yellow, medium yellow and brown. As for fire proofing, it only burns at the same temperature as some metals. You'll never be able to manufacture a fully fireproof bio product.'

Jay sighed. 'One day, just give me one day. If only I could make it in white, I'd die a happy man.'

'You're the master inventor - if anyone can do that, it'll be you.'

Jay looked at his watch. 'It's time to go. I'm going to be out of contact for a while; have fun while you're running the show in my absence.'

'I won't be having fun. I'll be sick with worry about your safety and will probably spend the rest of my time trying to explain what you're doing to people who come asking after you.'

'I understand your concern, but this is something I really need to do, both for myself and for the planet. The company's in good financial health, so I'm not anticipating any major disasters while I'm out of contact.'

'If anything important comes up, I'll post it on our company net site, and if I haven't heard anything after a couple of years, I'll start sending food parcels,' Hugh joked. 'Take care of yourself while you enjoy your ex-planet experience.'

The two men shook hands, and left the table, but as they were about to leave, Art, the maître d', approached them.

'Was everything to your satisfaction tonight?' Art asked.

'It was exceptional, as always,' Jay said. He handed Art a roll of banknotes, and watched his face as he realized what it was.

'There's hundreds of dollars here,' Art said. 'I can't accept all this. You must have made a mistake.'

'Keep it and look after the place while I'm away,' Jay said. 'If everything works out as planned, I should be back for dinner in a couple of years' time.'

'In that case, many thanks, and I wish you good luck with your venture,' Art said.

'Everyone's wishing me luck,' Jay countered. 'I'm beginning to worry that I might have missed something, but I think it's a bit too late for that.'

Xanthos – major planet, 2500 years later

Inside a shabby motel room, Mia sat on a partially collapsed chair next to her mother's bed. She looked on helplessly while the shrunken form lying in the bed gasped for breath.

'We need to buy medicine,' Mia said. 'I must go and look for Johan; he should be here for you.'

'Your father is gone for good,' Elisha said, in a faltering voice. 'He was never a father to you. It's too late, and there's no money left. Think of yourself; I won't be with you much longer.'

'What am I going to do without you?'

'You are nomad, and you have knowledge that others don't. You will make your own way in life.' Elisha started to cough up more blood, and Mia wiped it from around her mouth with a damp cloth.

'Then I'm going to find our home and take you back,' Mia said.

'We never had a home,' Elisha said.

'We did. I remember it. We had a garden and I used to play on a swing. I loved our home.'

'Your home was only in your dreams.'

'No, I remember. It was a beautiful home.'

Elisha did not respond, and her last words stayed with Mia for the rest of her life. From that moment on, Elisha remained unconscious until she died later that night. Mia was half-asleep in the chair when she became aware that her mother's laboured breathing had stopped. She climbed onto the bed and laid with her mother's body until dawn, when she called Salis, the owner of the motel.

Salis checked her mother and cursed. 'A pox on you all,' he said. 'I knew you were nothing but trouble; I should never have let you stay here.' He left the room and went to arrange for Elisha's body to be collected.

Later, Mia was sitting with Salis in his office. 'What will happen to my mother?' she asked.

'Someone will collect her and take her away,' Salis said.

'Will I be able to see her again?' Mia asked.

Salis laughed cruelly. 'She's going to be burnt, and her ashes will be taken to the city dump,' he said. 'You're welcome to dig for them whenever you want.'

He looked down at the skinny girl with the smudged face and straggling hair and could not help feeling sorry for her. 'How old are you?' he asked.

'I think I'm thirteen,' Mia said. 'Nomads don't have birthdays.'

'What do you intend to do? Have you any family you can call?'

Mia shook her head. 'I don't know what to do.'

'You can't stay here. Have you any money?'

Mia shook her head again.

'Go and collect your things.'

Mia went back to their cold, featureless room and tried to avoid looking at her mother's body as she put what few belongings she possessed into a backpack. She spotted a purse and scooped out nine dollars in change, which she dropped into her pocket. Then she saw her mother's worn coat hanging on the back of a door and took it with her.

On the way out, the owner took pity on her and gave her twenty dollars. 'Go buy yourself a meal,' he said. 'Take my advice: stay away from the city centre, especially at night.'

Mia took the money, but did not use it to buy food. She spent the day wandering around the city until darkness fell and then heeded the motel owner's warning and headed out through the suburbs. She walked down dark, residential streets and as she walked, she passed large houses where she saw figures flitting by invitingly lit windows and listened to sounds of domestic activity. Eventually, she became weary and lay down, hidden beneath a flyover, where she started to shiver and cry. She pulled her mother's tattered coat around her and could smell the cheap perfume on it. Her shivering gradually subsided, to be replaced by a fitful sleep, during which she slipped again into her happy world of dreams, where she was welcomed by the home she was seeking, the place she could never find in real life.

Planet Cornell – run-down mining station, 20 years later

At an unedifying height of forty metres above surface level, Tom Tyler stood on top of the Sugarloaf, the highest point on the planet Cornell, and looked around him at the hundreds of deserted mounds of waste and rubble that covered the planet surface. Sheets of jagged rocks braved the prevailing wind, which rarely changed direction, while smooth ramps of sand ran down to the surface in their lees, each mound representing the spent workings from the thousand-metre deep mineshaft beneath it. He automatically checked his oxygen supply and wondered why people didn't clean up after themselves. Surely, it wasn't beyond human capabilities to bulldoze the workings back into the mines where they came from. The base facilities and accommodation stretched away in all directions in a sea of interconnected, mainly round pressure domes, half of which extended out of sight underground, and in the distance, a huge transporter rested on a landing pad where it had recently arrived, dwarfing the nearby cargo buildings.

He turned his attention back to finishing the task he was engaged in, which was cleaning and checking the multitude of aerials that had made their homes on top of the Sugarloaf. After packing up his toolbox, he closed the panel latches on the last of the installations he had been working on and gave the aerials one final visual check to make sure that they were spotlessly clean, aware that the relentless wind would soon coat them with another layer of dust and sand. The thought prompted a reminder that the tornado season was about to start, and very soon the whole planet would be lashed by random, two hundred plus kilometre per hour winds, along with their associated dust and sand storms, that would probably result in damage to most of the aerials he had just serviced. It was just one more reason why he disliked the place so much. Moving slowly along the handrail that surrounded the installation, because the pressure suit he was wearing had belonged to the previous caretaker and would not allow unrestricted movement to his larger frame, he made his way to the access steps that had been roughly hewn out of the rock pile. As he descended the steps, he idly wondered, not for the first time, why it was called the Sugarloaf: nothing on the planet suggested the slightest hint of sweetness. His speculation abruptly ended when his communicator sounded, and he read a message asking him to call into the Station Manager's office when he could find time.

Liam Sharp, Station Manager of the planet Cornell, sat at his desk and casually placed a licence cover on the desktop in a way that would not draw immediate attention to it. He was a middle-aged, somewhat overweight individual who was rapidly losing his hair and had long since abandoned all thoughts of improving his physical condition while his position condemned him to spend most of his days sitting in his office. Most of his time was absorbed attempting to address the problems of running an underfunded, understaffed and underpowered planet, especially after the owner of the planet, the Karman Mining Company, had decided to cut back its mining activities. With only two years left to retirement, he was finding the demands of his position becoming increasingly oppressive, but with the arrival of the transporter, things had changed, and he was looking forward to passing some news to an old acquaintance that would be to their mutual advantage. Liam had known Tom Tyler many years previously when they worked together on Xanthos and was always pleased to see him, although it still struck him as being incongruous that one of the most qualified men on the planet was employed only as a menial caretaker.

Tom arrived at the Station Manager's office, where he was met by a surly young woman who refused to acknowledge his greeting. She brusquely ushered him into Liam's office and slammed the door shut after him.

'Did I just do something wrong?' Tom said, looking back at the closed door.

'That's Ricci Genova just being Ricci,' Liam said. 'Ignore her. We've had another ding-dong about a promotion she thinks she's entitled to. She won't accept the fact that for most of its inhabitants, just being on Cornell is a promotion in itself. Come and sit down.'

Tom sat at Liam's desk and after exchanging the usual pleasantries, Liam leaned forward and in a low voice provocatively asked Tom how he would respond if he were to be asked to work again on a nuclear reactor.

Tom was alarmed. 'You must be aware that I'm not allowed to go anywhere near a reactor. It's part of my probation conditions.'

'Of course I am; I'm your court-appointed probation officer,' Liam said. 'But if I was really desperate, what could I do to make you change your mind?'

'If I even think about agreeing to what you just suggested, I could end up in prison. I'd do almost anything to help you, but that's the one thing I can't do.' Tom looked down and noticed the licence lying on the desk. He frowned. 'That's an engineering licence; what's it doing here?'

Liam's wide face stretched into a grin. 'I can't keep this up,' he said, lifting an opened package from a drawer in his desk and pushing it over to Tom. 'This just arrived on the transporter. You need to read it.'

Tom opened it up and found, amongst other documents, a statement saying that the court order applied to him had been struck and his licenses had been reinstated.

Liam picked up the licence from the desk and handed it to Tom. 'Congratulations,' he said. 'You deserve this.'

Tom was genuinely surprised. 'I suppose this has nothing to do with you?' he prompted.

'I'm not normally self-promoting, but on this occasion I'm going to take the credit,' Liam concurred, 'although I have to admit that it's very much in my own interest to see you back in action again.'

'How did you do it?'

'Ever since you arrived, I've been pushing to have you reinstated, but with a complete lack of success. I then pointed out to our lords and masters, Karman Mining, that with two nuclear generators already out of action, if the remaining generator packed up, a survivable atmosphere inside the base could only be sustained for forty-eight hours, during which time I would have to evacuate over seven thousand people from the planet. I also sent them my evacuation plan, which must have hit the spot because even I am surprised to see a decision made so soon. Now, I want you to take over the Chief Engineer's position.'

'The last thing I want is a management job,' Tom said.

'You'll only have twelve staff, and from what I've picked up on my rounds, I understand there won't be a problem putting you in charge; after all, you seem to spend more time talking to them than the cleaners.'

'This is completely unexpected, and it's not what I had in mind,' Tom said, 'but you've put yourself out for me, so I guess it would be churlish to refuse. Okay, I'll give it a shot, although I don't think I'm the right man for the job.'

'You won't look back,' Liam said. He opened another desk drawer and handed Tom a new uniform and some badges to put on. 'I think you know that your first priority will be to sort out the nuclear generators, even if it's just so I can selfishly enjoy a night's sleep without worrying about a power cut.'

'I'll make it my priority,' Tom said. 'I must say I've never come across an auto-shutdown before, let alone two together.'

'Do you think that it could be sabotage?'

'I'm not sure, but the fact that two units failed so close together is definitely suspicious. Why did the last Chief leave?'

'He got into the drug scene, and one day I found him trying to service a nuclear power unit while he was off his head on drugs. Although he was the only nuclear qualified engineer on the base, I had no alternative but to sack him. As it stands, I don't have an available backup power source, and I'm relying on that last generator to power the whole base. I'm also struggling to cope with the constant flow of arrivals; two hundred immigrants just arrived on the last transporter, none of whom I'm able to house properly or find employment for. Xanthos is in such a hurry to get rid of people that replacements are being rushed through before positions become available.'

'In that case, I'll take a quick look at the failed units,' Tom said.

'I'd be extremely grateful if you could do that. A quiet word of advice while you're here - watch what you say to Ricci; she's too nosy for her own good, and her boyfriend, Max Novak, is a prominent troublemaker on the drug scene. If you have any dealings with her, don't tell her anything you don't have to. Finally, before you go to work, there's something else I want to run by you.' Liam switched on a recorder, and images from a video flashed up onto a wall-mounted screen.

'I took the video this morning,' Liam explained. 'These shots cover most of what I found.'

Tom stepped up to the screen and carefully studied the images. What he observed looked like a square shipping container that appeared to be covered in yellow paint. There was a round hatch on its roof and a door with a porthole on a sidewall. On closer inspection, it looked as if it could have been part of an accommodation unit, but the internal pictures revealed a lack of any domestic trappings. 'What is this?' he asked.

'The last incoming transporter picked up some kind of transmission on its way here, shortly followed by a visual sighting of what they initially thought to be an escape pod.'

'Was the transmission a distress call?' Tom asked.

'It didn't appear to be. The crew couldn't identify it. It was just a short burst of energy, and it was quickly followed by another. That was all. Nothing else nearby showed up on their sensors, so they stopped to check out the contact, thinking that a vessel may have initiated an evacuation, and when they closed in, they discovered the container that you are looking at. There was no sign of life, or any activity, so they retrieved it as space debris and brought it here to be disposed of. By backtracking its course and speed, the transporter crew worked out that it was travelling along the track of the original settlers who arrived here from Earth. They also estimated that if the object had originated from Earth and maintained its current velocity throughout the journey, it would have been travelling for two thousand five hundred years.'

'Wow, that's a long time to be in space. How was it propelled?'

'Nobody knows,' Liam replied. 'The container doesn't appear to have any visible means of propulsion; it's just been floating loose in space all these years.'

Tom turned to pictures of the outside of the container and pointed to witness marks around the hatch on the roof. 'This damage looks like it could have been caused by an unscheduled separation from a larger structure. If that structure had been travelling in this direction at the point of separation, it could explain how the container achieved the momentum to reach here.'

'I think you might be right,' Liam said. At one time it must have been part of some kind of parent vessel because it has no power of its own, yet according to the crew that found it, when the container was opened up, it had somehow managed to keep its interior supplied with fresh air, light and heat for all that time, which definitely doesn't make sense. It was spotlessly clean without a trace of any organic matter on or inside it, and when have we ever seen exposed paint capable of lasting in space for any length of time?'

Another picture, showing three small objects on a plain background, caught Tom's eye. 'What are these?' he said, squinting at the screen.

Liam reached into a drawer and pulled out a clear bag. From inside it, he removed a man's watch, a belt buckle and a ring and handed them to Tom.

Tom examined the watch closely. 'This is a really ancient timepiece,' he said. 'Were these inside the container?'

'They were found on the floor; they were the only items inside the container.'

'This belt buckle looks as if it is made of brass,' Tom said. 'When was brass last used for an item of clothing?'

'Not in my lifetime, that's for sure,' Liam said, dropping them back into the bag. 'All these items point to the container being extremely old; I think you should take a look at it.'

'Where's the container?'

'It's locked in Cargo Bay One, away from prying eyes,' Liam said.

'We're there any quarantine issues?'

'I don't think so,' Liam said vaguely. 'The transporter crew looked it over and considered it to be inert and empty. However, because it presented a collision hazard in the main traffic lane between here and Xanthos, they decided it would be safer to bring it down with them rather than risk meeting it again on the return journey, especially as for some reason it had not shown up on their sensors. I was led to believe that they checked for signs of contamination before they took the container on board, so I didn't see the need to take extra precautions.'

'I'd definitely like to see it,' Tom said, 'but first I'll try to sort out a spare generator for you.'

Later that day, Tom was in a particularly good mood when he left the powerhouse because in addition to the revalidation of his licence authority, he had also been assigned a new post with a decent office to work from. Of even more significance, the problem with the nuclear generators had been resolved. It had not taken him long to establish that two of the three generators had been deliberately set up in a way that ensured their eventual shut down, most likely by the departing Chief Engineer. Fortunately, though, he had been able to reactivate them quickly and they were now ready for further use. After such a quick win, and flushed with success, he decided to go and check out the container that Liam had mentioned.

An underground tunnel took Tom to the cargo bay where the unexpected container had been stored. Using the master code Liam had provided him with, he unlocked the doors, entered the bay and switched on the lights. The bright lights of the bay revealed the container, which was surrounded by a few empty crates and some abandoned lockers. It appeared to be smaller than the images had indicated. At a closer range, he was struck by the pristine condition of the exterior yellow paintwork, which was not what he would have expected to find on a container that had spent thousands of years travelling through space. In fact, he had never before come across any space vehicle with an external finish. Although he had automatically assumed that the container would be constructed from some type of metal, it had visibly softer outlines. The exterior delivered a hollow sound when he gave them a knock, and when he tested them with a magnetic screwdriver, he discovered that they were actually made of some kind of non-ferrous composite, which was also something he had never across before. After inspecting the walls and finding no visible marks or scratches, he tried the side door, which freely swung open, and stepped inside onto a floor that had been treated with some kind of light brown coating that he could not identify. He crouched down and ran his hand over its surface, but it yielded no traces of dust or dirt. The floor covering was evenly spread, without any signs of streaks or runs, so he surmised that the finish, whatever it was, had been applied with a spray gun.

Rising to his feet, Tom took in the rest of the interior. The ceiling and walls, which appeared to be coated with the same yellow paint as the exterior, were illuminated by a soft glow of light, although it was unclear where the light was coming from and what was producing it. The only unusual item inside the room was what he had originally taken to be a bench but which, on further inspection, turned out to be a heavy metal box. It had somehow been sealed into the structure of the container and had no visible means of access. He touched it and thought that it felt warmer than the rest of the interior, and he wondered if it could possibly contain some kind of energy source that might account for the condition of the interior and the lighting. It was all very unusual, and he could not understand what function the container was capable of fulfilling. After he had finished checking inside, he went outside again and pulled up a wooden crate to stand on in order to examine the upper surface of the container. As he had expected, there were areas of torn and ripped material around the top hatch, confirming that at some point in time it had definitely been part of another structure and that the hatch must have been its main entry point. His conclusion was that the door he had used as an entrance had probably been an emergency exit, although there were no safety signs attached to it, and it was not fitted with an airlock. After checking the vessel one last time, he still could not work out how the condition of the container had been maintained outside and inside for over two thousand years. It was a complete mystery, and he did not like mysteries.

Before reporting to Liam, Tom returned to his newly acquired office and carried out a quick search of all available records to see if he could throw some light on whatever the container and its mother ship might have been doing to cause its long journey to Cornell. Unfortunately, the only records he could access did not reach back to anywhere near the time when the mother ship would have been launched and yielded no clues. After determining that he needed to access a wider database to yield the type of information he was seeking, Tom reported to Liam, who immediately demanded to know the state of the generators.

'Both standby generators are available for use,' Tom reported.

'What!' Liam exclaimed. 'You can't be serious. How did you manage to fix them so quickly?'

'The problem with these compact nuclear generators is that when their loading drops below fifty per cent, they become unstable and as a safety precaution, they are programmed to automatically shut down when they reach that state. In this case, all three generators were supplying power at the same time when one generator started what we call load hogging and took over the loads of the other two generators, causing them to become unstable and shut down. The standard procedure is to operate one generator at as near to full capacity as possible and leave the second one on standby and the third one in a care and maintenance condition until required. There was nothing wrong with the two reactors that had shut down.'

'I can't believe that after all the messing around, the units were still serviceable. Was this done deliberately?'

'I think so; the engineer in charge must have been aware of what would happen if he left them all running in parallel.'

'So I've been panicking for nothing?'

'Yes,' Tom agreed. 'There was nothing you could have done once a unit had completed an auto-shutdown. In that instance, a maintenance check must be carried out before the unit can be brought back on line, and that can be completed only by an authorised person. I've done that and signed it off, and you are now back where you started.'

Liam snorted. 'I can't believe that all this time I've been sweating it out when the only thing I had to do was press a button to solve the problem.'

Tom laughed. 'That would also be the most likely way to trigger a thermal runaway, which would rapidly become uncontrollable once it had been set off. Don't forget that the generators only shut down when their reactors have become unstable; you really don't want to mess with them once they're in that condition.'

'You have my heartfelt thanks for doing that for me; I can now rest easy.' Liam dropped into his chair. 'I don't suppose you've had time to look at this container of ours?'

'Actually, I did,' Tom said. 'It's a curious contraption. There's a metal box inside that I suspect may contain the power source supplying the lighting and services, though I can't be certain because it doesn't seem to have any means of access. The container itself is in pristine condition, and I find it difficult to accept that it has just completed a two thousand year voyage.'

'I need some exercise,' Liam said, heaving himself off his chair. 'Let's take a look at it together. If this thing is going to cause us trouble, I'll ask the transporter crew to take it back to Xanthos for examination.'

'That's not a bad idea. The transporter brought it here without incident, so I don't think it poses much of a risk. If it's of no use to us, sending it to Xanthos might be the best course of action.'

'I'm glad we have like minds on these things,' Liam said. 'I always work on the assumption that someone else's problem never seems as pressing as your own.'

Tom and Liam entered the cargo bay and walked around the container before opening the side door and peering inside. Tom immediately noticed a long, dark stain on the floor and it out to Liam.

'I didn't notice that when I was last here,' Liam said. He pulled out his communicator and checked some of the original pictures he had taken. 'This definitely wasn't here when I inspected it. Is it a water stain or something?'

'It looks more like some kind of mould, and it definitely wasn't here two hours ago when I checked it,' Tom said.

Liam looked at the ceiling to see if there was any water dripping down, but it was bone dry. 'This stain is new; what's causing it?'

'I've no idea,' Tom said. 'This is a real mystery vessel.' He got down on his knees and felt the floor. 'I can't work out what this substance covering the floor is made of; it has the texture of a thick coating of paint but has a perfectly flat surface. Do you think that this paint, or whatever it is, could be causing it?'

'Like you, I've no idea,' Liam said. He checked the walls for any signs of discolouration and then walked over to the metal box that was attached to the wall and floor. 'Is this where you think the power is coming from?'

'Yes, but I'm just speculating. It appears to be made of some kind of heavy metal, but there are no visible joints, so it must have been cast.'

Liam placed his hands on the box. 'What makes you think that this is a power source?'

'The power for the lighting and air conditioning must be coming from somewhere, and this box must have been put here for a purpose,' Tom said.

Liam felt around the box, pulling and pushing at the top and sides whilst trying to find a join, but the box remained impenetrable. 'I give up,' he said. 'However, whatever is inside that thing doesn't appear to be doing any harm, so I don't think we need to worry overmuch about what's going on in here.'

'What do you intend to do with the container?' Tom asked.

'My feeling is that there's nothing of interest here. We could scrap it on site, but the transporter leaves soon and has plenty of spare room. I'll speak to the captain tonight and see if he'll take it with him back to Xanthos for further examination. We may as well let the powers that be handle it.'

Tom nodded. 'It's probably the safest thing to do.'

The two men left the cargo bay and made their way back into the compound.

'I've a surprise for you,' Liam said. 'To celebrate your good news, I've laid on a special dinner tonight for you to meet the other managers.'

Tom was alarmed. 'That won't be necessary,' he quickly said. 'I don't feel comfortable in those kinds of situations.'

'Relax and enjoy,' Liam said. 'You'll be working closely with these people from now on, and we all need to get to know and respect each other. You also qualify for a bigger cabin and a substantial pay rise. I'm expecting you to attend the dinner; after all the hours you've spent slogging away as a caretaker, I think you've earned it.'

##### Chapter Two

Tom was perched on his bed trying to sew rank badges onto a uniform jacket when Mia walked into his cabin. She was amused to observe his clumsy control of a needle and thread with his big hands and gave him a quizzical look.

'I know, I know,' he said. 'I'm doing my best.'

Mia took the uniform from Tom and continued the sewing while he looked on as her speedy hands made short work of the job.

'Are you going to a fancy dress party or something?' she enquired, holding up the completed uniform for examination.

Tom retrieved his jacket. 'No. It's my new uniform.'

'How come?'

'I've got my authorisations back and can now work again as a licensed nuclear engineer,' Tom said. 'Liam has promoted me to Chief Engineer.'

'Do you seriously expect me to believe that you just got promoted from caretaker to management?' Mia said.

Tom laughed. 'I know it's difficult for you to accept that I might have hidden talents, but before I came to this dump, I used to be a Crew Chief on a support vessel, so this isn't exactly a big deal for me. One day I'll tell you all about it.'

Mia shook her head and smiled. 'I always knew there was something odd about you.'

'Don't read anything into my promotion; the only reason I got the job is because the previous Chief was sacked, and I'm the only one around who has had experience maintaining nuclear equipment. I'm afraid I have to attend a dinner party tonight to meet the other managers. I don't want to go; I'd much rather stay here with you.'

'Every day a surprise, just what I need,' Mia said. 'Actually, what I do need is a shower.' She went through into the bathroom, and Tom heard the sound of running water.

The sight of Mia working with a needle triggered memories of the first time Tom met her. He had been attending the base medical centre to treat an injury he incurred whilst repairing a leaking dome seal, and he patiently sat and watched as she expertly sewed up a cut in the palm of his hand. She was slender, with dark hair and an olive skin. She had a shy smile and didn't talk much, at least not until he had gotten to know her. Since their first encounter, he had learnt little about her, although she was sometimes the subject of gossip around the base, mainly concerning her reputation as a clairvoyant and faith healer, neither of which attributes he had observed first hand. He ignored the gossip but was aware that she did not have many close friends on the planet. A few days after she had treated him in the medical centre, he met her again in one of the base bars and they had a drink together. The meetings became a regular occurrence, and two weeks later, she followed him back to his room, walked inside and started to take her clothes off. Tom tried to stop her, but she said they shouldn't waste time and climbed into his bed. They spent that night together, but although Tom had experienced a few relationships before, he had never spent a night in bed with a woman and found the unusual and cramped experience unnerving, especially as his tall frame felt like it filled most of the bed. However, he gradually got used to sleeping with Mia, and they became more or less an item, although she would blow hot and cold at times and he never felt that he really understood her. Her working hours in the medical centre could also be unpredictable, and she was likely to turn up in his cabin at any time, day or night.

Mia came out of the shower wrapped in a towel. She looked at Tom expectantly. 'Do you know anything about a container that the transporter brought to Cornell?' she asked.

'Coincidentally, that's what I've just been looking at. It's a weird contraption, and it appears to have spent thousands of years in space travelling here. I'm told it probably came from Earth. What have you heard about it?'

Mia remained silent.

'Is something bothering you?' Tom said.

'It's a bad omen,' Mia said. 'It should have been left in space.'

'It's only an empty container, and we're sending it to Xanthos on the transporter when it leaves,' Tom said. 'There's nothing to be concerned about.'

'I wouldn't be so sure,' Mia said, pulling on her clothes. 'Let me know what happens to it.'

Whilst lying in bed later that night, unable to sleep, Tom reflected on the events of the day. His dinner with the managers had turned out to be an unexpected, pleasant surprise, and everyone attending had drunk a lot by the time the meeting broke up. Looking back, he was forced to admit to himself that he had actually enjoyed his restored status and the opportunity to engage in conversation with like-minded people. Sleep, however, proved to be elusive, and he spent the next few hours thinking about the mystery container. In the end, he decided that the only answer to his curiosity lay inside the metal box that had no visible means of access. Early in the morning, still unable to sleep, he left Mia in bed and made his way back to the cargo bay, intending to find out if and how the box could be accessed. After entering the container, however, he was concerned to find that overnight things inside had rapidly changed. He immediately contacted Liam, who was asleep when he called, and urgently asked him to come down to the cargo bay, not wishing to discuss what he had found over an open communications channel.

When Liam arrived at the container, still groggy from being woken up so early, Tom explained his concerns, and together they entered the container. Tom pointed out the stain on the floor, which was much darker and more intense than before, and several parts of it appeared to have grown proud of the floor's surface.

'What's going on here?' Liam said. 'It looks like this thing is growing. How can that be possible?'

'You showed me an old watch and some metal items that were recovered by the transporter crew,' Tom said. 'Where were they found?'

'They were lying on the floor here, near the stain. Do you think they could be connected in some way?'

'It's pure speculation, but I do wonder if a body laid here at some time in the past. It could have left those metal items behind after it had decayed and turned to dust.'

'If somebody had died in here years ago, why is the stain only now becoming prominent?' Liam queried.

'I don't really understand what is driving this stain, but maybe the body could have left behind in the floor coating inactive bacteria that are only now reacting to the local atmosphere,' Tom suggested. 'Perhaps the moisture level in the air is higher than it used to be and that has triggered the growth of the bacteria.'

'Surely a decaying body would have left some denser parts behind, such as bones, especially a skull or a pelvis. A body simply couldn't have disappeared without leaving traces, and there isn't a speck of dust in this place.'

Tom looked over the rest of the walls and floor. 'I get the impression that someone has recently cleaned this container inside and out, and if that were the case, they could have removed any human remains at the same time.'

'By all accounts, the only other people to have had contact with this container are the Paragon crew members,' Liam said, 'but I can't imagine any of them cleaning it up.'

'Neither can I.' Tom took a last look around. 'There's nothing else of interest in here,' he finally said, 'but I think we should take measures to contain whatever is causing this reaction on the floor. Perhaps we should take this container off-planet and isolate it on one of the docking stations.'

'That would be a waste of time,' Liam said. 'Moving it to a quarantine area would only cause people to question what we're doing; we'll just stick it back on the transporter. Why take a risk if you don't have to? Job done.'

'I guess that's the safest course of action,' Tom agreed. 'However, we don't want anyone to see this stain and think there is a risk of infection, so I'll tape up the window to prevent anyone looking in. I'll also attach an alarm to the door to warn us if someone tries to gain entry.'

They set off to the administration building together.

'I need to discuss something personal with you' Liam said, as they walked along. 'Are you still going out with that medic?'

'I take it you are referring to Mia,' Tom replied. 'We're together, but it's nothing serious. Are you saying that as a manager I can't be seen associating with a nurse?'

'Heaven forbid,' Liam said. 'That's the last thing I'm suggesting. I just want to know if you are aware of what she gets up to at night.'

'I don't. She's a hard person to get to know, and she rarely talks about herself. Why do you ask? Is she in some kind of trouble?'

'No, but she and the Medical Officer, Mel Woodward, have set up a mobile drug treatment clinic, and she's been spending time late at night in areas of the base people like us don't normally visit, or would ever want to visit. I've been told that some of the players involved in the drug scene have serious criminal backgrounds and don't like what she's doing because it's in their interests to promote the sale of drugs, not to point out the dangers of using them.'

'Is Mia at risk?' Tom asked.

'Maybe. Five years ago, one of the database staff started a scheme to rehabilitate drug addicts, but after a time the suppliers lost patience with him and one night, they kidnapped him and pumped him full of drugs. He hadn't used drugs before and never recovered from what they did to him. I don't want Mia to end up the same way, so perhaps you could give her some kindly advice. I wouldn't like to lose her.'

'Despite your assumptions, I've not got to know Mia that well, but I spoke to Mel at the dinner last night and know that he thinks highly of her. I'll have a talk with her though.'

'I would very much appreciate that,' Liam said. 'I can't tell you how difficult it is finding qualified staff to work on Cornell, especially nomads; they're good workers, but they don't usually stick around very long. Mel is a trained surgeon, and Mia is brilliant with the patients. Together they run one of the best medical centres I've come across; which is why I let Mel get away with things.'

'What things?' Tom asked.

'You'll find that Mel refuses to get involved in anything that goes on outside the medical centre; he spends all his time in his quarters, or in the centre, or in the bar, and I've no idea how I'm going to replace either of them when they leave. That's why I don't interfere with the way he runs the centre. I mentioned to you about Ricci's boyfriend being mixed up in the drug scene, but I also suspect he regularly beats her up, although she never says anything and tries to cover up her bruises. I don't think Mia understands how dangerous mixing with the drug crowd can be.'

The next day, before a handling team arrived to load the container onto the transporter prior to its departure, Tom went inside the container for a final check and found that overnight the shadow on the floor had continued to grow and was several centimetres above floor level in a series of humps. Something was definitely growing out of the floor. Once again, he called Liam down to the cargo bay to show him the strange shapes.

'This isn't right,' Liam said, looking down at the new development. 'I hate to say it, but with an unidentified growth like this, we can't possibly release the container for transit. The interior of the container would be checked by the transporter loadmasters before acceptance, and they would definitely flag that up that something was growing here.'

'I'm pretty sure that Xanthos wouldn't thank us for this present,' Tom said. 'I think we're going to be stuck with it.'

'Despite our best intentions, I suspect you're right,' Liam agreed. 'To avoid any rumours flying around, I think it best that the container must be kept from public access; we don't want to be accused of not quarantining it properly. I'm going to cancel the transfer and arrange for the handling team to move it to Cargo Bay Two next door, where it can be securely locked up'.

'Okay, and while you do that, I'll look at the report left by the transporter crew that first opened it up. Whatever quarantine checks they carried out wouldn't appear to have picked up on this problem.'

'Let me know if you find anything,' Liam said.

Tom went to his office and accessed the transporter crew report on his screen. The team that first searched the container had submitted a comprehensive account of their actions after it was discovered, and Tom was particularly struck by their statement that at the time the container was opened, the air inside it was fresh and at normal room temperature, despite there being no visible means of air conditioning. It also mentioned that the interior was lit by an unidentifiable light source. Tests for pollution were negative; in fact, the interior of the container was inexplicably sterile, with no signs at all of any organic matter. Tom was puzzled. How could a piece of what was effectively space junk have remained in such a pristine condition for thousands of years, and how could its oxygen content have been preserved during the long voyage? If there were answers to those questions, he eventually decided, they seemed unlikely to be revealed any time soon.

Mia's mind was occupied with pleasant thoughts of her developing relationship with Tom when she entered a dimly lit underground tunnel leading to one of the base recreation areas, and it was only when she found her passage blocked by two men that she realized she was not alone. She recognised one of the men as a prominent drug dealer named Max, but she had never seen the other man before. The men walked up and positioned themselves on either side of her.

'What do you want?' Mia asked as calmly as she could, immediately aware that she had inadvertently put herself in a dangerous situation.

'We've heard rumours,' Max said. 'A container's been left on Cornell, and I want to know what's in it.'

'You're talking to the wrong person,' Mia said. 'What's that got to do with me?'

'You're supposed to be clairvoyant,' the other man said. 'Why don't you know?'

'If I was clairvoyant, I wouldn't be here wasting my time listening to you two,' Mia responded.

Max moved closer, but Mia stood her ground and slowly reached into her pocket where she slipped her fingers inside the comforting grip of her spiker.

'You're with Tom Tyler,' Max said. 'What's a caretaker doing hanging around with Sharp?'

'I can't help you,' Mia said. 'You'll have to ask him yourself.'

The two men moved towards her, and Mia slipped off the safety catch of her spiker. 'Keep away from me,' she warned. 'I don't like being crowded.'

Max laughed. 'I suppose you don't want us to touch you either,' he said and reached out to place his hand on her face.

Mia tensed, and in one quick movement pulled out her spiker and sent a searing blue discharge into Max's groin.

Max doubled up in pain, let out a high-pitched scream and fell to the ground. Mia turned to face the other man who put up his palms and backed away. Running footsteps sounded and a man appeared next to them. Mia was relieved when she saw it was her boss.

Mel looked to Mia, who had already concealed her spiker. 'What happened here?' he asked.

'This man was just walking by when he fell, and I think he twisted something,' Mia said.

'Then we should take him to the medical centre for treatment,' Mel said, looking down at Max, who was trying to crawl away on his hands and knees.

'He'll be all right,' said the other man, reaching down to help Max to his feet. 'I'll look after him.'

Mel watched the two men stagger off down the tunnel. 'What was all that about?'

'It was nothing,' Mia said. 'They just stopped me to ask about a container that was ....'

'Hold it right there.' Mel put his hand up. 'Let me tell you everything I know about what takes place on this planet outside the medical centre.' He waited two seconds, and then said, 'There. That didn't take long, did it?'

Mia let out a nervous laugh and surreptitiously slid forward the safety catch on her weapon. 'I didn't expect to see you down here,' she said.

'I was on my way to the bar.' Mel observed Mia's pale face. 'You look as though you need a drink. Come with me.'

Mia meekly followed Mel out of the passageway, cursing herself for her lack of awareness that had brought the confrontation about. She realised that she was now a marked woman, and the base would no longer be a safe place for her to be.

Mel stopped outside a brightly lit glass door. 'Are you sure you're okay?' he asked.

'I'll live,' Mia said. 'It was just the end of another lousy day in paradise.'

Mia sat in a booth inside the cocktail bar and took off her jacket. She never associated with Mel socially, but was glad to have his company after the afternoon scare. She looked around the plush lounge. 'I've not been in here before; it looks expensive.'

'This is my local,' Mel said. 'What's your poison?'

'I'll go with the flow.'

'As part of my contract, I have to test all alcohol that is supplied locally, which I do regularly, every day in fact. I can highly recommend the wines.'

He ordered two glasses of wine. 'Try this for size,' he said, after a waiter had delivered their order to the table. 'It's my favourite.'

Mia tasted the white wine, which she found very acceptable, although she had only occasionally drunk wine before.

'What's the verdict?' Mel asked.

'I like it, but I don't drink that often and then it's generally whatever's on offer, so I'm no expert,' Mia said.

Mel leant forward. 'Changing the subject, I got the distinct impression that something had gone on when you were with those two men tonight. Is there something I ought to be aware of?'

'It was my fault; I should have known better than be in that tunnel on my own,' Mia replied. 'You know how creepy the people in this place can be.'

'Actually, I don't have a problem with the people here,' Mel said, looking around the empty bar. 'Maybe it's because I spend most of my time avoiding them.'

'They would obviously respect you for being a doctor.'

'They don't respect me,' he scoffed. 'They fear that at some time they could be lying on an operating table and find me standing over them with a scalpel in my hand. Either that or being stomach pumped or having their bowels flushed, which seems to be the latest fad with the drug set nowadays.'

Mia shuddered. 'You're putting me off my drink.'

'I must tell you that when I first came here, rumours started flying around that I had been sent to Cornell after euthanizing some of my patients,' Mel said.

Mia was shocked to hear Mel say that. 'Did you?'

'Of course not, but it did me no harm to let this bunch of lowlifes believe those rumours. We're all here with history – what's yours?'

'Assisted suicide. I made the mistake of admitting in court that I would do it again if I had to, which guaranteed me a ticket to prison. What about you?'

'I made a bigger mistake. I had an affair with a patient and she had an abortion.'

'That's not illegal.'

'I carried out the abortion.'

'Oh, dear.'

'That was some time ago, but I was banned from practising on Xanthos for five years.' Mel took a sip of his wine. 'By the way, I met your boyfriend at a managers' dinner the other night – he's had an interesting past.'

'What do you mean?'

'Please don't tell me that you didn't know he was employed as a caretaker because he lost his engineering licences.'

'I only found out yesterday that he had been a crew chief on a cruiser in the past, but he didn't explain why he had his authorisations cancelled.'

'What do you two talk about?' Mel asked.

Mia looked at him thoughtfully. 'Remember that this place is only one step removed from a penal colony; you have to tread carefully when you start asking people questions about their past. So tell me what happened to Tom.'

'He said he was on a space ship that caught fire. By the sound of it, most of the crew were killed, and Tom evacuated the ship and saved the lives of over a hundred passengers.'

'That's news to me,' Mia said, 'but if he had saved all those people, surely he would have been rewarded for his actions. What's he doing here on Cornell?'

'All Tom told me was that he was given a commendation and then was taken to court by the ship's insurers. I can only assume that things didn't go as planned in court and his licences were taken away from him. Were you aware that he and Liam worked together in the past on Xanthos when they were both employed by Karman, and it was Liam who got Tom a temporary job here?'

'Tonight is full of surprises,' Mia said. 'I had no idea.'

'If you don't mind me asking, how did you and Tom get together if you never talk?'

'We met in the medical centre. He came in needing stitches in his hand and refused anaesthetic – he just sat and watched while I sewed him up. I was impressed.'

'Do you get on together?'

'Oh, yes. We're complete opposites in almost every way, which probably explains why we get on so well. I've generally found that engineers tend to be unsentimental, which I guess comes from their working environment, but Tom can be very caring. I like him.'

'He sounds like a keeper. By the way, what really happened to that guy in the tunnel? Did you kick him in the nuts?'

'Seeing as we're sharing with each other ....' Mia slipped the spiker from her pocket and showed it to Mel beneath the table.

Mel was amused. 'I got the impression that you could look after yourself, but this is high tech stuff. Good on you.'

'Unfortunately, those two will be looking for me; it means that I won't be able to continue the night clinics.'

'The number of people attending the clinics is already falling, so it won't be a big deal if we close them down. I think we've already done our bit for the salvation of what passes as Cornell society.'

Mia finished her drink. 'Thanks for the wine; it could grow on me.'

'Top-up?' Mel raised his empty glass.

'I'd love to, but I have to take care of my "keeper".'

'Would you like me to walk you back?'

'I'm okay; I'll stick to the surface walkways in future.' Mia stood and put on her jacket. 'I'll see you tomorrow in the medical centre.'

'Just another day in paradise,' Mel added.

##### Chapter Three

Having eaten supper in the canteen that evening, Tom and Mia walked back to Tom's cabin.

'Liam has promised me a bigger place when one comes available, so we won't be living here much longer,' Tom said, opening the cabin door.

Mia looked around the cramped rooms. 'I've only just got used to this one, although we could definitely use more space.'

They settled on the small sofa, and Tom told Mia about Liam's warning of the dangers when visiting the base at night.

Mia's memory of the altercation in the tunnel, for which she was still blaming herself, was still fresh in her mind, and she was sensitive to criticism. 'I can look after myself,' she snapped. 'I don't need Liam poking his nose into my affairs.'

'I'm sure he has your interests at heart; some of these people sound as if they could do you harm. You wouldn't be able to protect yourself.'

'I disagree,' Mia said. She jumped to her feet, whipped out her spiker and fired a blue discharge into the ceiling.

Tom jumped back, startled. 'What the hell is that?'

'It's called a spiker,' Mia said. 'For some reason, a man quickly loses his sexual appetite after receiving a couple of thousand volts in his nether regions.'

'It looks more like a knuckleduster,' Tom said. 'Have you ever used it in anger?'

'Only a few times,' Mia said, trying to push the events of the afternoon from her mind. 'I can usually sense when a situation is becoming dangerous and manage to move away before thing get out of hand. You needn't be concerned about my safety, because if the spiker fails ....' she bent down, pulled a thin-bladed dagger from her boot, and held it in front of her.

'How did you learn to protect yourself?' Tom asked.

'I grew up quickly – I had to. I've been carrying this for twenty years.'

'That would put you around thirteen years old when you started; you were just a young girl. What happened to you?'

Mia grimaced. 'I don't want to talk about it.' She got up and walked into the bedroom, leaving Tom wondering what she was hiding from him.

On their next visit to Cargo Bay Two, where the container had been relocated, Tom and Liam were alarmed to find that the stain had continued its physical development and was sitting proud of the floor in several places.

'This is showing no signs of slowing down,' Tom said. 'Whatever is happening here is abnormal. How's it going to end up?'

Liam shrugged. 'God knows. This situation is getting serious, and I haven't a clue what to do about it.'

'Is there anyone here who can offer help or advice?' Tom asked.

'We don't have that kind of facility on Cornell,' Liam said. 'I can only think of approaching the Xanthos government, but knowing how their departments work, it would take months to get any scientists or whoever they offered, out here, and at the rate this thing is growing, we won't be able to wait that long.'

'It might be our only option.'

Although they were on their own, Liam looked around before he spoke to check that they could not be overheard. 'There's something you should be aware of,' he said. 'I don't want to involve anyone from Xanthos because I've found out that the government is under pressure to take action on the drugs we're sending there and has been considering transferring the data banks elsewhere. Mining output is already at an all-time low, and if that were to happen, the loss of income could possibly lead to the closure of the whole planet. In the process, that would also remove the drug-manufacturing problem, which would be a big relief to the government. All they are waiting for is an excuse to act, and this could be it.'

'I didn't know that,' Tom said. 'I never understood how Cornell became so involved with drug production.'

'The planet is owned by a private mining company, so as far as civil law is concerned, it doesn't come under the jurisdiction of Xanthos, but if they ever bring in international laws, it'll be a different story. What's causing me concern is that the demand for drugs is steadily increasing, especially after several new varieties of drugs have been produced that can't be detected after their effects wear off. Those new drugs are very much in demand.'

'So what created the drug scene here in the first place?'

'It all started when Karman cut back on mining after the mines reached a depth where poisonous gasses inside the shafts liquefied under pressure – that's why they are often referred to as thousand metre shafts, because all the mines on the planet stop at that level. The company did a deal with the government, which then set up its data bases here on Cornell and brought in a team of highly qualified staff who found themselves with time on their hands. After all, what's involved in managing a database? To relieve the boredom, the staff involved took to making drugs on the side, and years later, we have a thriving industry that manufactures practically every drug in existence, most of which are exported to Xanthos, where the demand appears to be almost insatiable. The government there doesn't want to crack down openly on the drug trade because they are mindful of upsetting their voters, most of whom also appear to be our customers. Whatever, any publicity from something such as this unidentifiable, growing thing, which could possibly contaminate the planet, could be used by the government as an excuse to move the database to some other planet.'

'If the government is so concerned, why don't they simply stop the drugs being imported?'

'Good question. The answer is that the government has never allowed such imports on its state-owned shuttle fleet. However, the big transporters that are chartered to call here are privately owned, just like Karman Mining, and, owing to loopholes in the current legislation, they are allowed to take drugs in without restriction. Until that issue is resolved, the drug trade will continue.'

While Tom was thinking about this, Liam continued, 'In the meantime, we have more immediate problems: what are we going to do about this growing stain? Is there any danger of this thing turning into anything other than a mound of mould?'

'I doubt it,' Tom said. 'With any luck, it'll probably stop soon, and we won't need to worry.'

Liam was not so sure. 'I don't have much imagination at the best of times, and most of it has already been used up. I'm becoming concerned because we don't seem to be in control of this situation.'

Tom mulled over their options, but apart from letting the stain grow, they appeared to be very limited. He gave up speculating and asked Liam something that was puzzling him. 'Tell me about the unidentified signal that was picked up by the transporter just before it found the container.'

'I'll post the report to your computer, but as far as I can remember, it consisted of one short transmission, followed by another,' Liam said. 'Could that mean there is something else out there? They weren't detected on any recognised frequencies; they were more like the interference caused by short bursts of energy.'

'That sounds almost like a challenge and response, one ship calling another, for instance,' Tom said. 'The container doesn't have any radio equipment, so how could it be responding to another vessel?'

'Who knows? I don't think we're going to find out the answers to those questions until we've resolved this stain issue. In the meantime, is there anything we should be doing?'

'I suggest that I fit a camera to the container window so we can monitor what's going on from outside the container without having to open the door. I'll just need to create a gap in the blackout tape I put up. I've also had another idea. This may be a long shot, but why don't we try to physically remove the stain before it gets any bigger?'

Liam frowned uncertainly. 'I can't see it doing any harm. It's not such a bad idea; let's give it a go.'

Tom went off and found some cleaning equipment in a cupboard, reflecting that his time as a caretaker had come in useful after all. Together, wearing protective gloves, he and Liam scraped the raised parts of the stain off the surface of the floor and washed the stain itself with alcohol until only a light shadow remained.

Liam stood back and appraised the results of their efforts. 'You can hardly see where it's been. Why didn't we think of this earlier? In this condition, we could have got the container onto the transporter.'

Tom was also pleased with the results. 'It looks like we've removed most of the contamination and hopefully it won't return. I'll destroy these cleaning materials and the gloves we wore in case they contain bacteria.'

'When you fit the camera, link it to the monitor in my office so we can keep an eye on any future developments from there,' Liam said. 'With luck, we shouldn't need it much longer.'

'I'll set it up,' Tom said, 'and then perhaps we can go back to our day jobs.'

'Keep your fingers crossed,' Liam replied.

It was late at night and Tom had only just climbed into bed and settled down when Mia arrived in his cabin. She quietly undressed and slipped into bed next to him.

'I have to tell you that rumours are flying around, and your name is being mentioned,' Mia said.

Tom became instantly alert. 'What kind of rumours?'

'They concern that container the transporter brought in. People are questioning why it wasn't loaded back onto the transporter for the flight out and why it has been placed under lock and key in another building.'

'Have you said anything?'

'How could I? I don't know anything about it, apart from the fact that it probably shouldn't have brought here in the first place.'

'The transporter crew picked it up and brought it here because it posed a collision hazard,' Tom said. 'I can assure you there's nothing to be concerned about. Those rumours you're hearing are baseless; take no notice of them.'

'They're saying something's been found inside the container,' Mia persisted. 'Is that why it's still here?'

Tom rapidly collected his thoughts. 'Yes. Inside the container is a sealed box that we think could contain some kind of power source. Unfortunately, we haven't yet worked out how to open the box, and until we do, we won't be able to declare the container safe for transport. That's why its departure has been put back. Don't worry; I'll soon have it opened, and it'll be released by the time the Paragon returns next month.'

Mia was not fully convinced by Tom's explanation, but she knew there wasn't any point in continuing the conversation. She pulled the bed covers over her and closed her eyes.

Tom switched out the lights and tried to relax, but the news of the rumours kept him awake, and he started to worry about the container again. What would they do if the stain returned? How would it affect the base if it continued to grow and they couldn't control it? Would the whole planet have to be placed in quarantine? Even worse, would it pose a danger to the planet's occupants? They had done everything possible to remove the stain, and their efforts appeared to have been successful, so presumably none of those scenarios would occur. Holding that thought, Tom forced the negative images from his mind and eventually fell into a disturbed sleep.

The next morning, Tom repeated the rumours Mia had told him about to Liam, who was concerned but felt no action was necessary because, like Tom, he was assuming that the stain had been eradicated and the container would be despatched on the next available flight out.

'How are these rumours getting around if only the two of us are involved?' Liam commented.

'I haven't told a soul,' Tom said.

'What about Mia?'

'She knows nothing apart from the rumours she's picked up. She doesn't mix with many people, so the rumours must be persistent. You said Ricci was involved with a drug dealer; could they have come from her?'

Liam considered Tom's suggestion. 'That hadn't crossed my mind, but now you mention it, I think it's a possibility. We'll just have to watch what we talk about while she's around. It sounds like the rumours Mia picked up are based on speculation, and they should die down after the container has been shipped out.'

'I think you're right,' Tom agreed. He went on to explain to Liam that he still wanted to discover the history of the container and asked his permission to tap into the government data banks to see if he could find any information that might help him in his quest. Liam was not in a position to grant access to government property himself, but he made a call and talked to the head of a government team who owed him a favour. The official reluctantly agreed to give Tom access to his databank on condition that any information retrieved could only be used for research and said he would meet Tom in person to arrange it.

Tom made his way to one of many identical government offices on the far side of the base, some of which he never knew existed, and met up with the official who had promised to help.

Ali Gayad greeted Tom and led him to the data store. 'Normally, access to these data bases is only available to authorised personnel through the Xanthos servers, so don't tell anyone that I'm doing this for you,' Ali warned. 'In my spare time, I've done some research on our historical records. We've got archived material going back as far as the first caravans, but there are huge gaps of missing data from those earlier periods.'

'Would it include shipping information?' Tom asked. 'I'm interested in any reports of missing vessels.'

'Anecdotally, quite a few ships were lost in those first transits,' Ali explained. 'However, our archives only include public and government records; there's nothing in them about private or commercial operations.'

Ali opened a computer link and guided Tom to some very old news headlines that were hardly readable. 'Please excuse the poor condition,' Ali said. 'These articles were copied from an even older medium called film.'

'I've never heard of that,' Tom said.

'Most people haven't. If you're happy with what's on offer, I'll leave you to it. Can you make sure the computer is shut down when you're finished?'

Alone in the room, Tom searched through the ancient records, finding nothing of interest until he came across a press cutting headed "Where are they now?". Amongst other previously published stories, he came across a news article about a wealthy, eccentric businessman who planned to leave Earth and live in space while he carried out experiments. It sought the whereabouts of someone called Jay Conway, who had never been heard from again. Jay had been the owner of a company that specialised in the research and production of techno-biological applications, and he had intended to build a space vehicle to be run by artificial intelligence and built along organic lines as much as possible, including the revolutionary use of new semi-organic substances that replaced traditional materials. What caught Tom's attention was a comment that Jay planned to paint his space vehicle with one of his company's yellow bio-coatings in order to advertise its products. There was no confirmation that the project had ever came to fruition, but the fact that the container in their possession also had an unusual yellow coating made him suspect that it might have a link to Conway's intended project.

If that was the case, Tom reasoned, what function had the container served and how had it turned up in this part of space all these years later? There was nothing inside the container to indicate that it had been built for a particular purpose, and the lack of emergency equipment ruled out it being an escape capsule, so what had it been used for? More importantly, what had a man been doing inside it when he died, if, in fact, anyone had died? They were only making that assumption after finding a stain and some metal objects on the floor. The container was not equipped with any means of propulsion, meaning that at some time it must have been attached to a, presumably larger, powered unit. That would have been the only way it could have achieved the necessary velocity to reach the registered planets, which in turn would indicate that the parent unit might also be located in the sector. The fact that two short radio signals were heard could have meant the presence of another vessel nearby when the container was discovered. However, the transporter had reported that while it was trying to locate the source of the signals, it was using its sensors and nothing at all was showing on them; the container appeared to have been accidentally discovered by a visual sighting. He had observed no trace of any radio or tracking devices inside the container, unless it had a concealed transponder built into it, so maybe the radio transmissions were just a coincidence. Apart from the three metal items discovered on its floor, there was no evidence of anything else taking place inside the container during its long journey until the stain appeared on its floor, so what could have triggered that event? All the signs so far showed that in all probability, a body had decayed there at some time in the past and the stain on the floor was caused by bacteria that had probably been reactivated when the container was opened. Satisfied with what he had deduced, Tom closed down the computer, retraced his steps out of the government building and returned to Liam's office.

Liam looked grim when Tom entered his office. 'I've just checked the container,' he said, switching on a monitor. 'Take a look at this.'

Tom stared at the screen in silence. He had expected to see an empty floor and was shocked to find that the stain had recovered vigorously and grown into an even larger physical form.

'We must do something to stop it,' Tom said.

'Have you got any ideas how to do that?'

'Just the application of brute force and ignorance,' Tom said. 'It's a tried and tested engineering trick when all else fails. Follow me.'

Down in Cargo Bay Two, Tom and Liam went into the container where Tom knelt down next to the growth. He seized the largest bulge of the substance and tried to twist it loose, but it felt like it was anchored to something larger beneath the floor and refused to move.

'What's it made of?' Liam asked.

'It's like warm rubber, and it feels as like it's attached to something under the floor. However, this should do the trick.'

Tom pulled a knife from his pocket and was carefully cutting out a section of the flooring around the growth when an electric shock suddenly seared through his hand and up his arm. He instinctively jerked to his feet, clutching his arm.

Liam ran to his aid. 'Are you okay?'

Tom rubbed his numb arm and tried to unlock his clenched fingers. He swore and rubbed his hand. 'That was bad. Can you pull my fingers apart?'

Liam levered Tom's fingers loose, and the feeling started to return to his hand.

'Was that static?' Liam asked.

Tom shook his head. 'No, that was a heavy duty current.' He flexed his fingers and massaged his arm to restart the circulation.

Liam walked over to the sealed box. 'Has this box got anything to do with it? We really need to get it open.'

'Don't touch it!' Tom warned. 'It's obvious that the power must be coming from inside the box. That shock was a warning; we should take heed and keep away from it.'

Liam stepped away from the box. 'It looks like whatever is inside that box is protecting the growth on the floor,' he said. 'I think we'd better get out of here and leave all this alone until we can figure out what's happening.'

Tom bent down to pick up his knife, but Liam stopped him. 'Leave it. Don't risk another shock. If what you just felt was only a warning, I hate to think what the next one would be like.'

Ricci was frustrated when she climbed out of Max's bed and started to gather her clothes. 'You were right,' she said, 'that wasn't worth it.'

Max nonchalantly lay in bed, watching Ricci get dressed. 'Don't blame me,' he complained. 'The first thing I'm going to do when I can walk again is get even with the person who did this to me.'

Ricci hadn't so far taken much interest in Max's problem. 'Who are you talking about?' she asked.

'It was just some stupid bitch. She's going to regret doing it.'

'It was a woman?' Ricci queried. 'There aren't that many women around here; who was it?'

'It was that dumb nurse – Mia.'

Ricci did not believe him. 'Are you sure? Mia wouldn't harm a fly; she's a nice person.'

Max painfully manoeuvred himself out of bed and limped around the bedroom. 'Don't worry; she's going to pay for this.'

'If you think you're going to pump her full of drugs like you did the last one, you had better think again.'

'Why do you care what happens to her?'

'Mia runs the medical centre.'

'I thought that Mel character ran the centre,' Max said.

'Mel spends most of his time in the bar. Mia is supporting the show, and if you do anything to her, Liam will clamp down on you.'

'I'd like to see him try.'

'If you want to continue selling your drugs, you'd better not pick a fight with Liam. Leave Mia alone. You must have done something to her. What caused her to attack you?'

'All I asked for was some information about that container the transporter brought in. I wanted to find out was why it was being kept secret and why Tom was involved.'

'Mia spends her nights with Tom,' Ricci said. 'What do you think his reaction will be if you take a pop at his girlfriend?'

'I'm not frightened of a caretaker,' Max said.

'He's the Chief Engineer, and in case you hadn't noticed, he's a lot bigger than you are.'

Max could not believe that Tom had been promoted. 'How did that happen?'

'I think it was something to do with his licence.'

'Are you sure he was promoted?'

'Of course I'm sure; I just wasted half a day trying to find a new uniform for him, and if Mia comes to any harm, just think how Mel will treat you the next time you need to go to the medical centre. Also, bear in mind that after you've been deported from Cornell, there is nowhere left to go – you won't find a cruisy drug number like this again. It's time you grew up.'

Ricci left the room in a huff and slammed the door behind her.

Although at first Liam and Tom had been optimistic that at some stage the stain on the floor would stop growing and become inactive, after several days of monitoring its progress, it became obvious that there was no sign of it slowing down. The stain continued to evolve into a series of humps, some rising twenty centimetres above the floor and extending almost two metres in length.

'I hate to say this,' Liam said, staring at the development on his monitor one day, 'but what started out as a stain is starting to take the shape of a human body.' He pointed out to Tom that the largest hump corresponded with a chest, two smaller ones at one end resembled feet and what appeared to be a nose was emerging from the floor at the opposite end.

Tom shook his head. 'I have to admit that I also arrived at that conclusion, but I didn't want to say anything until it could be confirmed.'

'This thing isn't going to go away, is it?' Liam said. 'If you accept that we're looking at a developing human body, that lower bulge could be a man's sexual organs. Also the colour of the mould, or whatever it is, is growing lighter by the day.'

'Looking at what's on the screen in front of us, I guess we don't have the option to ignore it any more,' Tom said.

'I'm convinced that a human form is appearing before us,' Liam said. 'But how could that happen?'

'I think we must accept the probability that a human body once decayed here, and now it looks like the process is being reversed to recreate the body,' Tom said. 'I simply don't understand what is causing this.'

'That makes two of us. This changes everything. If we are correct in our assumptions that a body is somehow being recreated, is it feasible that it could come to life after it becomes fully developed? That would be the logical conclusion.'

'It sounds impossible, but there has to be a reason why this is taking place, and I think we have to assume that it is being controlled by whatever is inside that box. It definitely looks like it is trying to create a human being, and if that is correct, it looks like the end result will be a man just under two metres tall.'

'What are we going to do about it?' Liam asked. 'We've tried everything we can think of to stop it growing, to no avail.'

'Search me,' Tom said. 'As usual, all we can do is wait and see what happens next.'

Liam sighed. 'I guess you're right.'

Over the next days, the two of them continued to monitor the growth's steady development, but the only event of note was when Tom was scrolling through the video recordings and observed that his knife, which he dropped after being shocked, was sticking up at an angle to the floor. Ten minutes later, it appeared to have fallen flat on the floor again. Curious, Tom increased the screen magnification to find that the knife's composite handle had disappeared after being absorbed by the floor.

Later that week, Tom and Liam stood looking out of a window in Liam's office and watched the transporter prepare for departure, without the container on board.

'When this place was in full mining production, we used to get a transporter in practically every day,' Liam said. 'Now it's once a month.'

'I'm curious,' Tom said. 'Why is the Paragon down here and not parked on the orbiting docking station?'

'I once asked that same question of a transporter captain, and he told me that they could only make a surface landing as long as their next take-off weight would be below fifty thousand tonnes,' Liam said. 'At least that was the story he came out with, but those guys sure know how to party. Girls, booze, drugs, whatever – they don't seem to be able to get enough of them. I think they land down here just so they can get to the bars quicker. However, it does make it a lot easier for us to unload cargo if it uses the pad instead of Skydock.'

The office floor started to quiver as the transporters massive motors powered up, and the blast shields hesitantly rose up out of the ground and meshed together, surrounding the manoeuvring pad with a steel curtain. Shortly afterwards, a horrendous vibration and an avalanche of noise ricocheted off the adjacent buildings when the giant vessel increased power and slowly rose into the sky, shooting clouds of dust and flames high above the blast shields. It stopped above the barriers and hovered while the hull slowly pitched through ninety degrees to the upright position, and then the noise rose to a crescendo as the rocket motors cut in and accelerated the transporter vertically into the vacant sky above. The building continued to shake and rattle while the two men covered their ears until the noise started to subside and the flame trail shrank from sight against the pale sky.

'I think that was their version of a noise-abatement take-off,' Liam said sarcastically. 'Actually, it's probably the only form of public entertainment available on the planet.'

Tom had been deafened and his ears were ringing for minutes after the transporter had disappeared. 'I wonder how many cracked windows that caused?' he finally said.

'Sounds like a job for the new caretaker,' Liam proposed.

Tom laughed. 'I'd be happy to show him how, but I have to say I'd be feeling even happier if the container was on board that transporter.'

After the transporter had gone, Liam switched on his monitor and linked to the camera covering the container. They were confronted with the sight of the familiar human body, lying face up, on the floor of the container. The flesh was very pale, and the scalp hairless; most of its head, legs and arms appeared to be already free from the floor.

'At this rate, I reckon that the body could be fully developed in a couple of days' time,' Tom said. 'Have you come up with any ideas yet about what we're going to do with it if it comes to life?'

'If I had my way, I would lift this container out and drop it down the closest mine shaft, but we both know that isn't going to happen. I've racked my brains and still can't imagine how this body is going to turn out, and I worry that we may be at risk from something we can't identify.'

'The entrances to the bay and container are secured, so that should minimise any risks until we get a clearer picture. I think it is just a case of continuing to wait and watch.'

'In the complete absence of any other ideas, I have to go along with that,' Liam agreed. 'We tried to eradicate and remove the body, and that didn't work. Now we have to wait until it makes the next move.'

'By the look of it, I don't think we'll be waiting long,' Tom said.

##### Chapter Four

The shaking of the bed woke Tom in the middle of the night. He instinctively grasped the bed-head, waiting for the earthquake to stop, then realised that the movement was being caused by Mia, who was facing away from him, trying to hide the fact she was crying. Tom reached out and tried to comfort her, but Mia did not want to talk. However, he continued to gently hold her until her crying died down.

'Was it that dream again?' Tom asked.

Mia shook her head.

'Why won't you confide in me?' Tom said. 'I want you to let me help you.'

Mia lay quietly, until she eventually said, 'I've done bad things. I came here from prison.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Tom said. 'Can I ask why you were in prison?'

'While I was working as a nurse, I helped a terminally ill patient to commit suicide. It was a big mistake, and I've been paying for it ever since. We all have a past we'd rather forget, it seems. Can I ask what brought you here?'

'I was the Crew Chief on a support vessel that caught fire. The fire was uncontainable, and most of the crew were killed trying to control it. I made it to a different section of the vessel and supervised the escape of the passengers in escape pods.'

'Then what?'

'The vessel's insurers fought the claim, and I ended up in court accused of causing the death of crew members by depressurising a section of the hold, which I did in an attempt to extinguish the fire. I'd already checked the hold and knew there was nobody inside, but the insurers needed to prove negligence to avoid paying damages and insisted that I had killed the crew. After we evacuated, the ship burnt out, leaving no evidence to prove the charges either way. After a shambles of a trial, I was convicted of acting beyond my authority, but the judge refused to make a ruling on my culpability. My lawyer lodged an appeal, and I was stripped of my licence privileges pending a retrial, which could have taken years to go through the courts. After being sent out here on probation awaiting my retrial, Liam fortunately then intervened on my behalf. The charges were recently dropped and I got my licences back.'

Mia rolled over to look at Tom. 'I haven't told you everything: I once killed a man.'

Tom tried to hide his surprise and shock. 'How did that happen?'

'When I was young and living on the streets of Bartle, I was spending the nights in a shelter I'd made beneath a flyover. One night I was followed there by a homeless man who beat me up and raped me. Afterwards, he fell asleep and I managed to run away, but I came back later with a rock I'd found and bashed his skull until he was dead. I don't know if the police found him, but if they did, they wouldn't have taken much notice; they usually stayed clear of street life.'

'Was that when you started carrying a dagger?'

'Yes. I swore I would die rather than let a man put his hands on me again, and I didn't for twenty years, until I met you.'

Tom was touched. 'I don't know what to say.'

'As soon as I met you, I knew you were the one.'

Tom pulled her to him and held her tight. 'We must look after each other,' he said.

'Isn't that what friends are for?' Mia said.

'We aren't just friends, we're lovers,' Tom said.

Mia laughed. 'Aren't we a bit old for that?'

'Speak for yourself.'

Mia cuddled up to Tom, feeling safe and secure in his warmth, until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

'There's been no change in the body for six hours.' Tom reset the video he had been watching in Liam's office. 'I would say it must be fully developed. Should we be looking to relocate to the container to be ready for whatever happens next?'

Liam stared dispassionately at the motionless body displayed on the monitor. 'It's white, and it looks dead to me,' he said. 'What's your opinion?'

'Could be,' Tom said. 'It hasn't moved at all during the time we've been following its progress. I still can't get my head round how that body emerged from the container floor or why. What do we do now?'

'If the body's dead and left to decay in its present location, it'll cause a health problem,' Liam said. 'We must ensure that it doesn't get exposed to the base air conditioning system.'

'I've been thinking the same thing myself,' Tom said. 'To prevent any contamination leakage when we open up the container, why don't we bring over one of those old exploration caravans, which are self-contained units, from the next bay. They have two doors, one of which we could abut to the container door, and the other would serve as our main entrance. The only direct entry to the container would then be from inside the caravan. We could also use the caravan as a make-do decontamination unit.'

'That's a good idea,' Liam agreed. 'I'm pleased that you've come up with something practical we can do; all this watching and waiting has been killing me.'

From the adjoining bay, the two men hauled a small caravan into position next to the container. Tom produced an emergency dome leak kit and put a seal around the join.

'How do you intend to dispose of the body?' Tom asked.

'Somehow, we're going to have to incinerate it,' Liam said, 'but before we get to that point, I'll need confirmation that the body is definitely not alive. I think that will have to come from the medical centre.'

'It would mean that if contamination was discovered, anyone who encountered the body would have to remain in quarantine until cleared, which could take some time,' Tom pointed out. 'I think I should go in, at least I'll be able to lift the body and seal it inside a body bag.'

'I don't like that idea very much, but we still need confirmation that the body is dead,' Liam said. 'Do you think Mia would be up for it?'

'She's very discreet, so there's no harm in asking. Will you clear it with Mel?'

'I can tell you exactly what Mel's response will be,' Liam said. 'He definitely won't want to get involved in anything like this.'

'Then why don't you tell him that you have a situation requiring absolute discretion and would like to borrow Mia for advice. That should give him a let-out.'

'I'll do that,' Liam said. 'While I'm arguing the toss with Mel, would you like to start preparing the caravan for the two of you during any quarantine period? Off the top of my head I'm thinking about toiletry, food and water, protective clothing, medical supplies, a body bag, and contamination test kits – stuff like that.'

Tom started locating supplies on his scanner, and ten minutes later, Liam re-joined him.

'I've had a word with Mel, who is willing to release Mia if she so chooses,' Liam said. 'Perhaps you would like to find out if she would be amenable.'

One hour later, Mia sat staring at a screen as Tom played some of the video they had made of the developments inside the container. She was mesmerised by the sight of the body slowly emerging from the floor. 'So this is what you were hiding from me,' she chided. 'No wonder you had difficulty explaining why the container had been left behind.'

'At that time I was under the impression that the problem had been solved and gone away,' Tom explained. 'What happened afterwards was a surprise to both of us. Are you willing to help?'

'Only if you go in with me,' Mia said.

Wearing full protective clothing and masks, Tom and Mia entered the container, closing the door to the caravan behind them. They were in radio contact with Liam, who remained outside in the cargo bay watching their movements on a second monitor they had linked up.

Mia cautiously approached the white body, which was lying on its back, and attached a probe to its chest. 'The body temperature is higher than ambient,' she said, checking her readings, 'but there's no trace of a pulse or any organ activity. It's hard to explain the temperature anomaly, but this body is technically lifeless.'

After taking swabs from the body and the floor coating to run through her analyser, Mia turned to Tom. 'I need to take samples from beneath the body; can you give me a hand?'

Tom grasped the body by one shoulder, half-expecting to receive another shock, and as they were attempting to roll it over, it suddenly twitched and rolled its head, causing them both to jump back in horror.

The body opened its eyes, pulled itself to a sitting position and stared at them.

For what seemed an age, Tom and Mia remained motionless, not knowing what to do next, while the man continued to stare at them without recognition.

Finally, Tom addressed him. 'Hello. My name's Tom Tyler. Who are you?'

There was no reaction to Tom's words. As they watched, the man hesitantly climbed to his feet, and Tom repeated his question, but the man still acted as though he was unaware of their presence; it was as if he could not see or hear them. Then he tried to speak but appeared to be struggling to form the words. He put his hand in his mouth and looked like he was trying to remove something. Mia slowly walked up to him and, for the first time, he seemed to recognise that he was not alone. Mia carefully reached out, pulled his jaws apart and looked inside his mouth. Then she took a spatula from her pocket and levered his tongue from where it had become stuck on the roof of his mouth. The man gasped and started breathing deeply. Mia and Tom stared at each other, shaken by what was happening. Suddenly the man stiffened, as if he had heard something, and then turned, staggered over to the metal box and threw himself on top of it. After a few moments, he climbed to his feet and croaked, 'I'm alive'.

The man looked down at his naked body. 'Clothes,' he said clearly. 'I need clothes.'

'Wait here.' Tom grabbed Mia's hand, pulled her through the door to the caravan and locked it behind them. 'We need to check for contamination,' he said.

Mia quickly ran the swabs they had taken through her mobile analyser while Tom waited. The results soon came through. 'All clear,' she said. 'There's nothing at all on the swabs; no contaminants have been identified.'

They both removed their protective helmets and agreed that they needed to talk to Liam as soon as possible.

Liam had watched the events unfold on his screen and met them outside the caravan door. He was as shocked as they were. 'What next?' he asked.

'First things first,' Tom said. 'Can you find some clothes for the man to wear?'

'I'll go and have a look right now,' Liam said and went over to ransack the lockers that were lined up against the bay wall.

'He'll probably need water, too' Mia said, falling into a chair. 'What a shock. I genuinely thought he was dead.'

'I've a horrible feeling that there are going to be more surprises in store,' Tom said, putting his hand on Mia's shoulder.

Liam turned up a shirt and some coveralls. 'This is all I could find.'

Mia took the clothes from Tom and held them to her nose. 'These things must have been stored for years,' she commented.

'They were all I could find,' Liam said. 'At least it's better than walking around naked.'

'I'll take them to him in a minute, but before I do, I think we need to discuss what we intend to do with him next,' Tom said. 'This is a massive event and we need to make sure our actions can't be questioned in future. We need to record everything we do and make sure the records are kept somewhere safe. I suggest that when he's ready, we settle him in the caravan and then you can join us, and we can try to find out what's going on.'

Liam agreed. Mia and Tom returned to the container and gave the man the clothes and a bottle of water. He dressed quickly and drank the small bottle of water in one long gulp. Tom again introduced himself and Mia and explained that they wanted to move him to a more comfortable location. The man nodded his approval. He appeared to be a little unsteady on his legs so Mia and Tom supported him and helped him into the caravan, where Liam was sitting, waiting.

Liam examined the man closely. He looked to be middle-aged and hairless; his skin was almost pure white and his eyes bright blue. Despite his muscles being ill defined, he had a strong face.

'Hello, I'm Liam Sharp, the Station Manager of the planet Cornell,' Liam began. What's your name, and where do you come from?'

At first, the man struggled to form his words, but eventually he managed to reply, 'My name is Jay Conway. I am from Earth. What am I doing here?'

'We could ask you the same question,' Liam said. 'To get here, it looks like you must have been travelling for around two thousand five hundred years inside that container. You're now on Cornell, one of the colonies founded by settlers from Earth.'

Jay was astounded. 'Are you telling me I have been missing for two thousand five hundred years?'

'It would appear that way,' Tom confirmed. 'What happened to you?'

Jay thought for a while, struggling to comprehend the enormity of what he had just been told, before offering an explanation. 'I had been living for several years on my own in a space station, but when I returned to Earth, the planet had been partially evacuated and every serviceable space vehicle had set off to seek alternative planets to populate, leaving me with no way of descending to the planet surface. Whilst in low orbit, I checked my old company's net site and found a message from my Chief Executive telling me that he had been forced to join the evacuation of Earth and had abandoned my business. However, he did leave me the coordinates of the convoys' tracks. After accepting that I had no further business on Earth, or the means to get there, I calculated that my only chance of being rescued was to follow the convoys and hope to make contact with one of the vessels. The space station was equipped with underpowered manoeuvring motors and was unlikely to have ever caught up with the faster and larger space vehicles in the convoy, so I was aware my chances of meeting up with them were slim at best. At first, all went well, but whilst making a routine check of this container, which was part of the space station, the station was hit by space debris, and the container broke free with me inside it. I had no supplies of food or water and after two days, I must have collapsed and slipped into unconsciousness on the floor. I have no memory of what happened after that until I woke up here, apparently on a planet I have never heard of called Cornell.'

'Before we go any further, can we go back to the beginning for a moment?' Liam said. 'Why were you living in a space station?'

'Planet Earth was overpopulated, and its atmosphere had been polluted by the uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels. The seas warmed, allowing viruses to decimate marine life, and the landmasses were unable to provide sufficient food for its population. A shortage of fresh water in the dryer areas led to a water grab and the diversion of major rivers, which caused constant unrest and border wars, and over time, society became polarised between the wealthy and the poor. I was an inventor, but the conditions on the planet deteriorated to a point where it was no longer conducive to carry out research there. I decided that the planet's occupants were facing extinction and it would be best if I built my own space station and worked off-planet. That is what I was doing for the next nine years.'

'I presume you had a project in mind when you took such a big decision,' Liam said.

'Yes. I knew I had led a privileged life and wanted to pay something back, something that would help the disadvantaged people on Earth.'

'When the container arrived here, there were no traces of human remains inside it, so what happened to your body after you died? Tom asked. 'More importantly, how did you manage to return to life?'

Jay drank some water, but remained silent.

'Would you like something to eat?' Mia offered.

'No thank you,' Jay said. 'Water will suffice for the time being. At the moment, I cannot think clearly, so I am unable to respond satisfactorily to your first question. I expect that the answer to your last question will be even more complicated.'

'Then let's stick with the container,' Tom said. 'How did it retain its air supply, light and heat for all this time?'

'There is a reinforced metal box inside the container,' Jay said. 'Inside that box is a power unit called Biopac, which was my first invention after I departed from Earth in my space station. Because I have no awareness of the long journey here, I can only assume that the Biopac supplied the container's power requirements during that time.'

'Why don't you tell us about the Biopac?' Tom asked.

'I will try,' Jay said. 'The Biopac is a self-contained generator that is capable of producing large amounts of power, and I developed it in order to provide free domestic power for the inhabitants of Earth.'

'Can you remember anything at all about your long journey here?' Liam asked.

'No. I am unable to explain what happened after I lost consciousness, but if I had died, as would appear to be the case, the biological coating on the container floor would have consumed my body.'

'That could possibly answer the first question,' Liam said. 'Now tell us how you think you could have returned to life.'

Jay thought for a while. 'After I produced the Biopac, I developed it further to produce the most important of my inventions – Entity, which is a powerful and independent living organism. Entity is also present inside that box, along with the Biopac. Regarding my return to life, the only explanation I can offer is that Entity was responsible for the reconstruction of my body, but until I can communicate with Entity, I cannot confirm that. However, I promise you that I will give you answers to all your questions when I have fully refreshed my memory. If I travelled all the way here in the container, can you tell me how it managed to land on this planet?'

'An incoming transporter intercepted some kind of radio signal and then found the container,' Tom said. 'They picked it up as space debris and brought it here to be destroyed. We were about to get rid of it when we found a stain growing out of the floor. The stain continued to grow and here you are.'

'It sounds like I have had several lucky escapes,' Jay said. 'Is there anything else I can help you with?'

'Yes,' Tom said. 'Why are these inventions of yours, the Biopac and Entity, stored inside an armour-plated box?'

'That armoured box was originally intended to protect its contents during the journey back to Earth. It took me two years to perfect the Biopac, and I should have then stuck to my original plan and returned to Earth, but I became distracted and continued to experiment in the space station. Seven years later, I produced Entity, which is the most incredible organism ever invented. Inside that box lies the future.'

'How does Entity differ from the Biopac?' Tom asked.

'Entity is based on a similar biomass core to the Biopac's, but the power produced is channelled internally. I added artificial intelligence and eventually created what was essentially an artificial brain that I named Entity. To my amazement, however, Entity continued to develop and assumed a life of its own. It is now a completely independent life form, the like of which has never been seen before.'

'That just sounds like some kind of advanced computer to me,' Liam said. 'What makes it so special?'

'It is sentient – meaning that it can perceive and understand human feelings and emotions; in the whole universe, it is the closest living organism to a human being. During my time, nothing like Entity had ever been developed. Are you aware of anything like this being developed after I had left Earth?'

'No, not to my knowledge; it would be amazing if it had,' Liam said. 'I'm not sure I understand everything you have told us, but I do have concerns that this Entity could pose a danger to us and this planet.'

'You are not in any danger. Only a small part of the original Entity is stored inside that box, along with the Biopac. I put them in the container with the intention of taking them back to Earth when I finally had to leave the station, but I left it too late and that never took place.'

'The box appears to be sealed; how do you open it?' Tom asked.

'Only Entity is able to open the box from within,' Jay said quietly, 'and only I can communicate with Entity.' He sighed and laid his head on his hands.

'I'm sorry,' Liam said. 'You have been through a great deal and are obviously tired; I think we'll take a break while we review what you have told us. You can rest here, but for your own safety, you must stay in this caravan until we can work out the impact of your arrival here.'

'I can do that,' Jay said. 'After waiting over two thousand years, a few extra days are not going to matter.'

Mia had been sitting quietly at the back of the caravan, watching the interview take place. She felt rather shaken since the man had suddenly jumped to life but now was completely calm. As she got up to leave with Tom and Liam, Tom turned to her and smiled. She returned his smile and realized that something had changed, and she felt a sense of contentment, a feeling she had not experienced she was a young child, playing on a swing in the garden of the home she had never been able to find.

##### Chapter Five

Luka, captain of the transporter Paragon, leaned back in his seat on the bridge and put his feet up on a bench in front of him. 'How could anyone in their right minds waste their lives in a dump like Cornell?' he asked his first officer. 'There's a total lack of facilities on the planet; we ought to get paid more for going there.'

'I could go for the idea of a bigger allowance,' Gore said. 'It gets worse each time we visit.'

'We're presently carrying on average less than half our available payload,' Luka said. 'The company is talking again about decreasing the frequency of the schedules, but what they ought to do is put a smaller ship on this route.'

Suddenly, an amber warning light on the console lit up. Gore put on his headphones. 'I've picked up a radio signal. It's the same one we heard on the way to Cornell before we found that container.'

Luka listened in and heard the intermittent buzzing sound of the signal they had heard previously, only this time it was being continuously repeated. He switched on the transporter's array of sensors and started checking his displays.

'If there's something out there, it's not showing,' Gore said. 'The signal is strong and is being continuously repeated. Its strength is increasing; I think there may be something ahead of us.'

'We'd better slow down,' Luka warned, putting the motors into reverse.

The transporter lurched as it responded to the push of the reverse thrust.

'Speed's reducing,' Gore confirmed. He twiddled some switches on his console. 'I'm picking up the signal on the direction finder; it's about forty degrees off starboard.'

Luka turned the vessel thirty degrees right to allow a safe margin.

'The signal's getting stronger,' Gore advised.

Luka applied more power and the transporter shuddered as its deceleration increased.

'I've got visual contact!' Gore cried. 'We're closing on it!'

Luka selected full reverse thrust and spotted a dot of reflected light crossing from left to right ahead of them. 'We need to track behind it,' he said. 'This is getting too complicated. Tell the navigator to get up here pronto.' Luka switched to manual control and started a slow right turn to close with the object as the speed continued to wash off.

Ade, the navigator, joined them on the bridge. 'Is there a particular reason why we're going backwards?' he said.

'Here, you take control,' Luka said. 'See if you can catch that moving light.'

'What is it?' Ade asked, staring through the window whilst settling into his station.

'All I can tell you is that for some reason it doesn't appear on radar,' Luka said.

He watched while Ade harnessed the power and quickly calculated an intercept course. The spot of light appeared to reverse its course and started to move right to left and increase in intensity as they pulled in behind it. Slowly, they began to close with the target.

'Whatever it is, it's still not showing on our sensors,' Gore said. 'What can it be?'

'It looks to be about a kilometre ahead of us, but I can't make out any features,' Luka said. 'Give me the camera.'

A picture of the target appeared in the centre of Luka's display. He zoomed in until it filled the screen but was still unable to identify it.

'It's about half a kilometre range,' Ade said. 'Do you want to stop or move in closer?'

'Keep moving in slowly; we need to find out what it is.'

'The signal is really strong,' Gore said. 'This is definitely its source.'

None of them could identify the brightly lit structure that emerged from the surrounding blackness and appeared outside the bridge windows. Ade brought the Paragon gently to a halt and they all puzzled over what they were seeing.

'At a guess, I would say we're looking at the wreckage of an old space ship,' Ade suggested.

'Some bits look like part of a larger structure, but what are those brown stripes all over it?' Gore said. 'What are they made of?'

'Whatever it is, it looks like it's held together with box tape,' Ade added.

Luka stared at the strange object with an uneasy feeling. 'It looks pretty lifeless,' he said. 'It might be a ghost ship or just a twister, an accumulation of space junk. Could this possibly be connected in some way to the container we left on Cornell?'

'It's definitely giving out the signal,' Gore said.

'Then we have no choice,' Luka responded. 'Gore, send out messages on all the emergency frequencies and try to fire up a response from it. Ade, tell the engineers what we're doing and get them to prepare a gantry to link with the target. Let's see what we've got here.'

An hour later, the crew watched while an engineer remotely manoeuvred a gantry across to the nearby structure, but on each attempt, it failed to attach.

'The electro magnets won't lock on,' the engineer reported over the radio. 'It must be made of some organic substance.'

'Okay, call it a day,' Luka said. 'Come back in and we'll try a manual link up.'

The gantry was recovered, and shortly afterwards, another engineer in a pressure suit manoeuvred himself across to the structure. After spending ten minutes trying to gain access, he announced that he could not open the entrance door and was returning to the Paragon.

'We've had no response to our radio calls, and there are no other signs of life,' Luka said. 'We'll send video of it back to the operations department and find out what they want us to do. Hopefully, they'll say the transporter is desperately needed back on Xanthos and we can get a move on.'

Half an hour later, Luka picked up a message that had just been received, causing him to shake his head. 'I don't believe it,' he said. 'Ops passed our report to the government, who questioned what we had found. As a result, the Transport Department has ordered us to take this pile of junk back to Cornell and leave it in quarantine off-planet to await the arrival of one of their regulation inspectors. Under no circumstances must the Paragon bring it to Xanthos until it has cleared quarantine at Cornell.'

'They've got a nerve,' Gore said. 'Who do they think they are?'

'It gets worse. Ops have also said that we must remain on standby with the Paragon until the inspector clears us to leave and then come back as fast as possible.'

'Tell me that we won't be confined to Skydock; that's a fate worse than death,' Ade commented. 'Can't we just bin this thing?'

'Now it's been reported, we're stuck with it,' Luka said. 'We don't have a choice because we'll not be allowed to leave Cornell until the authorities let us go, and we won't even be able to go down to Cornell. More importantly, if we can't lock onto this thing, how are we going to move it?'

Ellis, one of the loadmasters who had been watching the recovery process, spoke up, 'We could possibly chain it to an outrigger, but that would reduce our stability considerably and restrict our cruise speed. If push turns to shove, it'll probably fit inside our cargo hold.'

'The last thing we want to do is slow the journey down,' Luka said. 'Let's try to take it internally.'

'No problem,' Ellis said. I'll mobilise a crane with an extra-large strop and see if we can pull it inside the hold.'

Liam threw himself into his seat. 'This really is something we could do without,' he lamented, echoing the sentiments of the entire crew.

Tom followed Liam into his office and closed the door behind them.

Liam peered through the door window to check that Ricci was not listening and turned to Tom. 'Before we go any further with this Jay episode, I think we need to talk about the legality of what we're doing. It's getting complicated, especially as we've involved Mia. I only have two years to run to qualify for a pension, and I can't afford to upset the company. What are your thoughts on this?'

'After listening to Jay, I'm beginning to get cold feet,' Tom said. 'All this stuff about Entity and Biopacs is going straight over my head.'

'At some point, we're going to have to bring other agencies into the equation. If we cough now, we can probably muddle our way through with some kind of acceptable explanation, but if we leave it much longer, we'll be guilty of conspiracy.'

'Who would you want to involve?'

'I'd have to first advise Karman,' Liam said, 'although I think I can anticipate how they will react to stories of a man growing out of a container floor after a two thousand year journey.'

'I can't help you with that, and I can't think of anyone else we could turn to or trust. Before you involve the company, let's talk to Jay again and try to work out our options.'

'I guess waiting another day or so to contact Karman won't do any harm,' Liam agreed. 'We need to keep an open mind while all this unravels; one of our first tasks will be to see for ourselves exactly what's inside that metal box.'

'I think that's a must,' Tom said. 'We know there's a power pack in there and we've no idea how dangerous it could be.'

After a night's rest, Tom and Liam visited Jay again in the caravan to continue their interview.

'Before I left Earth to live and work on my space station, I invented and patented a substance that became known as Tectile,' Jay began. 'It was originally developed as a domestic coating for the interior floors and walls of buildings, and its microbiological components dissolved and absorbed all organic compounds, negating the need to clean those interiors. I also used Tectile as a protective coating on the internal and external structure of my space station and in doing so, I accidentally discovered that the coating on the station's exterior absorbed radio waves from radar and other sensors, making the station almost undetectable to conventional scanning equipment. After carrying out numerous experiments involving Tectile, I succeeded in producing a highly sophisticated type of biomass that is integral to the Biopac and the organism I called Entity.'

'How does the Biopac work?' Tom asked.

'The Biopac produces its power by continually creating and then breaking down a unique type of biomass in a sealed anaerobic reaction. The prototype Biopac is inside the metal box, and based on that prototype, I will be able to produce many more of them. Think about it: the very real possibility of free power for all the planets in the settled areas.'

Liam and Tom exchanged glances.

Jay caught their looks. 'I can see you are sceptical of my claims,' he said.

'We aren't sceptical,' Liam said. 'You won't want to hear this, but Cornell is owned by the Karman Mining Company that, along with its mining interests, provides nuclear power for all the registered planets.'

'It would hardly welcome a competitor offering universal free power,' Tom added. 'I think if Karman were ever to get hold of your Biopac, it would end up hidden away for good to stop anyone else using it.'

'That thought had not occurred to me,' Jay said. 'In which case, I don't appear to have much in the way of options for producing the Biopac.'

'I don't want to cast aspersions on what you've described,' Liam said, 'but I would be a lot happier if I could see some proof to back up your claims. I would like to take a look inside that metal box of yours.'

'I don't think that would be appropriate,' Jay said.

'I'm afraid we must insist,' Tom said. 'Until we can establish that whatever is inside that box is not posing any danger, we are not prepared to go any further.'

'I still think it would be inappropriate,' Jay said. 'Only Entity can decide to open the box.'

'I am responsible for the safety of this planet and its inhabitants,' Liam said. 'Unless we can assess what is inside the box, we will have to bring in heavy duty cutting machinery, of which there is an abundance on this planet, to open it up, and if we don't like what we find, we'll take this container and drop it and its contents down a thousand metre mine shaft.'

Jay remained silent.

'It's your choice,' Tom said. 'We're willing to help you, but if you don't cooperate with us, we'll be forced to hand you over to the authorities on Xanthos as an illegal immigrant, and you can argue your case with the judiciary there.'

Jay was upset. 'There is no need to threaten me; I only wish to help other people.' He thought for a moment and sighed. 'Very well, I will contact Entity and ask it to open the box. Please come with me.'

Jay led them into the container and slowly approached the box on the wall. He put out his hands, laid them onto the box and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he stepped back, and they all watched as the box appeared to change shape to expose a join in the metal, which slowly opened, revealing a honey-coloured glow in its interior.

Jay motioned them to come closer. They looked into the box to see two brown receptacles, one larger than the other.

'The smaller receptacle is the Biopac, and the other is Entity,' Jay explained. 'You may touch them if you wish.'

Liam deferred, but Tom was intensely curious and tentatively felt all around the receptacles. They were hard, like metal, but warm to the touch.

'What are these things made of?' he asked.

'Both constructions consist of biomass. This particular biomass reacts to strain and adjusts its density accordingly. It is incredibly strong, much stronger than steel. Are you now satisfied?'

Tom stood back. 'I guess so.'

'I accept that these items don't appear to pose any threat,' Liam said. 'Okay, you have assuaged my fears. Let's go next door and try to work out where we can go from here.'

Liam led them back into the caravan.

'Am I correct in thinking that you are considering handing me over to the authorities?' Jay asked.

'It's my job to uphold the law on this planet,' Liam said. 'However, there are no laws that specifically apply to someone who has emerged from the floor of a container after thousands of years. I'm also not totally convinced that handing you over to the authorities would be in your best interest; I suspect you would become tangled in the legal system and never be heard from again. Have you any ideas about what you want to do in the immediate future?'

'I assume that most of my work would have been lost when my space station was damaged, but I was running some experiments at the time and would like to find the station and make sure that those experiments have all been safely shut down. The radio signal you mentioned was transmitted by the station to keep in touch with the detached container, so that would indicate that they had been travelling in close proximity. What remains of the station must still be around.'

'After the thousands of years it has been lost, surely nothing could have remained functional in your station,' Tom said.

'It remains a possibility,' Jay said. 'Entity survived all that time in the container you have here, and it's only a small part of the organism. The major part is still in the station, and I need to find it again.'

'I'm sorry to have to inform you that we have neither the facilities nor funding to carry out such a search,' Liam said. 'I don't think we will be able to help you in that respect.'

Jay sadly shook his head. 'On Earth I was wealthy enough to pay for my own space station and my own search; now I have nothing.'

'We're still no closer to working out where we're going in the future,' Liam said. 'Are you okay to stay here for another night?'

Jay looked around the caravan. 'You have made me very comfortable here, for which I am very grateful. I am in no rush to go anywhere; I think we all could do with some time to consider our options.'

The next day, Tom called into the caravan to check on Jay. 'Are you certain I can't get you anything,' he said. 'You must be getting bored stiff with nothing to do.'

'My needs are few,' Jay said. 'I am happy resting and have no desire to be entertained. I'm taking everything slowly and appreciate the fact that I cannot be seen in public.'

Tom handed Jay some packs of energy rations. 'Can I persuade you to eat something? Mia is concerned that you might starve.'

Jay laughed. 'Mia is a very caring person. Please convey to her my appreciation for her concern, but I first need to rehydrate the organs inside my body before I can take solids.'

'I'll call in at regular intervals,' Tom said. 'Just tell me if there's anything you need.'

'The only thing I need is to be reunited with my space station,' Jay said. 'That would make me very happy.'

It was Tom's turn to laugh. 'I'll bear that in mind, but don't hold your breath.'

While Tom was making his way back to the administrative building, the problems associated with admitting Jay into their closed society lay heavily on his mind, and as he entered the building, Liam opened his office door and motioned him inside.

'What's happened?' Tom asked.

'You're not going to believe this,' Liam said. 'I just received a message from the Control Centre. On its return journey to Xanthos, the Paragon picked up another of those peculiar radio signals and found the remains of a space station. The Transport Department has ordered the space station to be brought to Cornell and put into quarantine on one of the orbiting docks until the Department can send an inspector to examine it.'

Tom was surprised. 'It has to be the station the container belonged to.'

'It sounds like it, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow,' Liam said. 'The Paragon is on its way back and due to dock at mid-day.'

'I'd like to examine it when it arrives.'

'I don't want you to get involved,' Liam said. 'Whenever the Transport Department rears its ugly head, things tend to get messy.'

'I'm already involved, and I assume Jay will definitely want to visit it,' Tom pointed out.

'It looks like there'll soon be an inspector heading this way, and Jay must continue to stay out of sight until this blows over. If the Transport Department inspector finds he's here, and we haven't informed anyone about him, we'll both lose our jobs for certain.'

'We need to include Jay in our plans,' Tom said. 'If this turns out to be his space station, he would still appear to be its rightful owner and will no doubt want to check it out. Before the inspector gets here, we must find a way to reach the station without attracting attention.'

'I can't allow Jay to set foot outside the caravan,' Liam said. 'He's tall, pale-skinned and bald, and in a small society like ours, he'll stick out like a sore thumb. I'm still not convinced we're getting the whole story from him; do you believe everything he's told us so far?'

'I do,' Tom affirmed. 'After just witnessing the development of a human body out of a container floor, what's not to believe?'

'What do you expect to achieve by taking Jay to visit the space station?'

'I've no idea,' Tom said. 'All I know is that the space station is an integral part of what we've become involved in, and the inspector has the authority to force us to destroy it if they find anything they don't like. We don't want any more surprises, so I definitely think we need to be the first people inside.'

Liam took a deep breath. 'I don't like saying this to a friend, but what you're asking for is not going to happen - unless you can convince me that the risk is worth taking. At best, I would only allow you to visit the station on your own; Jay is going to have to stay behind, out of sight.'

'Let me talk to Jay and find out more about what's inside the station. If he can't convince me that it's worthwhile, I'll forget it.'

'It sounds like a plan. Keep me informed,' Liam said.

Tom relayed the news about the discovery of the space station to Jay, and for the first time, witnessed signs of emotion.

'I don't believe it,' Jay said excitedly. 'This is terrific news. When can we see it?'

'The Paragon isn't due to dock until tomorrow,' Tom said. 'An inspector from the Transport Department will soon be here from Xanthos, and we won't be able to access the station until it has been cleared.'

Jay was alarmed. 'What's the inspector going to do?'

'The Transport Department has absolute control in these matters, and the inspector's remit is to ensure safety above all else. If the inspector finds anything remotely dangerous, they have the authority to destroy the whole space station if necessary. Make no mistake; their word is law, and if we go against it, we'll be jeopardising our own operations, not to mention our jobs.'

Jay was exasperated. 'I built that station and it's my property. I demand to see it.'

'First of all, let me remind you that you don't officially exist, and you are certainly not in a position to demand anything,' Tom said. 'If you want to go in before the inspector, you'll need to convince Liam that the visit will be worth the risk we'll be taking. What's inside that station that's so important to you?'

'As I explained, I have to make sure that the experiments I'd been working on have been deactivated. I also need to check on Entity. Its main body is in the station, and if the station was emitting a signal, it sounds like it's still active.'

'Liam has ruled that for the time being you will not be allowed outside this caravan,' Tom said. 'Nobody on Cornell, apart from the three of us, is aware of your presence, and Liam's already put his job on the line by failing to declare your presence here. He can't risk you being discovered. I hope you can appreciate his concern.'

'I can't have spent thousands of years travelling here only to witness my station being destroyed by a government agency. Surely there is something we can do.'

'I'm willing to help you, but you must be realistic and respect Liam's decisions,' Tom said. 'Have a good think about what you're asking for; we'll discuss it with Liam first thing in the morning.'

Liam, Tom and Jay sat out of sight in the caravan inside the cargo bay the next morning.

'I need to understand why you are so determined to visit the space station,' Liam said.

'There were multiple experiments running when the station was damaged,' Jay explained. 'I think I should make sure that the ship is a safe environment before the inspector enters it. If anything is considered unsafe, I understand that that it could be destroyed, which would undo my many years of experiments and discoveries.'

Liam turned to Tom. 'What do you think?'

'I don't think we can justify sticking our necks out purely to check on the state of some old experiments,' Tom said. 'However, we have to careful. We don't want the inspector's visit to reveal something we don't know about; for our own protection, I think we must search the station before he does.'

'I can't argue against that,' Liam said, 'but why can't you go on your own and leave Jay here? That would remove the risk of him being discovered.'

Jay shook his head. 'I need to contact Entity, and that is something only I can do. Entity would not be able to identify Tom and might even try to destroy him if it considers him to be a threat.'

'Are you telling me that our version of Entity could destroy us?' Liam asked.

Jay shook his head. 'No. Our version of Entity is tuned into my mind and recognises you as friends, just as I do.'

Liam shrugged. 'So far, all you have done is convince me that visiting the space station could be dangerous. I'm ruling out any contact with the station until the inspector has carried out his inspection and ruled it safe.'

Jay grew agitated. 'Entity is everything I have worked for; it is the culmination of all my experiments, and I desperately need to make contact with it.'

'You already have Entity in the container next door,' Tom said. 'Why do you need to contact another one?'

Jay hesitated, before saying, 'I apologise in advance for what I am about to tell you. I exaggerated when I said that the experiments I had been running posed a problem; they do not. I am only concerned about contacting Entity. The Entity next door is a small portion of the original main body and, in anticipation of a visit to Earth, was stored inside the container along with the Biopac. As a result, it has not been updated for thousands of years. The Entity on the space station is in a different category altogether; during my experiments, it developed into an immensely powerful independent life form with almost unlimited capabilities. If I can contact it, I will be able to update the Entity next door to the same standard, but if I don't do that, the results of years of experimentation could be lost. I am begging you to allow me to visit the station, and I promise you that all I will do is access Entity.'

'What does this update entail?' Tom asked.

'I am carrying Entity inside me,' Jay said. 'By contacting the main body of Entity, I will update my own version and then transfer it back here into the container. That way, I will have a fully developed backup to work with if the station is destroyed.'

Liam and Tom looked at each other.

'What's your take on this Entity business?' Liam asked.

'I think Jay has made a good case for backing up his life's work,' Tom said. 'My main concern is finding that the main body of Entity could cause me harm.'

'The two versions of Entity are light years apart in terms of their development,' Jay said. 'If I can contact Entity in the space station, it will read my mind and become aware of everything that has happened to me since my arrival here. That will include the fact that you are my friends, and after that, you will not be in any danger.'

'Why didn't you explain all this at the beginning?' Liam asked.

'Because I did not think you would believe me, especially the bit about me carrying Entity,' Jay said. 'You have not yet experienced Entity's power, but it has the capability to affect the future of humankind and must be protected from harm. Before we go any further, I have a question for you – has anyone yet entered the space station?'

'I think the crew from the Paragon tried to enter the space station before they took it on board,' Tom said, 'but they apparently were unable to gain access. To my knowledge, nobody here has been near it since it arrived. Why do you ask?'

'The space station entrance into the airlock is protected by a palm detection device,' Jay said. 'I am the only person who can unlock the door, and it is the only entrance.'

Liam frowned. 'Once again, it would have helped if you had told us that earlier; there would be no point in visiting the station if we couldn't get inside. Jay, I can't pretend that I'm overjoyed allowing you to leave these premises, but with Tom's agreement, and under his supervision, you may go together. The Paragon is due to arrive at mid-day, and once the space station has been offloaded, it'll remain here until the Transport Department clears it to leave. The Department's inspector is expected to arrive on the weekly shuttle the day after tomorrow, which will leave you one day to access the station.' He turned to Tom. 'Tell me how you intend to go about this visit of yours.'

'Regarding the quarantine, the conditions inside the space station should be exactly the same as in the container. Jay can vouch for the fact that there is no organic content inside the station and that it will be sterile, so I don't think there's a real risk of contamination, although I will obviously take test samples from the structure. My main problem is working out how to get Jay onto the shuttle up to the docking station without drawing attention to him.'

Liam thought about it. 'Why don't we pass Jay off as a new caretaker? If you take him along as your assistant, nobody will take much notice of him, and I'll issue you with permission to access the station on the pretext of taking samples for testing. You could wear protection suits and carry masks to look genuine.'

'We'll need to show passes to gain access to the shuttle and the docking station,' Tom said.

'I can issue Jay with a security pass if you provide me with his photo.' Liam started making notes on his communicator. 'I'll allocate him an expired identity, and I'll also give you a permit to take quarantine samples from the space station. It probably won't be acceptable to the Transport Department, but it should satisfy anyone else who takes an interest in your activities. If the Paragon docks on time today, I suggest that you plan to take the morning shuttle up to the docks and spend the day there.'

Jay nodded. 'I'm extremely grateful for your help. I hope one day to be in a position to repay you.'

'Don't worry about that,' Liam said. 'Just get yourselves to the dock and back without anyone noticing. In the meantime, I'll simply look the other way.'

Tom and Jay were wearing protective clothing and carrying bags containing sampling kits as they walked through individual docks, high above the planet, trying to establish where the space station had been stored. On the way, Tom acknowledged a few people he knew, but nobody questioned their presence or asked to see the permit Liam had issued to them. They eventually found the correct dock, and Tom checked the inside atmospheric pressure before removing the quarantine notice and tapes on the airlock, taking care all the while to act confidently as though he was engaged in official business. Once inside the dock, they closed the airlock behind them and looked around the large, pressurised dome. The space station occupied less than half the dock, and they were confronted by a tangle of wreckage that looked as if it was held together by thick strands of an unfamiliar brown substance. Where parts of the original structure were visible, they were coated in the same yellow finish as the container.

'Can you confirm that this is your space station?' Tom asked.

'Beyond all doubt, this is the one,' Jay said. 'As far as I am aware, nobody else has ever used a Tectile coating in space.'

Tom tapped one of the structures. 'This doesn't sound like metal; what's it made of?'

'To make the structure as light as possible, the exterior of the station has been constructed from semi-organic, laminated fibre,' Jay said.

'I take it that this brown substance has been added as an attempted repair. It doesn't look very strong.'

'The substance used is another form of biomass,' Jay said. 'It bonds with both laminated fibre and Tectile to create an extremely tough structure. This wasn't present when the container separated, so I can only assume that after the collision, Entity must have generated and distributed biomass throughout the vessel to repair any damage. The work may not look pretty, but it clearly does the job.'

Jay led Tom to an entrance door and pointed to a broken panel next to the door. 'It looks like somebody has already tried to break in.'

'That was probably done by the Paragon crew,' Tom said.

'They were wasting their time,' Jay said. 'The lock mechanism is on the other side of the door. He reached out and placed his hand on a door sign and the door swung open. 'It's nice to find that it still recognises me,' he commented.

Tom followed Jay through the airlock into the station. Inside, the station had fresh air, light and heat, but as in the container, there was no indication how any of those activities had been achieved. The two men went through several rooms inside the station and found them strewn with the smashed and broken debris of experiments that Jay had been working on. As they passed through the control room, Jay pointed to another metal box attached to the wall, larger than the one in the container. 'Inside this box is the heart of Entity, and it looks like it has kept the station running throughout its voyage.'

Ignoring the debris on the floor, Jay continued the search, moving room by room, until they reached a large door. It was jammed, but Tom found a metal bar amongst the wreckage and levered it open. They entered what looked like a workroom where, lying on a slab of brown biomass with its eyes open, staring at the ceiling, was a perfect replica of Jay's body. Tom recoiled when he saw it.

Jay put his hand on Tom's arm. 'Do not be concerned. This is the result of my ultimate experiment; Entity was eventually able to reproduce a human form, my form. This is as far as I got with the experiment before the station was hit by debris.'

'Why didn't the body decay and be absorbed like yours?' Tom asked.

'That was because the cells inside the body were not activated; activation is the final stage necessary to convert biomass into human flesh and bone. This body is pure advanced biomass waiting to be brought to life – human life.'

'Is that the same process Entity used to bring you back out of the container floor?'

'Yes. When Entity elected to recreate me, it used exactly the same technique to produce the body you are looking at here.'

'After your body was physically completed, how did it develop a functioning human mind?'

'I was still alive when I was absorbed by Entity, and its artificial intelligence stored both my physical and mental attributes,' Jay explained. 'After I was brought to life in the container, all I needed to do was contact Entity by touching the box it was stored in and let Entity give me back my mind, which had remained dormant in its possession throughout the journey here.'

'I'm not sure I understand,' Tom said. 'Does this mean that you are immortal?'

'No. I am the same as any other human,' Jay said. 'Although the biomass I was created from constantly repairs itself as it ages, I'm afraid that feature does not extend to the human flesh and bone it was converted into.'

'This biomass stuff sounds like the ideal substance to work with; does it have any drawbacks?'

'There's only one problem. It is not fully fireproof, and when it reaches a critical high temperature, it flares up and releases enormous amounts of heat.'

Tom looked around the battered station surrounding him. 'So this whole place could turn incandescent if it catches fire.'

'It would be very difficult to subject the entire structure to such extreme temperatures, but it could happen.'

Tom shook his head. 'I still can't take all this in; I'm beginning to wonder if you should have stuck with the free electricity. What are you going to do now you've seen the state of the station?'

'For me, the main purpose of this visit is to ensure that Entity is still active and capable of carrying out the reproduction process. I must contact Entity before we leave.'

'If the inspector discovers your duplicate body lying on that slab, they'll probably have a fit and try to have the station destroyed,' Tom pointed out. 'The slightest whiff of what might be considered an alternative life form will ensure that.'

'In that case, we must move the body and Entity to a safe place.'

'We would need a crane to shift that heavy metal box, and there's no way we could do that without drawing attention to ourselves.'

'Then let's find somewhere we can hide the body. We'll have to leave the box as it is and hope that the inspector overlooks it. In any event, they will be unable to open it.'

Tom and Jay searched the station, but could only find one cupboard big enough to accommodate the body, which being rigid, like a mannequin, took up a large amount of room. They removed a shelf to allow the replica body to stand upright, and then wedged the door shut.

'It's not very good, but that's about all we can do,' Tom said. 'Before we leave, I need to look at the control room.'

Tom carried out a full inspection of the station's control systems, finding to his surprise that the antiquated power units appeared to be still usable, but he still had reservations about the biomass bonding that was holding the station together and considered it unsafe to operate in its current condition. He again expressed his concerns to Jay.

'I can vouch for the strength of those repairs,' Jay said. 'The biomass is as strong as any metal you care to name, and those repairs have already lasted for over two thousand years. If you don't mind, I have one last thing to do and that is to say hello to Entity.'

Tom left Jay holding onto the box casing and started taking swabs from various parts of the structure. After he had finished with the exterior, Jay re-joined him.

'Thank you for bringing me here,' Jay said. 'I know you have taken risks on my behalf, but I feel back in touch with life again.'

'I presume Entity is still up to scratch,' Tom said, jokingly.

'It was like greeting an old friend,' Jay said, starting to pull the door closed.

Tom stopped him. 'We must leave the door open for the inspector to gain access; whoever it is won't be able to operate the palm switch.'

'Good thinking,' Jay said. 'We want to make their task as straightforward as possible.'

Max lay in bed next to Ricci, staring at the ceiling.

'I take it all that nonsense about punishing Mia has gone away,' Ricci said.

'Of course,' Max said. 'Win a few; lose a few. Who cares anyway? I'm bored. Got any good rumours?'

'I thought you weren't interested in rumours any more,' Ricci said.

'That container turned out to be a dud,' Max said. 'What's going on with the space station that's arrived?'

'Someone from Xanthos is coming to inspect it. From what I've overheard, the thing is a wreck.'

Max sighed. 'Then tell me something new.'

Ricci hesitated, before saying, 'Something's happened, but I shouldn't talk about it.'

Max was immediately interested. 'Come on; I need something to cheer me up.'

'Okay, I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to do anything stupid, like you did with Mia.'

'I promise,' Max said. 'So what is it?'

'A man has appeared.'

'Don't tell me you've got another boyfriend?'

'Give me a break,' Ricci said. 'One's enough. This man is something to do with the container.'

'You've got me interested again. What's so special about this man?'

'One day, I walked into Liam's office and found that Tom guy connecting up a monitor in Liam's office, and when I asked him what he was doing, he just flicked me off and wouldn't talk about it. The next day, while Liam was out, I went back and switched the monitor on.'

'What did you see?' Max asked.

'Nothing – all it showed was an empty room.'

'Is that all?'

'No. The next day, I tried again and saw a recording where Liam and Tom were talking to a weird-looking man.'

'Who was it?'

'I'd never set eyes on him before, but he was tall and very pale, with blue eyes and no hair.'

'What were they talking about?'

'I don't know; most of it sounded like gibberish to me. They kept talking about something called "bio", which I've never heard of.'

'Has this man ever been in Liam's office?'

'I've never seen him.'

'So what makes you think he's linked to the container?'

'All this secret stuff with the monitor started after the container arrived. Liam's stopped speaking to me and spends a lot of time out of the office with Tom, so there must be a reason for that. Something is going on that Liam is keeping to himself.'

'This could be serious. Where did this person come from?'

'He simply appeared from nowhere.'

'Can we trace him?' Max asked.

Ricci thought about it. 'If he's on site, he'll be carrying a security pass with his photo on it. Liam authorises the passes and I issue them.'

'Would you be able to recognise him from the photo?'

'Absolutely. He'll stand out in a crowd, and I know for a fact that I've never issued him with a pass.'

'So how did he get onto the base without a pass?'

'He couldn't, unless he was a government worker – they have their own passes,' Ricci said. 'I'll go through the records and see if I can track this man down. I'm determined to find out what those two are doing.'

'Just make sure that you let me know if you find anything,' Max said.

##### Chapter Six

After arriving on Cornell, Dan Govan, an inspector from the Xanthos government Transport Department, made his way to the Station Manager's office where he met Liam.

'To what do we owe this pleasure?' Liam asked expansively, gesturing to a chair opposite his desk.

'I assumed that you had been advised of my visit,' Dan said. 'You have a space station in quarantine that I am here to inspect.'

'That'll be the one up on Skydock. There's no need to worry, Tom Tyler, my Chief Engineer, has already checked it out and given it the all clear.'

'What are you talking about?' Dan said. 'That station is supposed to be in quarantine.'

'Then I think you should talk to Tom. I'll get him over to fill you in on his inspection. Would you like a coffee while you wait?'

Five minutes later, Tom turned up and joined the meeting.

Dan was not amused. 'By entering that space station you broke an international quarantine regulation,' he said. 'What were you playing at?'

'In order to facilitate your inspection and ensure your safety, I decided to check the space station for structural integrity and contamination, and I can confirm that there is no credible risk from either,' Tom said. He handed Dan the analyser readings. 'These readings show that the station is clear of contamination inside and out. I wasn't too concerned because I knew that the readings would be exactly the same as the ones we took from the container that came with it.'

'To what container are you referring?' Dan asked.

'A transporter picked up an object that was posing a collision risk in the main transit lane between Cornell and Xanthos and brought it here,' Tom explained. 'It looks like some kind of container, but we can't be sure exactly what functions it carried out. However, there's strong evidence that at some time, the container must have been part of the space station. Calculations show that it had arrived on a trajectory from Earth after an estimated two thousand five hundred year journey. We speculated that during the journey, the station must have impacted space debris, causing the container to break loose and continue to travel all the way here in close proximity to the station.'

'What makes you so sure that the two items were once connected?' Dan asked.

'When I first saw the station, I knew the container had once been part of it because the station's main structure was coated in the same distinctive yellow paint.'

'Did you just say yellow paint?' Dan queried. 'If you don't mind me saying, that sounds ridiculous. As far as I am concerned, your speculation is invalid; my inspections can only be evidence-based. Why didn't you report the arrival of the container to the Transport Department? There are clear procedures for the reporting of foreign and unclaimed objects.'

Liam interjected, 'The Paragon, the transporter involved, brought the container down for disposal, and its crew carried out standard safety checks which were all okay. We just treated it as junk waiting to be broken up and scrapped.'

Dan tutted. 'How could the station and container have possibly survived a two thousand five hundred year journey?' he asked.

'It's probably best if you take a look for yourself,' Tom said. 'Come with me and, if you're in agreement, you can start your inspection with the container.'

After Tom and Dan had left the office to go the cargo bay housing the container, Liam sat back and smiled; pleased that he and Tom had detached the caravan that morning and moved it and Jay into the adjoining Cargo Bay Three.

Dan carefully examined the container. 'I take back what I said about the yellow paint, but this container is in pristine condition, and I simply cannot accept that it has just completed the epic voyage you described. You must be mistaken.'

'The crew that discovered the container backtracked its course and speed and estimated that it had followed the first caravans that opened up this sector, which would correspond with that time scale,' Tom said. 'Apart from the area around what looks like its attachment point, the container appears to have come away from its separation quite lightly. However, the space station itself has been badly damaged by the debris and is in very poor condition, as you will see for yourself. I can arrange transport up to Skydock where it's being held.'

'I'll record and document the container before inspecting the station tomorrow,' Dan said, pulling his test equipment from his bag

'If you like, I can accompany you on your visit to the station,' Tom offered.

'That won't be necessary,' Dan said. 'I prefer to carry out such inspections on my own.'

'Fair enough. I'll book a seat for you on the morning shuttle; it leaves at eight. Until then, I trust you have been shown your quarters; can you find your way to them?'

'It's not a problem,' Dan said. 'I've got the base map on my communicator.'

Tom walked down to Cargo Bay Three and caught up with Jay inside the caravan, where he updated him on the inspector's intentions.

'What do you think will happen to the space station after the inspection has been completed?' Jay asked.

'We've both been through the station, so let's hope Dan comes back empty-handed,' Tom said. 'He won't be able to access the box containing Entity, so assuming that he doesn't pick up on your replica body, my guess is that he will submit a report to the Transport Department, which will probably not want to waste any more time or money on an ancient space station that is essentially a write-off. I think it likely that the Department will condemn it and recommend that the station is decommissioned and scrapped on Cornell, but whatever happens to it, you have at least been able to back up Entity.'

'That is a great comfort,' Jay said. 'However, I have a proposition for you. I've waited thousands of years to be reunited with my own space station, and I don't want to walk away now it's within my reach. Why don't you allow me to take back my station and depart this planet?'

'I don't have the authority to make that decision. In any case, we're fully committed to allow Dan to complete his inspection. What happens after that will be dependent upon his findings. In the meantime, I'll pass on your concerns to Liam, but I must stress that whatever the inspector recommends, there's very little we can do about it.'

'I'd like to help the man,' Liam said, when Tom broached Jay's request to take the space station and flee the planet, 'but my major concern is satisfying the demands of the Transport Department. Anyway, from what you just told me, it sounds like the station could be a moving death-trap.'

'You have to admit, though, that Jay's departure, along with the space station, would solve all our problems,' Tom said.

'That's true. I'm not averse to accepting the idea, but I can't become involved. However, if Govan clears the station after his inspection, you may make the necessary arrangements, and I'll look the other way again. I presume that everything was in order when you carried out your own inspection of the station.'

'I don't think the inspector will find anything worthwhile,' Tom said, gambling that whoever did the inspection would not discover Jay's replica body, and Liam would be none the wiser.

After the administrative building had emptied in the evening, Ricci started to look through the images of pass-holders that she had issued over the years. Leaving aside the government employees and part-time contractors, there were over five thousand active identification cards in circulation and after an hour had passed, her eyes were watering and she was having difficulty focussing on her screen. She decided to move to a shorter list and was flicking through it when she saw the face of the man she was seeking suddenly flash up on the screen. She checked the file and found that according to its data, the man was called Jair Thomas, and he had left the planet over a year earlier. Ricci could vaguely remember the person's name and cancelling his pass, but the name and pass now appeared to have been allocated to the mystery man. The only other person with access to the security pass files was Liam, so he must have re-issued the pass to another person.

Ricci stood up and walked slowly round the room, deep in thought. She tried to work out what Liam could have got involved in that was causing him to do unusual things behind her back. He obviously didn't trust her, and that was probably because of her relationship with Max, who she knew would be delighted to find out that Liam was up to something potentially illegal. She started to worry, aware that she was about to step into an unknown situation. If she told Max and he released the information, which he almost certainly would, Liam would immediately presume that she had passed it on. She considered her options. Max was already aware of the presence of the strange man and was unlikely to let it go. There was no love lost between her and Liam, but Max could never be relied on. She was faced with a difficult decision – Max or Liam.

The next morning on Skydock, Dan Govan removed the quarantine seals from an airlock door and stepped inside one of the maintenance docks. He was confused and concerned and had spent a restless night trying to figure out what the container he had just examined was supposed to be and why it had ended up on Cornell, without arriving at any conclusions. He closed the door behind him and looked around the dock. At first, he thought he was looking at a twister, an accumulation of space debris pulled together by its mass to form a large, jagged cluster that posed a significant hazard to space vehicles, but he then started to make out some distinctive parts of a structure that were coloured with the same yellow paint as the container. He walked closer and then pulled a camera from his bag and started recording the station's external condition. The station was in poor condition and appeared to be held together with what looked like brown straps made from a substance he could not identify. Its state caused him to pause before going further, and then he remembered that Tom had already been through the station and would have informed him if the interior contained anything hazardous.

The door into the station was ajar, and next to it on the fuselage, was a broken panel. Dan carefully examined the damage and concluded that somebody had previously tried to break into the space station, obviously without success because the panel was nowhere near the lock mechanism, which was fitted with a palm contact plate. That caused him to pause for thought. Assuming that the door had been closed and locked during its voyage, which appeared to have been confirmed by the attempt to break the lock, he queried how Tom had managed to bypass the palm lock and open the door when he carried out his inspection. He made a mental note to ask Tom about that when he next saw him. Entering the station, Dan carefully made his way through rooms strewn with broken fittings and smashed utensils. In particular, inside what he assumed was the control room, a large, box-like structure caught his attention. It was made of some kind of heavy metal and looked as if it formed part of the station's structure, yet it had no visible means of access. It was similar to a smaller structure he had seen the previous day inside the container, but neither box appeared to have a function. He continued his journey through the rest of the station, taking photos as he went. After reaching the last room to be searched, he noticed a tall cupboard with a door that had been wedged shut. A metal bar lay on the floor nearby, and using the bar, he managed to lever open the door, only to jump back in shock as a large, white body toppled face first from the cupboard and crashed on the floor at his feet. Dan was startled to find himself looking down at the body of a naked man. Trying to collect his wits, he bent down and touched the body, looking for signs of life. Although the body was warm to the touch and had no visible wounds, the man had no pulse and was definitely dead. His flesh was pliable, but his body was rigid, like a mannequin. Dan thought that the rigidity in the body could be caused by rigor mortis, meaning that he would have died within the last three days, in which case why was his body so warm and lifelike.

Dan was unable to ascertain how the man had died, so he took multiple photos of the body from various angles before returning to the control room, where he managed to find an undamaged chair to sit on and took out his communicator. Still thoroughly confused by his recent discovery, he transmitted a message back to the Transport Department on Xanthos stating that he had found something of specific interest and requesting a team attend to carry out a forensic examination of the station. He then decided to support his request with photos, but while he was selecting the most revealing images on his camera, something else in the room caught his attention. The large metal box that he had observed earlier appeared to have developed a black line across its front panel. Curious, he left his camera and communicator on the console and carefully approached the box, trying to work out what had changed. On closer inspection, he discovered that the top of the box was actually a lid that appeared to have lifted, and the black line was a gap in the box front. As he stared at it, wondering what had caused the change, the box lid slowly opened further, widening the gap. He stood, motionless, while he tried to work out how the lid was being controlled and whether he was in any danger. The lid maintained its position, and finally, overcome with curiosity, Dan stepped closer. He bent down, and while he was squinting into the gap, trying to ascertain what was inside the box, an amber glow slowly lit up its interior. He froze again, uncertain whether to continue or move away, but he got the impression that somehow the box was actually inviting him to look inside it. The gap was not quite big enough for him to see through, so he reached out to pull the lid open, only to receive a powerful electric shock that travelled up his arms and into his body, instantly propelling him backwards and leaving him lying, lifeless, on the floor.

A few moments later, the silence of the room was interrupted by a chime and a light illuminated on Dan's communicator as the Transport Department replied to his message. It was the first of many calls that were to remain unanswered.

The next day Liam called Tom to his office. 'We've just had a communication from the Transport Department complaining that they've been trying to contact Dan Govan, and he isn't responding to their calls,' he said. 'When did you last see him?'

Tom had a horrible, sinking feeling. 'I booked him on yesterday's morning shuttle to Skydock so he could spend the day looking at the space station. I haven't heard from him since.'

'Ricci's been checking around, and he didn't spend last night in his hotel room. It sounds like something has happened to him.'

Just then, Ricci popped her head round the door. 'Dan wasn't on the mid-day or the evening shuttle back from Skydock yesterday,' she said. 'The shuttle lounge hasn't set eyes on him since he went up in the morning.'

'Thanks for that,' Liam called as she disappeared back into her office.

'I've got to get up there and find out what's happened,' Tom said. 'I'll take Jay with me.'

'I'd rather you didn't involve Jay,' Liam said. 'My instincts are telling me that Dan may have come to harm.'

'Jay knows the space station inside out,' Tom said. 'I'll be relying on his experience if we need to carry out a full search.'

'In which case, I'll authorise a priority shuttle for you,' Liam said. 'It should be ready by the time you both reach the gate. I only hope that nothing serious has taken place.'

'We'll soon find out,' Tom said, racing from the room.

Upon arriving at the dock where the space station was housed, the first thing to cause Tom concern was finding that the quarantine tape was missing from the dock door and had been left neatly coiled on the corridor floor outside.

'I'm sure the inspector would have re-sealed the airlock door after he'd left,' Jay said. 'It looks like he's still in there.'

'It couldn't have taken him a whole day and night to complete his examination,' Tom said. 'Something is wrong.' He followed Jay across the dock and into the space station, where they checked each room they passed through until they reached the control room. Tom entered the room first where, to his horror, he found what was left of Dan's body being absorbed into the floor. Jay followed Tom into the room, and the two men stared down, shocked, at the remains of Dan's body.

'This is terrible,' Jay eventually said. 'What could have caused this?'

'The poor man could have had a heart attack or something, but coincidentally he is lying next to the box containing Entity,' Tom said. 'I once cut into the container floor and know from experience what kind of a shock that thing can give. I think Entity must be in some way responsible for this man's death, and now it's absorbing him. Were you involved in any way?'

Jay was mortified by Tom's insinuation. 'This has come as a complete surprise to me, but I think you must be right - Entity had to have been involved in this incident. I can only surmise that the investigator was trying to break into its box and, unable to recognise him, it acted in its own defence. I had no idea this would happen.'

'On our last visit, you made contact with Entity before we left. Did you arrange for it to kill the inspector?'

'I swear I had nothing to do with this disaster,' Jay said, 'but if the inspector had made contact with the box, Entity would have become aware of his intentions and acted accordingly. You must appreciate that Entity has the capability to act on its own. This death is a tragedy, but it was probably an act of self-defence by an intelligent and independent organism. Obviously, the destruction of my life's work would also have been a tragedy and Entity's action prevented that, but I have defied death once already and have learnt to be pragmatic about these things.'

Tom was not satisfied with Jay's explanation but knew he could not pursue the matter any further without evidence.

Jay pointed to the remains on the floor. 'What shall we do about Dan's body? Is it worth saving?'

'We can't leave him like this,' Tom said, at the same time anticipating what Liam's reaction would be if he was presented with a half-consumed body. He knew Liam was trying to help them without becoming directly involved, and salvaging the remains would be yet one more unnecessary burden for him to bear. 'Give me a hand,' he asked, leaning over the body.

Jay and Tom took an arm each and attempted to pull the body loose, but the floor refused to give up its grip.

'It's no use; it's stuck,' Tom said, standing back.

'It feels like it's attached to something underneath the floor,' Jay said. 'I think we're going to have to leave him here to be absorbed.'

'At least we tried,' Tom said. 'At some point I'm going to have to explain to Liam what's happened here, so I think it's going to be in everyone's' interest to allow Entity to finish its work and allow the body to quietly disappear. However, that means without the inspector's sign off, the station will not be allowed to leave the dock, and you'll have to abandon your plans to take it away.'

Jay was distraught. 'I'm begging you to let me leave the planet,' he pleaded. 'I must take Entity away from here. There will be a search for the missing inspector and they are bound to focus on this station and will want to find out what is inside that box. I cannot allow any other agency to take control of Entity because they would not be aware of its power and potential.'

'Finding Dan's body has been a game-changer,' Tom said. 'I can guess what Liam will say when he hears about him being swallowed by the floor in the space station, so I'm pretty sure he'll have far more important things on his mind than worrying about your request to leave the planet.'

'You, Liam and Mia have looked after me while I've been here; without your help I would never have been able to find Entity again. Let me leave, and I will give you the Biopac and instructions on its use. You should all benefit from what you have done for me, and if the Biopac was patented, it would be worth millions of dollars.'

'I won't accept a bribe,' Tom said.

'It's not a bribe; it's the only way I can thank you for allowing me to regenerate and for looking after me. Talk it over with the others, and don't worry about taking the Biopac, there is another one inside this box along with Entity, and it will power the station during my voyage. I need to leave as soon as possible before any more Transport Department personnel come here and start searching for their missing inspector.'

'What voyage are you thinking of?' Tom queried.

'There is only one place I can go to – Earth.'

'You can't possibly be serious about taking that wreck of a space station on another two and a half thousand year journey. What will you use for supplies?'

'I understand your concerns, but it is my only option,' Jay explained. 'After I have programmed the station, I will allow my body to be reabsorbed by Entity. Remember, a thousand years is only a blink of an eye once you have lost your physical form, and Entity will supply my energy requirements when I am recreated upon reaching Earth. After a five thousand year break, Earth should have recovered environmentally and be habitable again. If that proves to be the case, I will use Entity to help make it a safe place to inhabit. At the very least I will be able to supply it with free power.'

'I'm not sure you're in your right mind to attempt such a feat, but the Biopac will be safer with you,' Tom said. 'If Karman Mining finds out about your free power generator, the company will almost certainly make sure that it never sees the light of day again.'

'This could be a great opportunity for you,' Jay persisted. 'If you don't want to sell the patent, why don't you, Mia and Liam set up your own company? I'll give you all the information you'll need to create new machines; with your engineering background you would find it straightforward.'

Tom wavered. 'I'll think it over. However, even if you did leave the dock, you'd be tracked, and with such low-powered motors, you would soon be picked up again.'

'The Tectile coating on the station's exterior means that it is invisible to radar or any other electronic sensors,' Jay said. 'I would initially head out towards an Empty Sector and when clear of the docking area and out of visual range, I would turn for Earth and nobody, other than you, would know where I am going.'

Tom considered the situation. With the space station gone, there would be no incriminating evidence left, and only Jay could operate it. 'Okay, if you're serious, I'll talk to Liam about your request,' he said.

'I would very much appreciate that,' Jay said. He took a last look around the control room before leaving and noticed Dan's bag, along with his camera and communicator, lying on the control console. 'Are you going to leave those,' he asked.

'We'd better take them with us,' Tom said. He switched on Dan's camera and found the recordings he had made of the container, the exterior and interior of the space station and finally, numerous photos of Jay's replica body lying on the floor where it had fallen. He then picked up Dan's communicator and read through the last message he had sent requesting a search team be sent out to examine the space station. 'It looks like Dan found the replica body and asked for a team to be sent here to dig deeper. I'd better take this stuff and go through it with Liam.'

Finally, Tom used the camera to record the fate of the inspector, and the two of them left the station to finish off its grisly task while they returned to Cornell carrying the satchel containing Dan's belongings.

Liam stared in disbelief at the pictures of Dan's body showing on his camera. 'What the hell went on there?' he asked.

'I walked in and found him like that,' Tom said. 'I can only assume he got the electric shock treatment and died; there was nothing I could have done for him.'

'With only half a body, I'm not surprised,' Liam said. 'This has whole thing is turning into a disaster.'

'I'm sorry to say it gets worse.'

'What could be worse than seeing a half-eaten man trying to climb out of the floor?'

'There's another body on the space station.' Tom wound on the camera and showed Liam pictures of Jay's body lying on the floor.

'Don't tell me that Jay is dead!' Liam exclaimed.

Tom explained about the replica body Entity had produced that was made of biomass awaiting activation.

Liam sat down and put his head in his hands. Eventually he said, 'This is getting beyond a joke. We now have to report Dan missing, and that will mean another visit by the Department. In addition to all the other crap, we'll be expected to explain what happened to a Department inspector who went missing on a space station, and if all we can produce is a replica body, made from an unknown substance, of a man who officially doesn't exist, I think we're well and truly stuffed. What am I supposed to do? Why didn't you tell me about the spare body?'

'I apologise for that, but I was counting on the body remaining out of sight and didn't want to put an extra burden on you,' Tom said. 'There's also something else you need to see.'

'I don't think I can take any more. What now?'

Tom opened Dan's bag again and pulled out his communicator. He switched it on and replayed the last message where Dan requested the presence of a team to carry out a forensic inspection.

Liam groaned. 'Now we're going to get a bunch of inspectors yapping at our heels. Why can't we get a break? I presume that when Dan said he had found something of specific interest he was referring to the replica body.'

'It had to be; I saw no sign of anything else of note inside or outside the station.'

'I can just imagine what the inspection team would say if they discovered the replica body,' Liam said. '

'Let's hope it doesn't get to that stage,' Tom said, 'but if it does, we're going to have to bring Jay back into the game, which is going to open up a whole new can of worms. We have to be realistic: Jay is desperate to take the space station away, and I believe it's in all our interests to let him do so. So far, nobody but Mia and the two of us knows about his existence, so with him and the station out of the way, we won't have to explain to any future investigation about how and where he came from. He's a liability, and we're already compromised by not reporting his existence. If he takes the space station away with him, the replica body issue also goes away and we'll be able to say, with at least a grain of truth, that we think Dan was on the space station when it left.'

Liam sighed; it was all getting too much and they were in way over their heads. 'Okay, if that's going to be our only way out of this mess, we'll have to bite the bullet. I'm guessing that it won't be too long before a team arrives, so tell Jay he'd better get moving.'

'I'll see him straight away,' Tom said, retrieving the camera and communicator.

'Leave them with me,' Liam said. 'I've got a special hiding place for items like that.'

Tom put them both in Dan's bag and handed it to Liam. 'Let me guess – that'll be a thousand metre mineshaft.'

'You've no idea how useful those things can be,' Liam said.

Tom arrived back on Cornell on the mid-day shuttle after spending the night arranging Jay's successful departure from Skydock. He reported to Liam, who was waiting for him inside the caravan where Jay had been staying.

'Jay left at four this morning,' Tom said, forestalling Liam's first question. 'The motors took a bit of starting, but he finally made it.'

'Thank goodness for that,' Liam said. 'Did anyone notice you depressurising the dock and opening the doors?'

'There wasn't a soul around. Jay powered up and drifted out into the night, and I left the dock unpressurised with the seals still broken and lying where Dan had left them. I don't think anyone noticed when I returned on the mid-day shuttle.'

'Congratulations,' Liam said. 'Jay and his replica body and the space station are gone forever, and I can't tell you how relieved I am. I feel a whole lot more positive about facing up to the inspectors' impending visit.'

'As a parting gift, Jay has given us the Biopac generator,' Tom said. 'He's also left instructions how to operate and manufacture it. He said the patent alone could be worth millions of dollars.'

'That sounds interesting, but we don't have time for it right now,' Liam said. 'First, we have to try to clear up this mess with Dan. Have you any suggestions how we might get the team of inspectors off our backs?'

'I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Why don't we bring Mia into the picture? She already knows about Jay and might be able to offer another perspective.'

'Are you sure we would be doing the right thing by involving her? This could turn nasty if we can't produce a satisfactory explanation of Dan's disappearance.'

'When the container first turned up on the scene, Mia told me that it was a bad omen,' Tom said. 'It looks like she got it right, so it can't be a bad thing having a clairvoyant on our side.'

##### Chapter Seven

Mia listened patiently while Liam and Tom brought her up to date on the events leading to Jay's departure in the space station. She expressed surprise. 'So you are missing a space station and two persons of interest, one of whom is travelling with a replica body. How can I possibly help you with that?'

'We haven't yet confirmed Dan's disappearance, so when the team of inspectors arrives, the first thing they'll want to do is to meet him and find out why he hasn't been responding to their calls,' Liam said. 'Before that takes place, we must work out how to account for his whereabouts.'

'I presume you'll indicate that Dan departed on the space station,' Mia said.

'I think that has to be a given,' Liam said. 'Tom tells me that you have a good imagination, and I think we're going to need it in this particular case. Where do you think we should go from here?'

Mia gave it some thought. 'Do you intend to bring up Jay and the bio stuff?'

'Not if we can help it,' Liam said, 'especially as he is no longer on the scene.'

'Then I think that the neatest way forward would be to tell the inspectors that you believe Dan stole the space station,' Mia suggested. 'You could say you both noticed him acting strangely and suspected he could be suffering from some sort of mental breakdown.'

'No unauthorised person would attempt to take a space station that was stuck in quarantine,' Liam said.

'Actually, somebody just did,' Mia pointed out, 'so at a stretch, it could have been taken by Dan. If you are asked why he would do such a thing, you could reveal that Dan told you he thought it had been built by aliens, and he wanted to make contact with them.'

'There's no way Dan could have operated a space station,' Tom said. 'The inspectors won't go for that.'

'In this case, the inspectors are going to have to stretch their imaginations a bit,' Mia said. 'Unless they can come up with something better, I think there's a good chance they'll accept our explanation. Let's face it, without the presence of a body or a space station, or any other evidence, for that matter, what are their options?'

Liam shrugged. 'I can't think of any, so let's go with that story. There's a shuttle arriving today from Xanthos, but I doubt if the team will have been able get organised that quickly, so it looks like we'll have a clear week before the next shuttle arrives.'

'At least that will give us a few days grace to get our act together,' Tom said.

Just then, Liam's communicator sounded and he took the call on audio.

Ricci's high-pitched voice filled the room. 'I'm just informing you that a team of three inspectors has arrived on the shuttle and are asking to see inspector Govan. I've put them in the canteen until you're available.'

'Just when we thought we had a bit of time.' Tom looked anxiously at Mia.

'Damn it,' Liam said. 'We can't win a game, can we? We don't have time to work on another a plan, so we'll stick to Dan stealing the ship because of his mental problems. It's a long shot, but if we can satisfy them, they'll hopefully go away and not bother us again.'

An hour later, Liam and Tom met the new arrivals, two men and a woman, in Liam's office. One of the men introduced himself as Mario Lotha, the team leader; the other two were Vicky Davis and Doug Reynolds, both senior inspectors with the department.

After introductions, Mario asked after the whereabouts of their inspector.

'I'm afraid I have some bad news for you,' Liam said. 'Your inspector has gone missing.'

Mario was puzzled. 'What do you mean by "gone missing"?'

'We haven't seen him since he visited the space station on Skydock that he came to inspect.'

'How can anyone possibly go missing on a planet the size of Cornell?' Vicky questioned.

'After the inspector failed to turn up to report his findings, we went looking for him and discovered that the space station was also missing from the dock,' Liam explained. 'We can only assume that for some unknown reason, the inspector had taken it, although we've no idea why he would have wanted to do that.'

'We've conducted a thorough search of the whole site,' Tom added. 'Your man is definitely not on Cornell.'

'We lost contact with Dan some days ago,' Doug said. 'The last thing he reported was finding something of specific interest on the space station. Have you any idea what that might have been, or what he meant?'

'All we can tell you is that Dan had concerns about the space station because it had been damaged and been poorly repaired,' Tom explained. 'He suggested that if the station's motors could be started, we should dispose of it by sending it unmanned into the Empty Sector, and that is what we were preparing to do when we received a report that the dock was empty and the space station was missing. Its departure had not been observed, and it had not been picked up on the lane radar. As a result, we're not aware of its intended destination.'

The team looked confused.

'Why was the space station brought here in the first place?' Mario asked. 'What was special about it?'

'Nothing, really,' Liam said. 'It was just worthless space junk with no salvage value that was spotted by a departing transporter, the Paragon. Your Department directed the transporter to bring the station here to clear quarantine.'

'If it was junk, why would Dan want to take it?' Vicky asked.

'I didn't want to bring this up,' Liam said, 'but your inspector became obsessed about the thing, saying there were aliens on board the station. I think he'd become delusional.'

'Tell us more about this space station,' Doug said.

'Before Dan arrived, I inspected the station myself,' Tom said. 'It was over 2000 years old and falling to pieces. Part of it had already fallen off and arrived here separately after it was discovered and picked up in the transit lane, coincidentally by the same transporter that brought the space station here. It's in a nearby bay – would you like to see it?'

Tom led the team to the cargo bay to see the discarded container. 'The rest of the station was constructed just like this only bigger, with more compartments, and it had manoeuvring motors,' he explained. 'It was also in far worse condition.'

The team inspected the container exterior and then went inside, which was cold, dark and lifeless. A large metal box was the only object inside and its lid was fully open, displaying its empty interior.

'What was the purpose of this box?' Vicky asked.

'We haven't a clue,' Liam said, 'but your man insisted that it had contained an alien, about which we were very sceptical.'

The team looked all over the container and decided that it contained nothing of any relevance to their visit. They left with the others and walked back to Liam's office.

'Are you sure you didn't find anything unusual in the space station when you inspected it?' Doug asked. 'I say that because when an inspector refers to something of "specific interest", it's an internal code we use for something exceptional that needs immediate action. That's why we came here so quickly.'

'I can assure you that I searched every square centimetre of that station and saw nothing unusual, so I've no idea what Dan might have discovered,' Tom said. 'I volunteered to accompany him on his inspection, but he refused my offer, saying he preferred to work alone.'

The team members held a short discussion amongst themselves and agreed they needed to consider mounting a search for the missing space station.

'Was the station in a fit state to travel?' Mario asked.

'Its motors hadn't been operated for over 2000 years,' Tom said, 'but at least some of them must have been working in order to move the station away from Skydock. My inspection related only to matters of bio-safety, and I didn't get an opportunity to test the motors or any of the navigation equipment on board.'

'Are you sure you don't know where it was heading?' Vicky asked.

'Nobody witnessed the station leaving Skydock,' Liam said. 'The part of the docking station where it was held is mainly used for maintenance, but it was unmanned overnight because there are no ships in at the moment. Normally, the lane controller would have picked up the station on radar and provided guidance during its departure, but it didn't appear on our radar. It could have fallen to pieces by now, but if your inspector was deliberately trying to hide, he would have headed into the Empty Sector where there is no surveillance.'

'Do you have any vessels on Xanthos that we could charter to carry out a search in the Empty Sector?' Doug asked.

'In its condition, the station couldn't have got very far since it left, but we only have short range shuttles on the planet,' Liam said. 'You would need something bigger to venture into the Empty Sector, if that is where the station has gone.'

After further discussion, the team concluded that a search was out of the question due to cost, availability of suitable search vessels and the fact that there was no reliable indication of the station's whereabouts.

Liam then asked Mario to accompany him and took him into a side office where Mia was waiting. 'I want you to meet Mia, who is a nurse in our medical centre. She has something to tell you.'

Mario pulled up a chair opposite where Mia was sitting.

'When Dan came to me,' Mia began, 'he said he was hallucinating and could not sleep, seeing aliens everywhere and saying that they had arrived in the space station. I offered him medication, but he was unwilling to register, so all I could offer him was advice.'

'What advice was that?' Mario asked.

'I'm not allowed to discuss personal details; all I can say is that I offered standard advice appropriate to his situation, nothing special. He seemed to be a nice person; it's a real shame that he elected not to take the medication.'

'Thank you for that,' Mario said. He addressed Liam. 'I can't imagine what motivated Dan to do what he did, but I think we have to accept that he is no longer on the planet and unlikely to be found. Personally, I don't think there is much more to do here, but we'll talk to the Department tonight and advise you of our plans in the morning.'

Liam sat in his office, holding a conversation with the captain of the Paragon, who was stranded on Skydock.

Luka's brooding face filled Liam's monitor screen. 'Why would anyone steal a busted space station? Whoever did it must have been insane.'

'I agree with you,' Liam said. 'I can only apologise again for your enforced stay here, but as usual, the Transport Department has the final say in these things. It's ironic that a member of the same Department then went ahead and stole the space station. However, I understand that your stay is coming to an end and you have been cleared to leave tomorrow.'

'Thank God for that,' Luka said. 'Another day stuck out here is about all I can take. Before you sign off, are you sure that there isn't more to this story? I still have my doubts about the container we brought down. If it was only an empty container, why was its loading cancelled at the last minute.'

'We were just playing safe,' Liam said. 'There was a sealed metal box inside the container, and Tom decided to leave it a bit longer in quarantine because he thought it could house some kind of concealed power source. He wanted to make sure that any power source was disabled before it went into transit.'

'It's nice to know that somebody is concerned about safety in this day and age,' Luka said. 'That box thing inside the container, did you manage to open it?'

'Eventually, we did, but it was empty. I can show you on camera if you want.'

'It doesn't sound very interesting; don't bother.'

'While I have the chance, I have a favour to ask,' Liam said. 'The team of inspectors came out on the weekly shuttle, but now the space station is unavailable, it looks like they're about to wrap up their investigation. Is there any chance of you giving them a lift back to Xanthos rather than have them hanging around here waiting for the next shuttle?'

Luka laughed. 'I'll do that, but only so long as there's no chance of finding any more of those rogue space stations.'

'No way,' Liam said. 'We all reckon ours headed into the Empty Sector after it left here, and good riddance is what I say.'

'Quite right. I don't want to go through all this again,' Luka said.

The team of inspectors checked in on Skydock for their journey and watched as their cases disappeared from sight down a conveyor belt.

'Thank goodness we're on our way home,' Vicky said.

'I have to say I didn't like staying here,' Doug said. 'Cornell doesn't have much to offer.'

The three of them moved along to join the queue for border control.

'And I don't like returning empty-handed,' Mario said. He suddenly stopped walking. 'Curses! I forgot to collect Dan's suitcase; it's still at the hotel.'

Vicky checked the time. 'It's too late to collect it. Leave it, and we'll ask the Station Manager to forward it when we get to Xanthos.'

'It's all we can do,' Doug said. 'It's such a shame about Dan. He was a nice man; I would never have picked him as someone who would lose his mind.'

'I agree,' Mario said, 'but without Dan's report or seeing the space station with our own eyes, we didn't have anything to work on. I think we're doing the right thing in leaving.'

Doug looked around at the huge structure of the docking terminal. 'It's hard to believe that the space station was actually located somewhere around here,' he said. 'If only we could have got here a couple of days sooner.'

'I'd like to offer you some comfort by saying that our journey hasn't been a waste of time, but I can't,' Mario said. He cleared border control and waited for the others to catch him up.

'Dan was the last person I would have expected to believe in aliens,' Vicky said, putting away her travel documents. 'Something about these reports we've heard just doesn't sound right, and when did Dan learn how to operate a space station? I've never set eyes on a space station, but I would have thought you would need some training before you were let loose on one.'

'That's just one more question about this case that will probably never be answered,' Mario said.

Doug caught up with them. 'What I don't understand is that after Dan made the request and flagged specific interest, there was no follow up message and all our return calls went unanswered,' he said. 'At the very least, I would have expected amplification of the first message and video of whatever he had discovered.'

Mario led the trio through the security gate and onto the waiting transporter, where they took their seats. 'We'll probably never find out what was going through Dan's mind,' he said, 'but at least we'll be getting home sooner than expected, thanks to Liam.'

A short while later, the Paragon started its motors, and the huge transporter drifted away from the dock into the acceleration lane, where, after it had been cleared by the lane controller, it applied power and rapidly increased speed as it headed towards Xanthos. Once it was established on track, the lane controller called Liam and advised him that his guests had left Cornell.

Tom led the way into the cargo bay where the container was held. He approached a bench and removed a cloth cover from an object that lay on the bench. 'Here she is, our very own Biopac.'

Liam and Mia stepped up to the bench and looked closely at the brown, slightly translucent receptacle. A slow internal movement could be detected through its side panels.

'Did this come out of that box inside the container?' Mia asked.

'It did,' Tom confirmed. 'Jay opened up the box for me. This is what was powering the container during its voyage.'

'Now that Jay is no longer around, have you worked out what you are going to do with it?' Liam asked.

'I haven't had much time to think about that,' Tom said, shaking his head, 'but I've been through Jay's instructions and can give you a quick demo. I think you'll be impressed when you see what it can do.' He pointed to what looked like nipples on the top of the box. 'The device has numerous take-off points on its upper surface. Clipping a connection to various points gives you different levels of current. I've set up a rig to measure the output.' He attached cables to different points on the device and showed the results on a test set.

'That's a lot of power for a small unit,' Liam said. 'Does it overheat at all?'

'I've not come across any signs of heating, but I get the impression that it could produce a lot more power on demand. It's a really neat bit of kit.'

'And it's all yours,' Mia said. 'That was a nice present from Jay.'

'Jay offered it to the three of us,' Tom said. 'He suggested that we could develop and market it ourselves and that the patent alone would be worth millions.'

'We would have to leave Karman before we showed our hand,' Liam pointed out. 'Maybe we could start up on a distant planet, such as Sollus, where the Company doesn't have much presence.'

'That might work,' Tom said.

'Or maybe we could sell the patent and let somebody else take the heat when they try to put it out on the market,' Mia said. 'This is quite exciting.'

Liam's communicator sounded and he took a call from the Control Centre. He put the communicator down and stared at the others with a grave face.

'Is there a problem?' Mia asked.

'Something's happened,' Liam said. 'On its way to Xanthos, the Paragon discovered the remains of the missing space station. It's suffered significant fire damage, and because it's still burning, the transporter is leaving it behind.'

'I wonder what happened to Jay,' Mia said. 'It would be a shame to lose everything after what he has been through.'

'If the Paragon leaves it to burn, it will be the end of Jay and his Entity,' Liam commented. 'From what we have just been told, I can't see that as being a survival situation.'

'Maybe the Paragon will send back a more comprehensive report of what it found,' Tom added, although he agreed with Liam – it did sound like the end of the line for Jay and his experiments, and he was truly sad to hear that news.

Later that day, Liam went to meet Tom and Mia at Tom's quarters for a drink. He had just arrived when he received a communicator call.

'I've just had another message from the Paragon,' the controller said. 'The transporter is on its way back to Cornell.'

'Why?' Liam queried. 'Have they picked up the station? I thought it was on fire.'

'They didn't mention that,' the controller said. 'I'll ask the crew to clarify the reason for the turn-round.'

Liam turned to the others. 'The Paragon is returning here.'

'This doesn't sound promising,' Tom said. 'What could have changed their minds?'

Liam's communicator sounded again, and he took the call. By the time he put down his communicator, the colour had drained from his face. 'The controller has just informed me that the transporter has recovered a body from the space station,' he said. 'The investigation team wants to continue its enquiries and has ordered the transporter to return to Cornell.'

##### Chapter Eight

Liam, Tom and Mia stared at each other.

'Shit!' Liam exclaimed. 'This is the last thing we needed.'

'The Paragon crew must have found Jay's body,' Tom said. 'I wonder what made them change their minds and return to the station, knowing that it was burning.'

'So the inspectors were expecting to find Dan on the station and instead recovered the body of a stranger,' Mia said.

'And now they're on the way back to find out why.' Liam strolled around the cabin, deep in thought. 'Was there any chance at all that Dan's body was still lying around?'

'You saw the pictures of the body; at that time, half of it had already been consumed by the floor coating, so I would think it highly unlikely that any parts of the body still existed,' Tom said.

'If they'd recovered Dan's body, the team probably wouldn't be heading back,' Mia added.

'That's true,' Tom agreed, 'but don't forget that Jay's replica body was also on the station; it could be that they're looking at.'

'Wasn't it Jay's intention to end up under the floor of the station like Dan?' Liam asked. 'Would he have had time to do that?'

'I think he would,' Tom said. 'He took no supplies with him, so after three days on the station, he probably would have passed out and his body would have been absorbed by the floor coating.'

'Explain to me the difference between Jay and his replica,' Mia enquired.

'I can only go on what Jay told me,' Tom said. 'According to him, externally, they're identical, but internally, Jay is flesh and blood, and the replica consists of inert biomass that has never been activated. The only way to identify Jay would be by the clothes he was wearing; his replica would be naked.'

'Either way, the body would still be recognisable as Jay's,' Liam pointed out. 'In which case, I think we'll have to assume that the recovered body was identifiable as Jay's and it wasn't Dan's. The investigators are going to be very curious after finding that the station was manned by an unidentified person while there was no sign of their inspector inside it. How are we going to explain that away?'

'How long have we got?' Mia asked.

'If the transporter's already turned back, we should have three days max to prepare our story, two if the team can persuade Luka to put his foot down,' Liam said. 'This time we need to come up with at least a half-believable explanation as to why their investigator is no longer around.'

'I think there's an alternative to offering an explanation,' Mia said. 'After trusting us the last time, the inspectors won't be prepared to listen to anything even half-believable. By the time they arrive here, they'll already have made their minds up that we are linked in some way to Dan's disappearance, and they will be looking for evidence to back that up. There's no way we can spin another story to fob them off, so why don't we just tell them the truth?'

'What will that achieve?' Liam said.

'It boils down to how much people will be prepared to accept. When Jay arrived, we witnessed something inexplicable, so if we pass on that information to the investigators, they'll want to include it in their report to the authorities on Xanthos upon their return. That's also when they will become aware of the problems they will encounter when they start putting around stories about a man who grows out of the floor of a metal box after a two thousand year journey. They will then realise that after quickly burning through any credibility they may have had, the result will be the dispatch of yet another investigative team to try to find out what actually happened. Whatever the outcome, the team will end up being discredited, and that will probably be the end of their careers.'

'I think Mia's idea has legs,' Tom said. 'We can show them videos of Jay growing out of the container floor and the first interviews we did with him.'

'I fail to see how that will explain what happened to Dan,' Liam said.

'After seeing those videos and working out the problems of describing them in a report, maybe they could then be persuaded to submit something more acceptable,' Mia suggested. 'Something that would benefit all of us.'

'Whatever they put in their report, it will have to include a viable explanation of what happened to their missing man in order to be acceptable to the authorities,' Liam said. 'What alternative story could they conceivably come up with?'

'If the team were in possession of their agent's body, the problem would have gone away,' Mia said. 'That is evidently not the case, but we could provide them with an alternative scenario, a story they might find acceptable that would achieve the same result.'

Liam shrugged. 'I'm not sure I'm following you. Their investigator was swallowed by the floor in the space station; how can we avoid having to explain that if we intend to stick to the truth?'

'We won't have to explain anything. We'll tell them that the body in their possession is actually that of their missing agent, Dan, who stole the space station to take control of Jay's greatest invention: Entity.'

Liam snorted. 'That sounds crazy. Why would they want to go down that route?'

'It does sound crazy,' Mia confirmed. 'However, it's a way out of this situation for them and for us, but they won't buy into it unless we offer them something to make it worth their while.'

'Unless you have access to a large pile of cash to offer, I can't think of anything we could use that would change their minds,' Liam said.

Tom suddenly realised where Mia was coming from. 'Of course – we have the Biopac! The inspectors don't work for Karman, so they wouldn't have any problems passing it off as their own work and could potentially make millions out of it.'

They all considered the idea for a while.

'I have to admit that's not as daft as it sounds,' Liam said. 'I'd have liked to run with the Biopac, but we could fall foul of the salvage laws, and our contracts with Karman stipulate they have intellectual property rights to any invention we make on their property, which includes this planet. However, if we do float this idea to the team, we won't mention that the company would definitely try to stop any threat to its stranglehold on the power sector.'

'When the inspectors arrive, they're going to be on their guard, and if they suspect we were in any way responsible for Dan's disappearance, they'll call in the police,' Tom said. 'As far as I'm concerned, anything that keeps us out of prison is acceptable to me; the Biopac wouldn't be much use to us if we were stuck behind bars on Xanthos.'

'So let's all be clear,' Liam said. 'We can't repeat the same lies we used the last time we talked with the team. This time, we'll describe in detail every bizarre incident that happened, at least all the ones that reinforce what we are saying, in the hope that they will realize that their own sanity will come under scrutiny if they refer to those incidents in their report. Assuming the team do buy into our plan, however, when they return to Xanthos they'll still need to submit a believable report explaining what happened to their investigator, and we must give them something to work on. I don't think we can go much further until we speak to the team and discover exactly what they've found; for all we know, the body might be burnt beyond recognition. On the other hand, if it's clearly identifiable as Jay Conway, we're going to have a bigger problem. We've a couple of days to think about this, so let's get together again tomorrow and see if we can come up with anything new. Let's all hope this works – there is no plan "B".'

Liam sat down heavily on the sofa. 'I think I'm ready for that drink now, Tom.'

The team of inspectors sat around a table in one of the administrative building's boardrooms, facing Liam, Tom and Mia.

'I expect you know why we're here again,' Mario said.

'I can imagine, but first, tell me what you've found,' Liam said.

'Okay, but I'm warning you that this time we won't be leaving until we get some sensible responses from you on this matter. The transporter we were travelling in spotted a vessel on fire and altered course to investigate. When we got near, it turned out to be the same space station that the transporter had recovered and carried to Cornell, the one you told us Dan stole and took to the Empty Sector. The captain of the Paragon was keen to abandon it, but we told him that our agent was believed to be on board, and we feared that his life could be in danger. Because the fire was stable, the captain eventually agreed to send in a recovery party to see if there was anyone on aboard. Shortly after the party managed to break through the entry door, the fire flared up and they were forced to evacuate the station, but before they left, they managed to recover a badly burnt body. After the Paragon moved away, the space station violently erupted and was confirmed to have been completely destroyed by the resulting fire.'

Vicky produced copies of a photo, which she circulated around the table. The photo showed the upper half of a blackened and distorted man's body, the only prominent feature of which was the body's face, which was virtually unmarked and definitely belonged to Jay Conway. There was no indication that the charred body had been wearing clothing.

'After talking to you on our last visit, you left us with the knowledge that our inspector, Dan Govan, had been in that space station,' Mario said. 'This body obviously does not belong to Dan, and there was no sign of anyone else being on board the station. Maybe you would like to rethink your explanation. I want you to provide us with the identity of the man whose body we recovered and explain what happened to our inspector.'

'I can explain,' Liam responded, 'but first I must warn you that you are about to discover things that will test your credibility to the limit, just as they did ours, and I ask you to hear me out before making any judgements. The last time we spoke, we didn't give you the correct answers to your questions. The reason we did so was that you wouldn't have believed us if we had told you the truth. To help you understand the situation, the remains in the photo belong to a man called Jay Conway, who was the owner of the space station that had been travelling from Earth for two thousand five hundred years. On the voyage, Jay died inside a container that had become detached from the station. After reaching the inhabited territories, the container was recovered and brought here, after which Jay was recreated from the floor of the container, which is where he had been absorbed after he died, many years earlier. After hearing this, which I guarantee is true, you will start to understand why we did not reveal the information before. There is a lot more to come, all of which you will find equally unbelievable. I must also warn you that if you do include any of this fresh evidence in your report, you too will experience similar disbelief when you try to convince the authorities on Xanthos of its authenticity.'

'How the hell could a human body be absorbed and recreated from the floor of a container?' Doug asked.

'I will explain that shortly,' Liam said.

'And how did any of that determine the fate of our investigator?' Mario said.

'We'll also return to that later, if you don't mind,' Tom said. 'The remains in your possession belong to a man called Jay Conway, and I'll now show you video of how he turned up here.' He switched on a projector and showed highlights of a body emerging from the floor of the container, stopping at the point where the body sat up and opened its eyes. Then the video started playing excerpts of the interviews carried out by Liam and Tom where Jay revealed his story.

'Are you telling us that this is for real?' Vicky asked.

'Yes,' Tom said, 'and I can assure you that the more you learn about this subject, the more you will disbelieve what we are revealing.'

'But where does our agent fit into this story?' Mario persisted.

'Before we go into that, I want to show you something else,' Tom said, and led everyone across to Cargo Bay Two. He pointed to the abandoned container. 'Inside that container is an empty metal box, and the last time you were here, you asked what was inside it. I can now show you.'

Tom walked over to the bench where the Biopac sat. 'This is a portable generator called a Biopac, and Jay Conway invented it while he was carrying out experiments during his stay in the space station before bringing it here hidden inside the metal box.'

'What's so special about a portable generator?' Doug asked.

'The Biopac is an independent source of power. It is self-sustaining and never needs to be recharged. Allow me show you.' Tom attached clips to the take-off points, and they all watched as the dials on the test set moved round to indicate the power output.

The team was impressed.

'Can there really be such a thing as free power?' Mario asked. 'What's the downside?'

'You're looking at free power,' Tom said. 'There's no downside, and there's no pollution. This is a completely undemanding and continuous process, and it would have been a lifesaver for the population on Earth, but Jay left it too late to change anything. However, after inventing the Biopac, he produced something even bigger – he crossed artificial intelligence with biometrics and produced a unique product: Entity. When you discovered the burning space station, Jay was trying to take Entity back to Earth to help restore its population, but before he took the space station and departed, he left me this Biopac and gave me permission to do with it what I wanted. Unfortunately, my contract with the mining company prevents me profiting from it commercially, although if patented, it could be worth millions of dollars.'

'Sorry, but I still don't understand what this has to do with our missing agent,' Vicky said.

'I never wanted to say this,' Tom said. 'Although we searched the whole planet looking for Dan, there are some places that can never be searched.'

'What places?' Doug asked.

'Beneath us is a labyrinth of tunnels created by the early mines, which had to be abandoned when the tunnels started to collapse. Hundreds of the later, vertical mines were also abandoned after their shafts became filled with poisonous and acidic liquids. There is no way those mines could be reopened and searched.'

The inspectors remained silent for a while.

'We're here to find out what happened to Dan,' Vicky said. 'Just saying we think he might have fallen down a mine shaft won't be acceptable.'

'Then let's for a moment assume that your agent did take the space station in order to steal Entity, which is the most significant development in the history of mankind,' Mia suggested. 'If that had happened, and the body in your possession had turned out to be that of your agent, would we be here now having this conversation?'

The three inspectors shook their heads.

'Then please abandon your fixed positions and allow me to suggest that the remains in your possession do belong to your agent, Dan, the person who stole the space station in order to make money out of Jay's significant invention,' Mia said.

'That's an utterly insane proposition,' Mario said. 'We all know those remains aren't Dan's; what in heaven's name are you talking about?'

'We're trying to help you,' Liam interrupted. 'From personal experience, we understand how difficult it will be for you to report this story without sounding like you are out of your minds, and when you have tried and been rebuffed, another team will be sent out here to cover the same ground, with equal lack of success. Whether we like it or not, we're all of us involved in this situation, so may I suggest that you learn from our experience and join us on some common ground that will help both our parties.'

'What exactly are you suggesting?' Mario asked.

'At the moment, we have in our possession a life-changing device, the Biopac that could, if developed, be potentially worth billions of dollars. Would that be of any interest to you? Maybe we could work out a trade.'

The three investigators looked at each other warily.

'Are you offering us a bribe?' Doug asked.

'No. I'm offering you a trade,' Liam replied. 'I'm offering you a way out of an inexplicable situation that at the same time will make you very rich.'

'And what do you expect in return for our cooperation?'

'We want your confirmation that the body in your possession is that of your missing agent. That's all.'

'It's too late; we've already recorded it, and it looks nothing like Dan,' Mario said.

Mia held up the photo of the burnt remains. 'Look at this closely. Half the body is missing completely and apart from the head, the torso appears to have melted rather than burnt. There's a reason for that: when Jay's body was reconstituted, it wasn't made of flesh and bone; it was made of an artificial substance called biomass. You will find that hard to digest, and even harder to explain if you were to turn up on Xanthos with those remains. So let me ask you what you would be thinking if the fire damage had extended to the body's face, making it unrecognisable, or at least damaged to the point where it is only just about recognisable?'

There was an awkward silence.

'Allow me to put forward an alternative point of view,' Liam said. 'Your agent had entered a space station that was subject to quarantine regulations, so even after his death, his remains would still be subject to those regulations. However, if the body parts were confirmed to be Dan's, you could leave those remains behind and authorise us to cremate them under the bio-security protocol. That would also remove the problem of taking the remains to Xanthos and having to explain why they were not human.'

'If we did agree to what you are asking, would we be allowed to leave with this bio machine?' Doug said.

'Of course,' Liam replied. 'As Karman employees we couldn't utilise it ourselves, so we would have had to release it eventually.'

Mario stood up. 'I can't believe I'm hearing this. One of our inspectors has gone missing, and you have the nerve to stand there with straight faces and come out with the most insane and illegal proposition I've ever heard. Biomass my eye! Do you know the penalty for bribing a federal investigator? I'm going to make sure you all end up in court for what you've done.'

'Would you mind if we stepped outside?' Vicky said, taking Mario firmly by the arm. 'We need a few moments.'

After the team had left the bay, Liam and Mia looked at each other.

'It looks like Vicky's on our side,' Mia said. 'Do you think the others will go for it?'

'It's a neat solution, and she sounds like a persuasive woman, so hopefully they will.' Liam lowered his voice. 'How would you disfigure the body's face?'

'If they go for it, bring the remains to the medical centre later tonight,' Mia said. 'And also bring a blow torch and a camera with you.'

The communal bar on the base, that for some long-forgotten reason was called The Tavern, was crowded the evening Ricci joined Max and his friend Logun. The two men had been drinking for some time and were quite morose.

'Why so sad?' Ricci asked.

'Our last shipment is stuck in the transporter on Skydock, and we haven't been paid,' Max said. 'I think Liam ordered it back to stop us selling drugs.'

'What rubbish,' Ricci said. 'Don't blame Liam; blame the Transport Department. It was their decision; Liam had nothing to do with it.'

'If you're so clever, how come you never tell me anything,' Max said. 'What have you found about your mystery man?'

'Nothing,' Ricci said. 'He doesn't appear on any of our records, so he must be a government employee or a contractor. He's obviously of no importance.'

Ricci noticed that Max was slurring his words, which was when he usually started to turn nasty. She tried to change the subject. 'The whole planet knows that the Paragon brought a space station back and is stuck in quarantine until it can be cleared. You two ought to get out more.'

'Watch your mouth,' Max snapped. 'I've gone right off uppity women.'

'If you're not careful, you'll be next,' Logun interjected.

'What do you mean by that?' Ricci asked.

'Leave it out,' Max said.

'Why aren't you sticking up for me?' Ricci said. 'What did Logun mean?'

'Your friend Mia is going to be history,' Logun said. 'Learn from that.'

'Is that right? Are you planning to kill Mia?'

'Don't be stupid,' Max said, grinning. 'She's just going to get a taste of the latest drugs on offer. If she's as good a medic as she's supposed to be, she won't come to much harm.'

'You mean just like that government guy didn't come to any harm, the one who died after he went back to Xanthos,' Ricci said.

'He was okay when he left here,' Logun said, 'in fact he was more than happy.'

The two men laughed loudly.

'We've already discussed this,' Ricci said. 'You said you weren't going to do that again.'

'We discussed nothing,' Max said, becoming irritated. 'Do you really think she's going to get away with what she did to me?'

'And do you think I'm going to sit here and let it happen?'

Max grew angry. 'You just keep your nose out of our business, unless you want to join her.'

Ricci got to her feet and left the men drinking. She was frightened by what Max had said and hoped it was only the drink talking. However, she had always thought Logun was a slimy character and there was no way she would ever trust him. As she made her way back to her room, she became more and more concerned and wondered how she could keep Mia and herself safe.

When Liam returned to his office that evening, he was surprised to find Ricci waiting for him.

'What are you doing here at this time of day?' he asked.

'We've had our ups and downs in the past,' Ricci said, 'but I've something important to tell you, and I need your help. It's about Mia.'

Liam was curious. 'Go ahead,' he said.

Ricci told Liam about Max being shocked by Mia and talking about getting his revenge by pumping her with drugs.

'That's what they did to the last person to cross them,' Ricci said. 'He died after returning to Xanthos. They killed him, and they intend to do the same with Mia.'

'Are we talking about the same person – Mia, the nurse?' Liam asked.

'That's the one,' Ricci said.

'I'm surprised to hear that Mia felt it necessary to protect herself, but I presume she must have had justification for doing it. I doubt she told Tom about her encounter, because he would definitely have sorted Max out. I need to work out a way of protecting Mia without involving Tom. How did this altercation between Mia and Max come about in the first place?'

'Max told me he had picked up rumours about a container that had been delivered by the transporter, and he wanted to know more about it. He had heard Tom was involved and that he was Mia's boyfriend, so he and another dealer, a guy called Logun, collared Mia in a tunnel and put some pressure on her.'

'What was Max's interest in the container?'

'He'd heard that there could have been something inside it, but Max is terrified about the drug scene here being raided by the Xanthos Drug Agency. He wants to hear about everything that goes on.'

Liam pondered on that information.

'There's something else I have to tell you,' Ricci nervously said. 'I told him about the man.'

'What man?'

'He was a pale man with no hair, and you and Tom were interviewing him.'

Liam was speechless. 'How did you find out about him?' he eventually asked.

'I saw him on your office monitor. I'm sorry; I know I shouldn't have done it.'

'What did you tell Max about him?'

'Nothing. I found out that you had issued the man with an expired pass, but I told Max I couldn't find anyone matching his description.'

Liam took a controlled breath. 'You've been very busy. What do you expect me to do after listening to your confessions?'

'I can only say I'm sorry, but I'm supposed to be your assistant, and you are always shutting me out. I'll take whatever punishment I deserve, but at the moment I'm asking for you to help me protect Mia.'

Liam thought for a while, and then asked, 'Are you still seeing Max?'

'Only when I can stomach him,' Ricci said.

'If Max is so concerned about being raided, what would his reaction be if he found out that the man you mentioned was the leader of a team of three undercover agents from the Drug Agency that had just arrived to investigate the drug trade.'

'Are you talking about the three Transport Department inspectors that I met the other day?'

'But they could equally be undercover agents, couldn't they?' Liam suggested. 'After all, you wouldn't expect a team of drug agents to arrive here and broadcast who they were and what they intended to do. Anyway, the team is going back to Xanthos very soon and probably won't return.'

'How does this concern me?' Ricci said.

'What would Max do if we could convince him that they actually were drug agents?'

'He'd panic,' Ricci said, 'and he, along with most of the other drug makers, would dismantle their kit and drop it down the nearest mineshaft. It would be chaos, especially as they haven't yet been paid for the Paragon's last shipment. Is that what you want me to tell him?'

'It's just an idea,' Liam said.

'When Max finds out that the inspectors aren't drug agents, he'll blame me, and I have seen what he's capable of doing.'

'After the team has left, Max is unlikely to ever find out their identities,' Liam said. 'The only information he will have on them is what I have just told you in strict confidence and that you are going to leak to him. It's just possible, if highly unlikely, that the team could be undercover drug agents who had come here and, after discussing the situation with the Station Manager, decided to leave and return to Xanthos without taking any further action.'

'I like that idea,' Ricci said.

'If Max does go for it, he'll have bigger problems on his mind than getting even with Mia, so it should divert his attention, and it will give me a chance to sort out a long overdue security reshuffle and clamp down on the activities of Max and his friends. This could be a win-win situation. Are you willing to give it a go?'

'I'll keep my stomach under control and start tonight,' Ricci said.

'This is just between the two of us, and if you do this for me I'll forget about the other stuff you did,' Liam said. 'I don't want Tom to find out, and so long as you keep this to yourself, no one else will ever know about it. So, if Max asks you for your opinion on the team of three and its leader, what are you going to say?'

'They had Drug Agent written all over them,' Ricci replied.

##### Chapter Nine

The next night, Tom and Mia lay in bed, staring at each other across a pillow. Tom reached out and gently stroked Mia's cheek.

'The team leave tomorrow on the Paragon,' Tom said. 'I think you won the day.'

'It was a joint effort, but I think it was actually Vicky who won the day,' Mia said. 'She obviously managed to beat some sense into Mario. What struck me as odd was that after handing over Jay's remains, none of them were the slightest bit concerned about what really happened to Dan; they were quite happy to accept our story about getting lost in a mineshaft.'

'I think their priorities changed when they got their hands on the Biopac,' Tom said. 'They must be already counting their millions, but when Karman gets to hear about their activities, they'll probably start to feel less confident. By the way, Liam asked Luka to take the container back to Xanthos when the transporter leaves.'

'Really? That was a brave move after the crew had been stuck on the dock for so long. What was his response?'

'Liam spared me the details, but he said he had never before heard so many swear words used in one breath.'

Mia laughed. 'Then I guess that was a "no". Do you think that this whole thing is settled?'

'The remains have been cremated; the videos have been deleted; and there's no evidence left of Dan, Jay and even the space station. After the team has left, the container will be broken up and dumped down a mineshaft. I think we're in the clear, although nothing we've experienced so far has come with a guarantee.'

'Then I'm glad we've managed to get away with it.'

'Me too. However, I have to say that your solution was a stroke of genius.'

'I had to do something to save our skins, and it was the only logical way out,' Mia said. 'If the police had gotten involved in the investigation, it would have tied us up for ever. Could you imagine trying to explain to the police that Jay was actually made of something called biomass?'

Tom shook his head. 'No way. We owe you for saving the day, and especially for taking care of the body.'

'I knew my limited medical experience would come in useful one day,' Mia said, jokingly, 'but I confess it wasn't in the way I expected. Looking ahead, after losing the Biopac, do you have any plans for the future?'

'With my licenses reinstated, I can work on Xanthos again. Karman is desperate to employ engineers with nuclear qualifications; they would take me on like a shot. I think we could make a good life together; certainly, money would not be an issue. What do you think?'

'Unfortunately, I'm still banned from returning to Xanthos,' Mia said. 'There's no future for you in this place now you're qualified; if that's the way you decide to go, it looks like you'll have to go on your own.'

Tom was disappointed. 'I'd assumed we would stay together. I've no intention of leaving without you.'

'I suppose we could try for an appeal,' Mia suggested, 'but it could take ages to get through the courts. Although there is another guaranteed solution.'

'What's that?'

'I could get pregnant. Children aren't allowed on Cornell, so I would be sent back to Xanthos.'

'That would be a drastic solution, but wouldn't you end up back in prison, finishing your sentence?'

Mia laughed. 'I hadn't considered that; forget the pregnant idea.'

Tom thought for a while. 'What if we were to register as partners?'

'You mean make it legal? I don't think it would make any difference.'

'Okay, then,' Tom persisted. 'What if we got married?'

Mia's eyes opened wide. She was speechless.

'We could get married on this planet,' Tom said. 'As the effective governor, Liam has the authority to issue a marriage certificate.'

'Slow down,' Mia cautioned. 'This is all new to me. Marriage is a big commitment, which is why most people don't go for it. What if it doesn't work out?'

'I can't see any problems,' Tom said. 'Due to some obscure law, married partners gain the same status in law and my status would become yours. You could then legally return to Xanthos.'

'Give me some time,' Mia said. 'I've never considered being married; I need to think it through. Are you seriously asking me to marry you?'

'I seriously am, so go ahead and think about it,' Tom said.

'I will. Thank you for your offer.'

'You know where to find me when you've made your mind up.'

They continued to smile at each other across the pillow while they each tried to work out the implications of Tom's proposal.

Mia suddenly stiffened and sat upright.

'Are you okay?' Tom asked.

Mia looked around. 'I thought someone was in the room. I must have imagined it.' She relaxed and fell back against the bed.

They were just about to fall asleep when Mia suddenly jumped out of bed and pointed at the wardrobe. 'There's someone in there!' she cried, grabbing her spiker from the dressing table.

Tom ran across to the wardrobe and flung the doors wide open. 'There's nobody in here,' he said.

'No. I can definitely feel a presence.' Mia pointed to a hump in the corner of the wardrobe. 'What's under that blanket?'

'Ah,' Tom said. 'I think this might be what you're picking up.' He pulled the blanket aside and dragged out a heavy toolbox onto the bedroom floor.

'What's that?' Mia asked. 'Is it another Biopac?'

'Not quite. You have to see this.' Tom raised the toolbox lid, and they stared down at Entity in its translucent brown receptacle. A faintly visible golden glow stirred beneath the cover.

'Is this the one that was in the container?' Mia asked. 'I thought Jay took it away with him.'

'That was his original intention,' Tom said, 'but at the last minute he changed his mind and left it with me, along with the Biopac. I didn't know what to do with it, so I hid it for later.'

'We need to talk about this before we go any further,' Mia said, trembling.

Tom closed the toolbox lid, and they went into the living room and sat down on a sofa.

'I can understand Jay giving you the Biopac, but why would he suddenly decide at the last minute to leave Entity behind?' Mia said. 'He must have had a reason for doing that.'

'Like you, I was surprised by his actions.'

'What did Jay say to you?'

'Not much. He accepted that with the space station in such a bad condition, there was only a slim chance of surviving the long journey to Earth, and after all the work he had put into Entity's creation, he didn't want it to become extinct. As a result, he left this part with me because he considered me a responsible person who would be able to protect it.'

'Did Jay explain how to make Entity work? I mean the laying on of hands and all that?'

'No, but I did ask him what he wanted me to do with it.'

'What did he say?'

'I couldn't pin him down. All he told me was that I would know when the time was right.'

Mia was puzzled. 'What did he mean by that?'

'As seems to be the norm nowadays, I haven't a clue. Early on, Jay once told me that Entity had the power to change the whole of civilisation. I only hope he wasn't expecting me to take that on; Entity is on a completely different scale from a Biopac.'

'Whatever happens, we're in this together,' Mia said. 'Let's take another look at it.'

Tom followed Mia back to the bedroom and opened the toolbox. Mia was kneeling down, taking a closer look at the receptacle containing Entity, when she suddenly cried out and pulled away.

Tom was alarmed. 'What is it?'

'It contacted me,' Mia gasped. 'It wants me to touch it. What shall I do?'

'I've had dealings with this before,' Tom said, remembering the hard shock he had received when he tried to cut through the Textile. 'Let me first try to make sure it's safe.' Tom reached over and tentatively felt around the receptacle but could not detect anything.

'It seems safe,' he said. 'Do you want to try it?'

Mia reached out and placed her hands on the receptacle. Immediately the light inside increased in intensity and appeared to expand, slowly encasing Mia's arms. A look of pure radiance appeared on her face. 'We are one!' she cried, as the golden light continued to spread until it engulfed the whole of her body. Then it slowly died away.

After it had faded completely, Mia sat back on her heels and breathed deeply.

'Are you alright?' Tom asked in a shaky voice.

Mia nodded, unable to speak.

Tom knelt beside her and held her tightly. Eventually, he said, 'Our new friend seems to have literally taken a shine to you. I guess that puts me in the shade and makes you the new owner.'

Mia found her voice again. 'That was something else,' she said. 'For some reason it does appear to think I'm its owner. All we need to do is work out what it wants from me.'

'Don't worry,' Tom said. 'I'm sure it'll let you know whenever it's ready. In the meantime, let's go back to bed and try to get some sleep.'

'Do you really think we're going to be able to sleep after all this?'

'Probably not,' Tom said, 'but at least we've been given something to take our minds off our previous problems.' He took Mia's hand and led her over to the bed.

Mia lay in bed and reached out to Tom. 'You were right when you said that nothing is guaranteed. I'm usually good at predicting things, but I never saw this one coming.'

'What did it feel like when Entity contacted you?'

'Amazing. Truly amazing. It was something I'd been searching for all my life.' Mia burst into tears and started to sob uncontrollably. Tom reached for some tissues and held her until she quieted down.

Mia dried her eyes. 'I'm so sorry,' she said.

'What brought that on?' Tom enquired.

'It was the feeling. I feel like I have finally found my home. My dream has come true.'

'Then let's hope it lives up to your expectations and everything settles down now.'

Mia smiled. 'Only in your dreams,' she said. 'This is the future; this is everyone's future, and our lives are about to change forever.'

'I don't want to know,' Tom said. 'I'll settle for just the dreams.'

The next few days passed without incident, and Tom spent most of that time with his team of engineers, catching up on the projects he had been forced to neglect after the arrival of the container. Liam, too, started to relax and concentrated on trying to improve his relationship with Ricci. That was until he received a signal from his director in Xanthos informing him that communication with the transporter Paragon had been lost after it stopped transmitting its location data and that the military was commencing a search for it. He immediately had a bad feeling and called Tom.

'What could possibly have caused the communication loss?' Liam asked.

'The only internal malfunction capable of shutting down a transporter's tracking system is a total power failure, which is inconceivable on a vessel of that size, which has multiple power feeds,' Tom explained. 'However, it could also have resulted from an external event.'

'By external event you mean something like a bomb.'

'That would qualify, or an impact strike,' Tom said, 'but when did you last hear of someone planting a bomb on a space vessel, especially one that size. It would take a massive amount of explosive to destroy it, more likely it was an impact strike.'

'I can't help feeling that the Biopac could have somehow been involved in the malfunction. After all, we don't know much about what it was made of.'

'The Biopac looked like it had functioned perfectly for the two and a half thousand year journey to Cornell, so it should have been safe.'

'But all that time it had been sealed inside a heavy metal case,' Liam said. 'Maybe there was a reason for that; perhaps we should have done the same before allowing it to be transported.'

'I honestly don't think the Biopac had anything to do with the malfunction on the Paragon,' Tom said. 'I wouldn't worry about it. The military will find the Paragon, and hopefully, the three Transport Department agents and the crew will all be okay.'

Liam, wishing he could share Tom's certainty, said nothing.

Mia was packing up the medical centre after work when a hooded figure arrived at the door. The figure reluctantly removed its hood to reveal a woman with a battered face. Despite her swellings and bruises, Mia recognised her as Ricci, although she was not acquainted with her. She guided her visitor to a chair and sat her down.

'What happened to you?' she asked.

'I can't say,' Ricci said, in a small voice. 'Can you help me?'

'Of course,' Mia replied. While Ricci removed her cloak, Mia pulled out a first aid kit and was shocked to see the damage that had been done to her face.

Mia began to treat the wounds. 'You can tell me about it if you like,' Mia said. 'Sometimes it helps to share.'

Ricci suddenly broke down in tears, and Mia dabbed away her tears with a tissue.

'It was my boyfriend, Max,' she finally said. 'He got drunk and told me that he'd put a bomb on board the Paragon inside a consignment of drugs.'

'Why would he do that?' Mia said in alarm. 'Surely he relies on the transporters for the export of his drugs.'

'There's more,' Ricci said, trying to stifle her sobs. 'I helped Liam to pass off the inspector team as drug agents in order to panic Max into shutting down his drug manufacturing.'

'I'm surprised to hear that,' Mia said. 'Liam's never been unduly concerned about the drug scene before.'

'I shouldn't be telling you this,' Ricci reluctantly continued. 'After you shocked Max, he said he was going to pump you full of drugs, just like he and Logun did to the other man they got rid of. To protect you, I asked for Liam's assistance and that's how we worked out the plan. Liam never wanted Tom to find out what he did because he thought Tom would tackle Max and get into trouble.'

Mia was astonished to find out all the things that had been going on behind her back.

'I hope those people on the Paragon don't come to any harm,' Ricci said.

'So do I, but it was a big vessel,' Mia said. 'Maybe everything will turn out okay.' Mia continued to apply anti-inflammatory applications to Ricci's face, and soon she started to look presentable.

'You have such a lovely touch,' Ricci said. 'People say that you're a faith healer; is that true?'

Mia smiled. 'There's no such thing, but sometimes I have to encourage people to have faith in themselves to overcome disabilities or illnesses. Tell me, how did Max find out what you had done?'

'After I told Max about the fake drug agents, he and the other drug makers were about to destroy their manufacturing equipment by dropping it down a mine shaft, when one of them recognised a member of the team and knew he was a Transport Department inspector, not a drug agent. When Max realized that I had fed him false information, he laid into me and did this to my face.'

'Did he say why he had put the bomb on the transporter?'

'He said it was to get back at Liam for trying to disrupt the drug trade.'

'Do you have any proof that actually happened?' Mia asked.

'No, and I've not set eyes on Max since. You won't tell anyone about what I've just told you, will you?'

'Of course not,' Mia said, although she was certain that at some stage she would be obliged to discuss it with Tom. 'I haven't heard anything about the Paragon; let's hope that there's no truth in Max's claim to have planted a bomb.' She finished stroking Ricci's bruises and gave her a mirror to inspect her face.

Ricci was very pleased to observe the results of Mia's administrations. 'Your nursing skills are incredible,' she said. 'I can hardly see where those bruises were and the pain has almost gone.'

'I can't claim the credit for that,' Mia said. 'These medicines come from old nomad recipes; I make them myself whenever I can obtain the ingredients. Please take my advice and keep as far away as possible from Max and that idiot Logun. You don't want to go through this again.'

'Max and Logun have fallen out big time,' Ricci said. 'I can only assume that it was something to do with Max boasting about the bomb.'

'It sounds like Max is about to get what he deserves, and you must make sure you're not around when that happens.'

'If the Paragon comes to no harm, I'll have nothing to worry about,' Ricci said, 'but I think you should still take his threat against you seriously.'

'Don't worry,' Mia responded. 'I'm already taking precautions.'

A couple of days after Liam had informed Tom about the missing transporter, he received another signal from his Karman director, this time informing him that the Paragon had been found. It had suffered an explosion in its cargo bay that knocked out all its power but did not breach the inner pressure hull. Nobody had been injured, but it had taken three days for the crew to reinstate the vessel's power supplies. It was heading to Xanthos at reduced speed.

Liam immediately updated Tom on the situation. 'I'm getting bad vibes,' he added. 'The more I hear about this incident, the more convinced I become that the Biopac was somehow involved. Explosions like that don't just happen.'

'You said that the explosion occurred in the cargo bay, which is in the outer hold, but the Biopac was crated up and went through as baggage, which is stored in the inner hold,' Tom said. 'Due to the outer hold's extremely low temperatures, only inert freight such as mining material is carried in there.' He thought about the explosion and visualized the main power cables that ran through the transporter along the inner hull, protected by armoured steel casings. 'The only scenario I can think of that could explain what happened is that an explosive device went off in the outer hold, causing the hull to fail. The instant pressure drop in the hold could have buckled the power line casings and snapped some of the cables.'

'Could they have been repaired?' Liam asked.

'Yes, but it would have meant working inside a pressure suit in a cramped space by the light of a torch, and it would have taken a long time to open the casings, discover the breaks and repair the essential services. Afterwards, the crew would have only basic functions available to continue the journey to Xanthos where the ship could be repaired properly and returned to service.'

'It sounds like you've experienced these things,' Liam observed.

'I'm only speculating about what happened to the Paragon, but something similar happened to me when a cruiser I was on hit some debris that breeched its outer hull. Restoring power involved me spending several frustrating days working weightless in dark, freezing conditions. I have to say I never want to go through that again. Have you any idea what Karman's intentions are now that they are aware of the explosion on the Paragon?'

'Not yet, but I guarantee they'll soon be in touch. Nobody has yet claimed that a bomb was responsible for the shutdown, but if it's discovered to be the result of a deliberate attempt to blow up the transporter, the government will become involved, and I'm afraid that will mean a police investigation.'

'Then let's hope that's not the case,' Tom said. 'I don't think I could face another investigation.'

Liam was sitting in his office, blaming himself for allowing the Biopac to be taken on board the transporter when none of the people involved had the faintest idea what it was made of or what danger it posed, when his reverie was disturbed by Ricci.

'It's very quiet in here; are you alright?' Ricci asked.

'I'm okay,' Liam responded. 'I just need to spend some time on my own.'

Ricci could see that Liam was upset. 'Remember what we discussed. We agreed to talk to each other, and you promised to involve me in the office affairs. Something's wrong, and I want you to share it with me.'

'I really don't want to talk about it.'

'You have to, and I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on.'

Liam sat back in his chair. 'Okay. If you must know, something bad has happened. There's been an explosion on the Paragon as it travelled back to Xanthos, and I think I may have caused it.'

Ricci's face turned white and she sat down heavily in a chair, trembling.

'There's no need for concern,' Liam said, seeing her discomfort. 'All the occupants survived the blast.'

'Thank God.' Ricci hesitated for a moment, and then said, 'I think Max may have put a bomb on the transporter.'

'What makes you think that?' Liam asked.

'Max was about to get rid of his drug making equipment when he found that the visitors weren't drug agents after all, and I'd lied to him. He beat me up and told me he had put a bomb on the transporter to teach you a lesson for trying to shut down the drug industry. I'm sorry to bring you this bad news, and I know I should have told you about it before, but Max is always telling lies, and at the time, I thought he was just mouthing off.'

'It hasn't been officially confirmed that a bomb caused the incident,' Liam said. 'All I've heard so far is that there was an explosion on board, but I still hold myself responsible for causing this situation. I'm waiting for the company to give me the official word, but in the meantime, don't tell anyone else about this conversation. I need some time to think this through; I'll talk to you later after I've got more information.'

After Ricci had left, Liam felt worse than ever. It looked like the Biopac was in the clear, but his own plan to shut down the drug scene had spectacularly backfired and actually led to the explosion on the Paragon. His plan to retire and spend the rest of his days fishing the rivers of Xanthos seemed to be receding into the distance. He wearily got to his feet and left the building to find Tom.

Tom was in his office when Liam called in and told him about his deal with Ricci and the fact that Max had threatened to put a bomb on the Paragon to get back at him. He was surprised to hear about the deal but was more concerned about Liam, who was very down about the new situation and, in his opinion, blaming himself unnecessarily for everything that had happened.

'The situation is still unfolding, and the full details aren't yet available,' Tom said. 'So far, all we have been told is that there was an explosion on board the transporter that we presume could have been caused by a bomb placed on the vessel by Max, but there's still the possibility that something else could have caused the malfunction.'

'The police will become involved, and there'll certainly be another investigation,' Liam said gloomily. 'For a long time, the Xanthos government has been waiting for an opportunity like this to cut off our drug exports, and now the police will come and probably tear this place apart. I shudder to think what Karman will make of that.'

'Don't blame yourself,' Tom said. 'You couldn't have anticipated that Max would be stupid enough to try to destroy a transporter and everyone on it because of something you did. It doesn't make sense; he must have known that due to his actions, security would be stepped up and adversely affect his drug exports. I've never met the character, but he sounds like bad news.'

Liam spent the next few days worrying in anticipation of an impending visit from the police, but he heard no more until he received another briefing from his director on Xanthos informing him a government investigation had confirmed that the explosion was deliberately caused by an explosive device hidden in a drug consignment. The news at least confirmed Ricci's account of the bombing, but it did nothing to relieve the guilt he was feeling. He was also informed that, as a temporary measure, future transporter services to Cornell had been put on hold pending the final findings of the government investigation, and there was talk about increasing security or even shutting down the planet.

After the call finished, Liam felt even more depressed, so he took a bottle of spirit from his desk drawer and poured himself a drink. As he sat and sipped his hooch, he recalled the string of unfortunate events that had occurred since the container arrived and wondered, for the first time, whether he had the stamina to see the latest investigation through to the end.

Amidst their busy activities, Tom finally caught up with Mia for an evening together, and over dinner, he informed her that the explosion on the Paragon had been caused by a bomb, and it looked like Max had deliberately concealed it in a consignment of drugs.

'It was fortunate that nobody was injured, and we won't know for sure that Max did it until the police on Xanthos finish their investigation,' Tom said. 'I can't imagine why Ricci puts up with him.'

'From what she told me, it sounds like she won't have to put up with Max for much longer,' Mia said. She was relieved to hear that no one had been injured in the explosion and, despite her promise to Ricci not to tell anyone about her mishap, she felt duty bound to bring it to Tom's attention and proceeded to tell him about Ricci being beaten up by Max.

'Why would he do that?' Tom asked.

'Ricci was trying to protect me,' Mia said and explained about spiking Max after he accosted her and his subsequent vendetta against her.

'You should have told me,' Tom said. 'If he lays so much of a finger on you, I'll make sure he becomes a permanent feature in your medical centre.'

'I think the danger is over,' Mia said, glad to find that Tom was not making a big deal of her news. 'I take good care not to go out at night on my own, and I always stay on the main walkways.'

'Tell me if he tries anything again,' Tom said. 'If he does, that jerk is going to get what he deserves.'

The next evening, Max was in a bad mood when he left a bar where he had spent the evening drinking on his own after being ostracised by the other drug dealers. He turned a corner into a walkway and heard footsteps close behind him, but before he could turn round to see who was there, he was gripped hard from behind and slammed against a wall. The breath was knocked out of him and his face scraped against the rough concrete wall as he slid down to the floor. Someone picked him up, slammed him against the wall again and proceeded to land several heavy punches to his ribs. He legs gave way beneath him, but before he could fall again, two powerful hands gripped his neck and lifted him clear of the ground. Through the blood running down his face, he recognised Tom's face glaring at him from a few centimetres away.

'If you ever lay a hand on Ricci or Mia again, I'll break your neck,' Tom said. He threw Max against the wall one last time and then, after he hit the ground, kicked him hard between his shoulder blades before walking away, leaving him curled in a sobbing ball on the walkway.

Mia was about to close down the medical centre at the end of the day when the door opened and Max limped in. They both stopped and stared at each other, uncertain what to do in the uncomfortable encounter. Mia was immediately aware that her spiker was in her coat pocket hanging on the wall on the opposite side of the room, and she stepped sideways to put a table between her and Max. She felt the comforting pressure of the dagger against her ankle.

'I want to see the doctor,' Max said in a hoarse voice.

'He's not here,' Mia said. 'You'll have to come back tomorrow.'

Max did not respond, and under the harsh light in the lights of the examination room, Mia saw that he had cuts and bruises on his face and was standing unsteadily, as if in pain. He turned to leave, but his legs could not carry his weight, and he slumped against the table. Mia realized that he was quite badly injured and, putting aside her reservations, helped him to his feet and sat him in a chair. Leaving him there, she went to collect some first aid items, surreptitiously scooping up her spiker and slipping it into her pocket as she walked past her coat. She treated Max's bruised face and then pulled off his shirt and saw the bruises on his ribs and a huge contusion on his spine that looked like a kick mark. Mia started to treat the bruises on his torso but, with the knowledge that Max had set the bomb and his vendetta against her, decided that something must be done and an opportunity to do so had presented itself.

'You have some internal bleeding,' Mia explained. 'There's a danger of blood poisoning, so I'm going to give you a shot of antibiotics.' She prepared to give him an injection, but instead of antibiotics, she filled her syringe with a powerful anaesthetic. She eased the needle into Max's arm and was about to depress the plunger when she found that her hand had become immobile. She stopped in surprise and then felt a warm glow travel down her other arm, which independently reached up and settled her hand on Max's forehead. The warmth travelled from her arm into Max, who immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep, still perched on the chair. Mia kept her hand in place until the warm feeling died down, and control returned to her arms. After pulling away from Max, she immediately knew that Entity had overridden her actions and done something to him, but she couldn't work out what. She emptied her syringe into a sink and flushed its contents, then put her kit away and stood staring at Max while she tried to work out what Entity had done and its reason for doing so. After a few minutes, Max woke up, confused, disorientated, and unable to talk coherently. He got to his feet and approached Mia, only to find Mia's spiker pointing straight at his face. At the sight of the spiker, he recoiled, and then unceremoniously dashed out of the centre without saying a word.

Mia left the medical centre shortly afterwards and caught up with Tom in his cabin. As they shared a bottle of wine, which Mia had come to enjoy after Mel's introduction, she noticed that Tom's knuckles were swollen and bruised, confirming her suspicion that Tom had taken her story about Ricci's attack more seriously than she had realized. Whether it was Tom's actions or the effects of the wine, she felt a warm glow inside, and reached out to give him a huge hug.

Tom was delighted with the attention. 'We obviously don't see enough of each other,' he said.

'Where does the time go?'

'Time is flying by and we're going nowhere,' Tom said. 'I've become disillusioned with life on Cornell and all its problems, and I'm keen to take you off this crummy planet and give you somewhere decent to live. You can bring Entity with you if you like.'

'That would be nice, but with the impending police visit, I think it unlikely that we would be allowed to leave even if we wanted to. We're going to have to face another investigation, and we have no idea how that will work out. Once that's out of the way, we'll be free to do whatever we want.'

'I'm beginning to think that these things will never be out of the way,' Tom said.

'Don't get depressed,' Mia urged. 'Hang in there; all this soon be over.'

##### Chapter Ten

Liam faced the main board of Karman Mining on a video conference call. He recognised hardly any of the faces that stared back at him, proof that he'd been away from the company headquarters for too long.

'The government has just announced that it is considering closing down its database on Cornell and relocating it to another planet, somewhere safer,' a senior director pointedly announced. 'If that goes ahead, the loss of earnings would need to be offset by an increase in mining activity on Cornell.'

'Most of the mines here have reached their limiting depth and are not fit for operation due to the presence of liquid poisons,' Liam explained.

'You'll just have to find a way round it,' the director said. 'Why can't you drill lateral tunnels?'

'We tried that when we first set up here, but the sub-strata aren't firm enough to support lateral activity. The only way forward is to deploy robot mining machines and dig deeper.'

Another director cut in. 'Robots cost money. After recent events, the board is concerned that Cornell has become a high-risk environment and it has no appetite to increase its exposure. The bottom line is that if you are unable to come up with a financial offset, we may have to close the planet down. It's up to you; we're giving you a week to come up with some proposals.'

The video call ended and Liam was left staring at a blank screen. Thank you all for your support and assistance, he thought bitterly.

Detective Inspector George Bau sat inside the bomb squad's operational base watching a video of an unmoving dark-brown receptacle standing on a concrete platform. In the twenty years he had worked for the Xanthos police force, he had never seen anything like it. 'It doesn't look much like a bomb to me,' he said. 'What's the purpose of those metal points on top?'

'I think that another part, which is missing, must fit over the top and connect the metal contacts,' Bruce Wade, leader of the Bomb Squad team, said. 'It looks as if it has been designed to take some kind of remote detonator.'

'What do you intend doing with it?'

'That's not up to me,' Bruce said. 'The police are in charge; it's your case.'

George flicked through more footage of the strange item.

'This is definitely a different explosive device to the ones we've dealt with in the past,' Bruce conceded. 'It looks more like a home-made effort.'

'Have you found out what's inside it?'

'It's an unknown liquid that may or may not be nitro glycerine. So far, we haven't even been able to identify what the bomb casing is made from.'

'I understand it was put on the Paragon by a team of three Transport Department inspectors; I take it they were not aware that it was a bomb.'

'They all stuck to the story that it was only a harmless portable generator, called a Biopac, but we've checked everywhere, and no such thing exists.'

'Where did they get it from?'

'They said that it was given to them by the Cornell Station Commander, Liam Sharp, but they became evasive when we asked why they were carrying it.'

George sighed in exasperation. 'What about the other bomb? The one that actually went off.'

'My team examined the site of the explosion, which breeched the outer hull of the transporter, and determined that the reaction was caused by gelignite, but we found no evidence linking it to whoever put it on the transporter.'

'Doesn't it strike you as odd that there were two different bombs on the flight?' George asked. 'It seems a highly unlikely scenario.'

'We first became suspicious of this Biopac when one of the loadmasters reported that the inspectors had created a scene before departure because the crate containing the Biopac was being loaded into the outer hold as freight, whereas they insisted that it be included with their personal baggage in the inner hold.'

'No person in their right mind would insist on travelling with a bomb,' George pointed out. 'None of that makes sense to me. I'll make it my first task to interview those inspectors, but in the meantime, is this Bio thing likely to explode or cause any damage?'

'There's no sign of any internal activity, so, with your permission, I would like to drill through the casing and establish what's inside it.'

'Is that safe?' George asked.

'We'll use a robot for that task; it shouldn't take too long to open it up.'

'Then I'll leave you to it,' George said. 'Be careful with that drill.'

For once, Liam was relieved to see on his screen the concerned face of a Karman director with whom he had been friendly for some years. He concentrated on what the man was saying. 'The police have taken over the investigation of the Paragon bombing. They're looking to travel to Cornell on the next shuttle out, so you can expect a visit from them in a week's time.'

'It should be a straightforward visit,' Liam said. 'We believe that we have already identified the person responsible for planting the bomb.'

'I don't like giving bad news, but you should be aware that the police consider you to be a person of interest.'

'What? Why am I being targeted?'

'I'm not party to police activities, but they have been asking about something called a Biopac, which was taken off the Paragon. Can you throw any light on what they are looking at?'

'I'm not familiar with anything of that name, but I'll ask around,' Liam said evasively, trying to keep his alarm from showing. 'Can you tell me why they are concerned about the item?'

'Apparently, the bomb squad has identified it as being another bomb. It's been isolated, and they are using a robot to try to open it up. I also understand that the police have been asked by the Transport Department to look into the activities of the deceased inspector, Dan Govan.'

'I thought that had been sorted out.'

'All I know about their request is that a report into his death was submitted, but the Department rejected it and want more detailed information about the events leading to his demise. I thought I would give you an early heads up on what's coming your way.'

'I appreciate that,' Liam said. 'Please let me know if you hear anything more.'

'I will, and good luck with the investigation.'

Liam immediately called an emergency meeting and updated Tom and Mia on the latest developments in the bomb saga, including the fact that he was a person of interest. 'The Xanthos Bomb Squad believes that the Biopac was a second bomb on board the Paragon and will be asking questions about it when they visit in a week's time,' he explained.

'What makes the police think that you would be involved in the bombing of a transporter?' Tom asked.

'The inspectors must have told them that I supplied the Biopac, and, by what seems to be pure bad luck, the bomb squad has become involved and decided that it definitely is a bomb.'

'We're all in this together,' Mia said. 'Did your director indicate if Tom and I were named?'

'The director who passed on the information didn't know much about the case, but I think you should assume that we were all named. My fear is what else the inspectors might have told them; the last thing we want to do is get involved in trying to explain about bodies popping in and out of biomass.'

'Won't the police be more concerned about finding the real bomber?' Tom asked.

'I don't see that as being our biggest problem,' Liam explained. 'We are pretty certain that Max was responsible for the explosion on board the Paragon, and we can point them in his direction, but if they want to know all about the Biopac, what are we going to tell them? Without being able to physically produce one, how can we convince the police that it wasn't a bomb that we supplied to the inspectors?'

While they were trying to think of a way out of the situation, Mia suggested that their problems would diminish if they could bring back Jay Conway.

Liam snorted. 'This is serious; it isn't a laughing matter.'

'There is something you should be aware of,' she said, and glanced at Tom.

Tom nodded. 'We have Entity. Jay gave it to me at the last minute before he left in the space station.'

Liam failed to grasp the significance of what Tom had said. 'So how does that change the cost of living?'

'Entity is a holistic creation; it existed in the space station and its container and was carried by Jay, and now me,' Mia explained. 'Entity has already created Jay once and I'm certain it can do that again. We could then ask Jay to produce another Biopac to demonstrate its properties and convince the authorities that it isn't a bomb. If they find out they are talking to its inventor, it shouldn't be too difficult to sell that idea.'

'I'm sorry,' Liam said. 'You've lost me. What did you mean when you said that you were carrying Entity?'

Mia explained how, after touching the box, Entity had entered her body.

Liam was astounded. 'I thought I had heard everything, but ....'

'Are you sure that Entity is capable of doing this?' Tom interrupted. 'After all, we don't have a dead body for it to recreate.'

Mia smiled at him. 'Trust me; I'm certain.'

'This would have to done in secret,' Liam said, starting to warm to the idea. 'Would we be doing it in the medical centre?'

'That wouldn't be private enough,' Mia said. 'Have we still got the container?'

'Yes,' Tom confirmed. 'It's still waiting to be broken up.

'That will be perfect; we can put Entity back into its original metal box and regenerate Jay from the container floor.'

Liam thought awhile. 'If you really think Entity can deliver, then it might just work. That still leaves the problem of the police trying to find out what Dan Govan was doing before he died in the space station; while they are digging around, they might inadvertently unearth something we don't want them to know about.'

'Would it help if Dan turned up on the scene again?' Mia said.

'What are you getting at?' Liam said.

'When Dan was absorbed by the space station, Entity retained the construction of his body as well as his mind,' Mia said. 'That information was transferred to Jay when he visited the station with Tom, and because all parts of Entity work in synchronisation, that information now exists in the specimen of Entity in our possession. We can use that information to recreate Dan in the same way it is going to recreate Jay.'

'How would having Dan back help us?' Tom asked.

'I haven't given it any thought until now,' Mia said, 'but if Dan was recreated, he would have no recollection of what had happened to him, just as Jay did. We could produce him and simply state that he had lost his memory.'

Liam liked the idea of getting Dan back, crazy though it sounded. 'We have a tight timescale; would it be possible to do all that in a week?'

'We can only try,' Mia said. 'If we could produce Dan, it would probably curtail the police investigation into his actions; I can't imagine they would want to go any further after finding out he is still alive.'

'I've just remembered that the transit hotel is still holding Dan's suitcase for collection – the team forgot to take it with them when they left,' Tom said. 'It will have his clothes in it.'

'And I've still got Dan's bag with his communicator and camera,' Liam added. 'I was going to throw it in with the container when we got round to scrapping it. With those items, we could kit out Dan in his original belongings. This is starting to sound like it could seriously help us.'

'Make sure to delete anything incriminating from the camera and communicator before you give it back,' Tom prompted.

'I certainly will. I dread to think what we would say if the police saw those photos of Jay's replica and Dan's body being dissolved by the space station floor.'

'If we return Dan wearing his own clothes and in possession of his own belongings, we could then claim that he had lost his memory and wandered off,' Mia said. 'We could also point out that although he has returned, we still have no idea where he was hiding all the while we searched for him.'

Liam and Tom looked at each other and nodded their heads.

'It's going to be a stretch, but I think we should give it a try,' Liam said. 'We've got a busy week ahead. Let's go for it.'

Ricci joined Mia in the coffee bar, where she had arranged to meet her.

'You're looking well,' Mia commented. 'I hope everything is okay.'

'Oh, yes. I'm fully recovered, but actually, this is nothing to do with me; it's about Max. He told me that he visited you the other night after he had been beaten up, and I want to know what you did to him.'

'I don't normally discuss my patients' ailments,' Mia said, 'but I only treated his bruises with the same lotions I used on you. Why do you ask? Has he been hitting you again?'

'No. Quite the opposite. This is going to sound weird, but Max is now a completely different person. He's come out against the drug manufacturers and is treating me respectfully for a change. You have a talent. I could feel it when you were treating my face, and I believe you used it on Max. You changed his life.'

Mia laughed. 'I've no idea what affected Max, but I'm afraid I have to tell you that it was nothing I did.'

'Let me hold your hands,' Ricci asked.

Mia was bemused, but held out her hands for Ricci to see. 'Look. There's nothing special about my hands.'

Ricci took hold of Mia's hands and a big smile lit up her face. 'I can feel it again. I was right; you are a true healer.'

Ricci departed the room a happy person, leaving Mia wondering what had happened to her and accepting that maybe she did possess healing powers after all, courtesy of Entity.

One day later, Liam received a call from the medical officer.

'We've just collected a body and brought it to the medical centre,' Mel said. 'The body is that of a man called Max Novak, and it looks like he died from a drug overdose.'

'Was it suspicious?' Liam asked.

'I haven't yet been able to establish the cause of death,' Mel said. 'We're preparing to carry out an autopsy.'

'I'll be right down,' Liam said.

When Liam arrived at the medical centre, he found Ricci waiting for him. She was very upset.

'I've just heard the news about Max,' he said. 'What happened?'

'I found him lying on floor,' Ricci said, wiping her eyes. 'I don't know what happened. Max had changed; he was a different person and had started a new life. He didn't deserve this.'

Mel joined them in the room. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'We tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Perhaps you would like to see him before I carry out an autopsy.'

Ricci and Liam followed Mel into the surgery, where Max's body lay on an operating table.

Liam pointed to burn marks on the body's chest and dried blood around its mouth. 'What caused those?' he asked.

'We put him on a pacemaker and an oxygen pump to try to save him; the marks on his body are associated with those procedures,' Mel explained. 'However, he remained unresponsive, and we were unable to stop his organs from shutting down. A preliminary blood test revealed high levels of multiple drugs in his system.'

Liam asked Ricci if she thought Max had accidentally overdosed.

'Max hadn't taken drugs for weeks,' Ricci said. 'The other drug manufacturers had it in for Max because he'd ruined their trade by planting the bomb, and I think they did this to him.' She produced a letter, which she gave to Liam. 'This was in his pocket when I found him.'

Liam skimmed through its contents, in which Max said he was regretful of his behaviour in the past and confessed to putting the bomb on the Paragon. It also included a reference to Mia being responsible for changing his life, and a separate sheet listed the names of all the drug manufacturers on Cornell.

'I think I'd better keep these in a safe place,' Liam said. 'They'll be required as evidence in the police investigation, which is fast approaching.'

After Mel had completed Max's autopsy and he and Mia were alone in the surgery, Mia read the autopsy report. 'Do you really believe this was an accidental overdose?' she queried.

Mel shrugged. 'Apart from some historical bruising on his torso, I can't find any evidence of unexplained physical contact on the body, but it remains a possibility. You once told me of Max's history of drug involvement and violence, so, regardless of what he wrote in that letter, I think he could easily have slipped back into his old habits and suffered the consequences. You obviously have reservations; what do you think happened?'

'I'm not convinced that the other drug dealers were physically involved in Max's death; I believe Max knew what was going to happen and wrote the letter to clear his conscience. I think he committed suicide to prevent them getting to him, and that letter was a suicide note.'

'I tend to agree,' Mel said, 'but with the evidence before us, I'll have to stick with the accidental overdose. Does that note he left help your case with the bombing?'

'Yes. When the police arrive, finding the bomber is going to be top of their list. I think it will go a long way to satisfying them.'

Tom and Liam were standing by the container, where a dark shadow on the floor had already started to rise into a physical form.

'This is day two,' Liam pointed out, 'How long do you think it will take it for Jay to fully develop?'

'Mia is convinced that Entity can do it in another two days,' Tom said.

'So we should get Jay on line by the end of the week, but Dan will take longer to become fully viable as a witness. I don't think this is going to work; we're going to have to abandon him and clear up the container and caravan after Jay has emerged.'

'Have faith. There's a lot riding on this, but proving the Biopac is not a bomb is the most important aim, and that will remove the direct charges against us. Where Dan is concerned, we're just going to have to wing it.'

'There's a big risk if we just leave him to develop,' Liam said. 'If the police come looking and find him hanging out of the container floor, we're finished.'

'In that case, we should be looking for ways to delay the police visit. Once they arrive on Skydock, they'll have to come down on a shuttle. What if the shuttle was unserviceable?'

'We've got several shuttles available,' Liam pointed out. 'At best, we could save a few hours, but any longer would make them suspicious about our intentions.'

'Then we have to make the decision to terminate Dan fairly soon, but why don't we wait until Jay produces a working Biopac? If something goes wrong and Jay isn't able to deliver, having Dan available will be the only thing going in our favour. Once Jay is up and running, we should have a better feel for how the situation is developing. I don't think we should just abandon him.'

Liam shrugged. 'Okay, we'll give Dan a chance. Let's wait until we can see how Jay is working out.'

Mia found Tom sitting in the canteen having lunch and slid onto the seat next to him. She placed her meal tray on the table. 'We can't go on meeting like this,' she joked.

'We hardly have time to see each other nowadays,' Tom said. 'Hopefully, all this will soon be behind us.'

Before responding, Mia looked around to make sure no one could overhear them. 'I'm not counting on that. How is your task progressing?'

'It's going to be difficult to complete within a week, and Liam is tearing his hair out. He's suggesting we completely abandon the idea of creating Dan.'

'That would be a shame,' Mia said. 'Producing Dan would really help our cause.'

'Liam sounds fairly determined, so let's hope we can persuade him to change his mind. In the meantime, Jay is coming on nicely, and it looks like we'll need your services tomorrow to help when he wakes up.'

'I'll be there for you. What have you got lined up for Jay while Dan is being created?'

'When he's ready, I want him to make another Biopac. We'll work together, and I just hope that it will be completed within the timeframe.'

'That's going to be our priority, but I still can't see why Liam is so concerned about Dan.'

'He thinks Dan won't be available in time, and I can see his point. After the police arrive, he doesn't want them searching the buildings and finding the container while Dan is still in the development stage.'

'You've got to give it a shot,' Mia insisted.

'It's going to be tight, but we'll do our best. If we can't get him ready in time, it'll be a wasted effort.'

'I still think we should try.'

'We can't do much about it at the moment. We definitely need the Biopac, so tomorrow I'll just concentrate on getting Jay back on his feet.' Tom rose to his feet. 'Sorry to have to leave you, but needs must.'

Mia smiled. 'I'm getting used to eating on my own. Just call me "Mia No-mates".'

Tom laughed. 'One day, I'll make it up to you and make sure you never have to eat alone again. That's a promise.'

The next evening, Mia and Tom stood outside the caravan, watching a screen that displayed Jay's sleeping figure lying on a bed.

'Everything worked out as planned,' Tom said. 'Well done.'

'How often does that happen?' Mia said.

'Not often enough. We must make sure that he stays in isolation.'

'We've got him on camera and the caravan has an alarm strip on the door, so there's not much chance of him getting loose.'

'He seems to be more tired than the last one; I hope he's alright.'

'He looks exhausted,' Mia said. 'I think it may be because we roused him sooner this time round. Have you decided how to broach working on the Biopac?'

'I've got a few ideas, including an input from Entity. We need to start working on the Biopac as soon as possible, so I plan to bring the subject up first thing in the morning. Are you sure you'll be okay sleeping out here?'

Mia looked at the old couch that Tom had found for her. 'I've slept on worse. In fact, I've spent years sleeping on beds worse than that.' She looked at Tom and saw the shadows on his face. 'You look worn out; why don't you get an early night for a change?'

'As attractive as that sounds, I think it's highly unlikely to happen. I'm probably going to spend the night trying to work out how to make a Biopac.'

'I'm sure Jay will show you, but you need to charge your batteries if you're going to be working all day. Go and get some sleep, and if you can't, you can come back here and swap beds with me.'

The next morning, Mia sat Jay down at a table inside the caravan. Tom joined them and gave Jay a quick brief on what had taken place after the container was recovered and brought to Cornell, taking care not to include any reference to the previous version of Jay that had gone through there.

'I can't believe that I've been away for two thousand five hundred years,' Jay said. 'What happened to me?'

Tom found it strange to hear Jay asking the same questions again and was amused to see him wearing a fresh set of overalls, noting that they were a better fit than the last lot they had found. 'It's a long story,' he said. 'I understand why you're eager to find out everything that's happening, but we have an urgent task that must be completed as soon as possible, and it involves you. Do this for me, and afterwards I promise to tell you everything you want.'

'Of course I'll help you. What do you want from me?'

'I need a Biopac,' Tom said.

Jay was puzzled and asked, 'How did you discover the Biopac?'

'That's part of the long story, and it would take days to tell it all. Can you provide me with a Biopac?'

'There's one inside the container,' Jay said. 'I'll get it for you, but I first need to open the metal box that's attached to the container wall.'

'Go ahead,' Tom said, unwilling to enter a conversation about why the Biopac was not where Jay expected to find it.

They both watched as Jay went into the container and laid his hands on the box. The box lid slowly opened, and Jay looked surprised to find the Biopac missing.

'I don't think he's ready for this,' Mia whispered.

'I'm not convinced we're ready,' Tom replied, 'but it has to be done.'

Jay reached inside the box and grasped the receptacle containing Entity, the receptacle Tom had returned to the box four days earlier. After a time, he straightened up and re-joined them in the caravan.

'Was that helpful?' Tom asked.

'I just received an enormous amount of information that I simply cannot assimilate,' Jay said. 'I'm struggling to take it all in.'

'I'm sure that in time you will understand everything, and I'll be here with you to fill in any gaps in your knowledge,' Tom said. 'I hope Entity confirmed that we mean you no harm and have no intention of stealing your inventions.'

Jay nodded. 'I am willing to assist you any way I can, but I don't fully understand what happened to the Biopac I brought from Earth. Do you want me to make another one?'

'Can you do that? I'm an engineer, and I'll be able to help you with the construction.'

'In that case I will do as you ask. Where would you like me to work?'

'Would it be feasible to build one here, in the caravan?'

Jay thought about it. 'I see no reason why not,' he said. 'Entity can generate and supply the two types of biomass needed for the casing and the power generation. We can mould the casing ourselves, but I will need a bench and some hand tools.'

'That won't be a problem,' Tom said. 'Can we begin now?'

'Certainly, but you must excuse me if I'm a bit slow at times. I need to contact Entity again to advise it of our requirements, so I will start with that.'

Tom left to locate a bench and some tools, leaving Mia to ensure Jay stayed under cover. After Tom had departed, Mia couldn't stop herself checking the floor of the container where Jay had lain, searching for signs of the dark shadow that would announce the beginning of Dan's creation, but nothing was yet visible. She watched Jay swaying as he held onto Entity and began to think that they had made a mistake in rushing him into working on his invention, but she was aware that she needed to remain positive for everyone's sake and tried to ignore her concerns. Five minutes later, however, she found herself staring down at the floor again, wishing that the familiar shadow would appear.

Two days later, Tom had moved his work out into the cargo bay, and he and Jay were finishing off the Biopac when Liam called him into the caravan where Mia was waiting.

'First of all, I've got an identity tag for Jay,' Liam said, handing the tag to Mia. 'He'll need that when he meets the police.'

Mia glanced at it. 'The name on this is Jay Conway. Are you sure we should be using his real name?'

'I thought it would be easier for Jay if he used his own name,' Liam said. 'He's got enough things to try to remember, and the name won't mean a thing to anyone else. We've only one day left before the police arrive, and I need a progress check. How's the Biopac doing?'

'Fine,' Tom said. 'We'll have it ready for test tonight – I just need to find something to create the metal terminals, and then it'll be ready to go.'

Liam looked through the window into the adjoining container where Dan's body was slowly emerging from the floor. 'What about Dan? How long will he take to come to life?'

'I reckon about three days,' Mia said.

'That means we have to somehow find another two days,' Tom said.

'Or we shut him down,' Liam said.

'We can't have got this far just to kill him off,' Mia said.

'He isn't alive yet, so we won't be killing him,' Liam pointed out. 'Right now, he's just a lump of biomass. The police might want to search the base, and we can't risk having a developing body in here for them to find. Have you any idea what will happen if they find him in this state?'

'It's important to our story to have Dan around, even if he is a few days late,' Tom said. 'Once he's up and dressed, we won't need to do anything else. We want Dan to appear confused after losing his memory, and we don't want the police digging into what he was doing and speculating about where the space station figures in all this. If we can recreate him, those problems will disappear, and the police can report to the Transport Department that they will be returning with a very much alive Dan Govan.'

Liam tried to control his rising fears. 'I can see you are both determined, so we'll go ahead. Let's hope and pray that the police don't want to search the building.' He turned and left the caravan.

Tom and Mia looked at each other.

'I've never seen Liam this upset before,' Tom said. 'Perhaps we should consider terminating Dan.'

'There must be another way,' Mia said. 'Let's not be hasty. Give it another day to allow us to think of something that would put the police off.'

'Maybe we could seal the container and say it was quarantined,' Tom suggested.

'But if the police are determined to search the building, a sealed container might make them suspicious, especially with the window blacked out,' Mia said.

Tom sighed. 'I'm thinking that we could hide the container inside one of the big ore carriers, or try to hide it underground, but that would mean involving other people, which is not an option. Right now, we have no idea what the police plan to do. I think we're just going to have to play it by ear and hope for the best.'

'You're right. We might be worrying for nothing, and we survived the last inquiry by being fast on our feet. Don't be concerned; I'm sure everything's going to work out fine.'

'I only wish I could share your optimism,' Tom said.

Later that night, Mia was restless and could not sleep. Tom was guarding Jay in the cargo bay, and she was in bed alone, which she found unusual after spending so many nights sleeping with Tom. She was also concerned about the impending police investigation that was on all their minds, to which there appeared to be no ready solution. As she lay in bed, pondering their situation, she became aware of something familiar – Entity was calling her. She slipped out of bed, pulled on her clothes and went through their living area and out across the building to Cargo Bay Three. Once inside, she slipped past Tom, who was lying uncomfortably asleep on the couch and then quietly entered the caravan, taking care not to disturb Jay, who was also asleep. Finally, she entered the container to find Entity glowing in the darkness and again felt its call. She reached out, touched it, and felt its presence fill her body with its golden glow, and as she experienced its power, it entered her mind.

Liam also was finding it difficult to sleep. He got out of bed in the middle of the night and poured himself a glass of water, then sat down in his lounge, alone with his thoughts. He had a feeling of utter despair, aware that the shuttle bringing the police was fast approaching Cornell, and the following day he would be interviewed while a half-formed body was lying inside the building next door. The thought of what might go wrong and its consequences for all of them made him break out in a sweat. He loudly cursed the day the container had arrived and led to all their problems.

Suddenly, from the sky above the base, he heard the sound of a high-pitched clarion call and felt what little hair he possessed stand on end. He jumped up and stared, open-mouthed, at the ceiling. Then the clear, ringing tone quickly turned into an anguished howl, which he immediately recognised.

As if in response, the base public announcement system crackled into life. "Tornado Alert! Tornado Alert! All essential personnel to attend their stations. Non-essential personnel report to designated shelters. Tornado alert! ...".

Liam threw on some clothes and hit the corridor running, and as he pounded through the base, the implications of the approaching tornado immediately became clear to him. Declaration of an emergency meant that the shuttle operations on Cornell were cancelled, and all the ships would be grounded until the tornado cleared. Liam's spirits started to soar. Due to the approaching tornado, the police would be confined to Skydock until he gave the all clear.

Tom arrived at the Control Centre shortly after Liam had activated the emergency plan. Normally, Tom would have stayed to assist him, but instead, Liam directed him to keep Jay company and to secure the cargo bays. The other engineers and emergency personnel checked in from their allocated stations, and Liam monitored the state of the base buildings while they went into lockdown. A status board and map slowly filled with green lights as the pressure locks on the buildings were activated to isolate individual base areas. Video of the internal walkways showed non-essential personnel filing down into the underground shelters.

Almost immediately, the first shock of the approaching storm hit the building, followed by the commencement of what Liam knew from experience would turn into a prolonged and sustained pounding of the base. The sky turned black. As he watched through the armoured glass windows, the howling wind increased in intensity and lightning strikes flickered across the scene, striking the base and surrounding areas of the planet. The sound of the wind changed to a higher pitched rattle as stones and debris were picked up from the surface and hurled against the base buildings. Then the night sky slowly changed from black to orange and the bursts of lightning froze pictures of swirling orange dust cascading down outside the windows.

The tornado continued to unleash its fury onto the building, and Liam felt its strength. He stood, ecstatic, and faced the ferocity of the chaos churning overhead and listened to the terrible screaming of the wind that almost drowned out the sounds of rocks crashing into the base. Then he raised his arm and shook his fist at the sight, challenging the elements to a contest. 'Bring it on!' he shouted. 'Do your worst!'

##### Chapter Eleven

Inspector Bau had spent most of the journey from Xanthos studying the case notes of the bombing of the transporter Paragon, and he was still struggling to make sense of them as they arrived at Cornell. Becoming aware that the shuttle was decelerating, he looked up and saw through the window the skeletal structure of Skydock approaching.

'This is a lot smaller than I expected,' he said to his deputy, Lesley Grayson, who was sitting next to him.

Lesley smiled and pointed at the orange surface of a pockmarked planet slowly passing by on the other side of their cruiser. 'Are you really a detective?' she humorously asked.

George laughed. He always enjoyed Lesley's company, even though she sometimes drove him to distraction. A colleague had once described her as the most sensible person on the force, and he knew that many members went to her to seek advice. Her only problem, which he wisely refrained from pointing out to her, was that she never knew when to stop and would obsessively pursue a case until it was solved. Like a dog with a bone, he thought, hoping that she would be unable to find anything to latch onto during their visit to Cornell. 'My processing ability has been warped by trying to unravel this case we're on,' he said. He looked at the planet again. 'What are all those humps and bumps doing on the surface?'

'They could be waste material from the mines that have been drilled,' Lesley suggested.

George was still looking at the planet. 'There's a dark patch down there that appears to be mine-free. Is that the base we're going to visit?'

Lesley looked out again. 'It's hard to work out where the base is. There's a lot of haze in the air; maybe that patch is a dust storm or something. Have you discovered anything of note in the case files?'

George remained pensive for a while. 'I appreciate that you haven't had a chance to read the report yet, so I'll give you a brief version. The bomb that crippled the transporter went off in the outer hold and used gelignite, a standard mining explosive that would have almost certainly been available here. It appears to have been concealed in a package of drugs that was loaded onto the transporter at the last minute. The act was obviously deliberate, and all we have to do is find out who did it. That shouldn't be too difficult on a planet with only about seven thousand inhabitants.'

'Have you established why anyone would want to blow up a transporter?'

'Not yet. Places like Cornell have operated outside the law for years, but they've crossed a line with this bombing, and all that is about to end.'

'What about the second bomb?'

'That's where things become confusing. Although the bomb squad labelled it a bomb, it's not clear to me that it was intended to be an explosive device. After the Paragon reached Xanthos, the bomb squad searched it and, in a crate inside the inner baggage hold, discovered an unidentifiable, suspicious object. A team of three Transport Department inspectors had taken it onto the transporter after visiting Cornell at the request of one of their inspectors who went missing. Unfortunately, the missing inspector was later killed in a fire on a space ship. The item concerned was listed on the manifest as a Biopac, which is not the registered name of any listed commercial or industrial appliance. Its owners claimed that it was some kind of organic generator and that it did not pose a threat. They even offered to connect wires to it to prove that it was harmless, but the bomb squad thought that cross-wiring a suspected explosive device on board a transporter was not a good idea, so they removed it from the transporter and, because of its unorthodox structure, decided not to tamper with it.'

'I thought they had robots to deal with that kind of thing,' Lesley said.

'Apparently, they were down to their last robot, and they didn't want to lose it. For your information, another four robots had previously been destroyed in training accidents. Am I painting you a picture of our supposedly highly skilled military bomb squad? It was only when they had carried the Biopac off the transporter that they noticed a liquid sloshing about inside it and immediately panicked, thinking it was nitro-glycerine.'

George pulled from a folder a series of photos that first showed an unremarkable, plain brown receptacle standing on a concrete bench, and then progressed through several stages of destruction, finally ending up depicting a blackened and damaged room with no ceiling, some wreckage in the foreground and no sign of the Biopac. Lesley looked through the photos.

'The bomb squad managed to isolate this device in a bunker but couldn't decide how to open it up,' George continued. 'By that stage the police had taken over the investigation, and the bomb squad asked for permission to open up the receptacle, which I granted. The squad then employed their remaining robot to drill into the casing, but after half an hour's drilling the Biopac casing started to smoke. Shortly afterwards, the robot managed to breach the casing, which caused the whole thing to suddenly flare up, destroying the room and everything in it; that wreckage you're looking at in the foreground is all that remains of the robot.'

'So number five finally bought it,' Lesley commented.

'Oh yes, it copped the full force. The temperature in there went off the clock and actually melted the walls.'

'If it had been a bomb, surely it would have just exploded,' Leslie said. 'It wouldn't have just flared up.'

'You could be right,' George said. 'I personally don't think it was a bomb. Before departing Cornell, the three inspectors were all insistent that the crate containing the Biopac be packed as hold baggage in the inner hull because they didn't want it to be damaged in the freight hold. That would indicate to me that the inspectors did not believe the Biopac was a bomb. The bomb squad, however, is still sticking to its bomb theory, which has resulted in the team of inspectors being jointly charged with illegally loading an incendiary device onto a public transport carrier.'

'The chances of two bombs being loaded onto a transporter at the same time must be pretty remote,' Lesley commented, 'and why would anyone want to travel on a vessel containing their own bomb? But if it wasn't a bomb, what was it?'

'Search me. I've never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, neither has the bomb squad, and they can't get their heads round it.'

'Surely someone out there knows what a Biopac is. Somebody must have made it.'

'Actually, somebody does know what it is. In their statements, the Transport Department inspectors all came out with different stories, the only thing in common being that the Biopac was given to them by the Cornell Station Manager, Liam Sharp, the Chief Engineer, Tom Tyler and a woman called Mia, no other name supplied.'

'She's probably nomad,' Lesley said. 'They don't bother with second names.'

'If the inspectors' statements are anything to go by, I think we could soon find ourselves struggling to understand something completely new, but I'm very curious to find out what a Biopac is. By the way, those inspectors, on the advice of their lawyers, have stopped cooperating with the police. Please explain to me how government employees can refuse to cooperate with another government department on the advice of government-employed lawyers.'

'That's because the word "government" keeps cropping up in the process,' Lesley said. 'The law doesn't seem to count for much these days.'

'Well, we're stuck with it, and I have to stress that, apart from the bomber, these people we're going to meet don't appear to have committed any crime under Xanthos law. However, I have in my possession a federal warrant that I will be presenting to Liam at the appropriate moment, and the warrant will allow us to go everywhere and arrest anyone. Our priority is obviously to identify the person or persons who put the bomb on the transporter, and at the same time, we'll find out what this Biopac actually consists of. We also need to check the events surrounding the death of the Transport Department inspector, Dan Govan.'

'What was he doing out here?'

'He'd been sent to inspect a space station that had been recovered in this neck of the woods, but according to the three inspectors, he actually stole the space station and tried to take it back to Xanthos. On the way there, the space station caught fire and Dan's remains were recovered from the wreckage. I personally find it difficult to believe that a Transport Department inspector was able to steal a space station, but we will ask the appropriate questions. Priority number three, the most dangerous part, is to shut down the drug scene on Cornell. To start off with, we'll only be making preliminary enquires in all of those areas before taking statements, but in two days' time a military cruiser will land on Cornell unannounced, and it'll be carrying an assault team of twelve commandos, who will remain ready and waiting for our call to seek and arrest the drug manufacturers. Are you carrying a gun?'

'I'm not supposed to, but yes, I always carry a gun.'

'Then if you are threatened or feel the need, shoot first and leave me to answer any questions. Whatever happens, we're unlikely to get into trouble over anything we do in a backwater like this.'

'Come out shooting - I like your style,' Lesley said. 'Who needs an assault team?'

Only a handful of passengers had been on board the shuttle, and they were quickly processed through the arrivals hall on Skydock. George was looking around, trying to work out where to report next, when a woman in uniform approached.

'I'm afraid I have some bad news for you,' the travel manager said. 'A tornado has reached the main base and the shuttle service down to the planet has been postponed until the winds drop and the visibility improves.'

'I thought the shuttles could operate in any conditions,' Lesley said.

'They usually can, but a tornado creates unacceptable levels of turbulence in the atmosphere. I've booked you into what we normally use as crew accommodation until the shuttle service restarts.'

'How long might that be?' George asked.

'The tornadoes travel fast and generally pass through within a couple of days. You shouldn't be here for too long.'

While they followed the guide to an adjoining accommodation block, Lesley and George exchanged glances.

'This doesn't sound like an auspicious start to me,' Lesley said in a low voice.

'Look at it another way: we have two days free sight-seeing in this mess of girders.'

Lesley scowled. 'I can't wait.'

'Don't worry; only two days of hell and then we'll be back in business. In the meantime, you can study the report yourself.'

After the worst of the raging storm had passed through the base, and the wind had dropped, Tom and Liam were staffing the Control Centre, checking the damage caused by the tornado as light slowly returned to the sky. The base itself appeared to have come through the storm relatively intact, although some reporting stations had flagged shattered outer windows, and several aerial installations were malfunctioning. There were no reported casualties.

'The winds reached over three hundred kilometres an hour; that's a new base record,' Liam said.

'I think we got away lightly,' Tom said, 'but those old mine castings are a real hazard.'

'They're called "smash" in the trade, and I agree with you. On average, we get about six tornados a season and lose about the same number of windows on each occasion. Fortunately, they are easy to repair, and the aerials will just be replaced.'

'If you don't mind me asking, why can't that smash be bulldozed back underground where it wouldn't pose a threat to the base?'

'Do you know, that is exactly the kind of comment I would expect to hear from a person of sound mind,' Liam said. 'Unfortunately, the Karman Mining Company is running low on sound minds and thinks that although current activities are pegged at a depth of one thousand metres, in the future those mines could be reactivated and sunk deeper using mining robots, so the smash stays on the surface and we repair windows after every tornado. That's just the way the company runs the show. How are things working out in the cargo bay?'

'I'm pleased to inform you that I worked with Jay throughout the storm, and we've managed to construct and test a functioning Biopac. Manufacturing it didn't pose too many problems, and I reckon it should be able to satisfy any police curiosity.'

'That's excellent news. Did you manage to find enough material to construct the terminals?'

'Yes, I found an ancient junction box and removed a set of contacts. They cleaned up nicely. Dan Govan has just come to life and Mia is looking after him and keeping him supplied with water – hopefully, he won't become too concerned why he isn't able to eat anything yet.'

'Good. Then we're on the way. I've spoken to the police – there are just the two of them – and they'll be arriving on the next shuttle down after we've opened for trade. For me, this has been the week from hell, but the tornado gave us that much needed extra time.'

'It certainly did, but I'm curious why we didn't get more warning of its approach,' Tom queried. 'It just blew up from nowhere, and I know there are dozens of wind stations around because in my last job I used to check them regularly. At least one of them should have triggered an early warning.'

'I guess it all depends on the tornado's track,' Liam said. 'Nothing on this planet can be guaranteed.'

'Then I think we're just about ready to face the music,' Tom said. 'After all our preparations, I'm actually looking forward to a meeting with the police.'

'Me, too,' Liam said. 'Let's hope that we are still feeling like this after they've left. We're definitely clear of the storm, so I'm cancelling the alert.' He pressed a button on his console, and a few seconds later, the base public announcement system crackled into life again, telling everyone that the emergency was over and essential personnel were to stand down.

After finally arriving on Cornell, George and Lesley made their way through a labyrinth of underground buildings on the way to their appointment with Liam.

'Did you notice the state of the base buildings when we landed?' George commented. 'They look like they've been in a war zone.'

'I'm surprised any of them are in one piece after that storm,' Lesley responded. She observed the gloomy surroundings. 'I think the storm could only have made improvements to this place,' she said. 'How do these people stand it down here?'

'At least it's a step up from that dreadful crew accommodation,' George said. 'If they were trying to soften us up before our visit, they succeeded. What a truly awful place this is.' He checked his map of the base and pointed at a corridor leading to a large building. 'I think that must be the administrative building. Are you ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

'To keep you up to date, the assault team has just arrived on the base, and I've put them on alert. We're two days behind schedule, but if we make progress at this meeting, they could be called on fairly soon. This is going to be an interesting encounter; let's go confront the enemy in its hideout.'

Ricci showed George and Lesley into Liam's office, where he, Tom and Mia were waiting for them. After making introductions and awkwardly standing while they drank coffee, everyone settled around a conference table for their meeting.

'First of all, I would like to apologise for your delay,' Liam said. 'By pure chance, you managed to catch the first tornado of the season, but they generally don't cause us too much trouble. Perhaps you would like to start the meeting.'

'I'd like to make a recording for our report,' Lesley said, placing a recorder in front of her. She looked around the table. 'That is if you don't mind.'

'Go right ahead,' Liam said.

'Okay,' George said. 'Let's get down to business. Obviously we are here to find out who put the bomb on the transporter.'

'I think we can help you there.' Liam produced the letter from Max admitting his guilt. He handed it to George, who read it and expressed his surprise at its contents.

'This is unexpected,' he said. 'Who is Max Novak?'

'Max was officially employed as a mining engineer, but he was also a drug manufacturer and dealer,' Liam said. 'Unfortunately, he died of a drug overdose shortly after penning that letter to his girlfriend.'

Lesley read the letter. 'Is this a suicide note?'

'The autopsy was unable to ascertain whether it was a suicide or not,' Liam said. 'All we know is that Max died of a drug overdose, but he appeared to have recently changed his ways and had turned his back on the drug trade.'

'Can anyone substantiate the contents of this letter?' Lesley asked.

'Yes, before the Paragon departed, Ricci Genova, Max's girlfriend, told me that he had been threatening to put a bomb on board,' Mia said. 'She had no proof that he had carried it out, so she assumed it was just an idle boast. Ricci, by the way, is Liam's assistant who showed you in.'

'Then we'll interview her later,' George said. 'In the meantime, can anyone here tell us what prompted Max Novak to bomb the transporter?'

'Ever since we received this letter, we've been trying to work out why he did it,' Liam said. 'I've been informed that recently there had been some bad feeling amongst the drug manufacturers and dealers, and I can only think that Max may have been cut out of the action by the others. Maybe he put the bomb on board the Paragon to get back at them by disrupting the supply chain. It's pure speculation on my part, but I can't think of any other explanation.'

Lesley read the letter again and turned to Mia. 'I take it that the Mia mentioned in this letter is you. How did you become involved with Novak?'

'I'm a nurse at the medical centre, and Max turned up one evening. He had been beaten up and I treated his wounds.'

'Did he indicate who attacked him or why?' George asked.

Mia shook her head. 'The drug crowd was always getting into trouble and turning up at the centre for treatment; my only thoughts on the matter were that the other drug dealers were in some way responsible for the state he was in.'

'He says in the letter that you changed his life,' Lesley interrupted. 'What did he mean by that?'

'I didn't change his life; I just patched him up,' Mia said. 'I've no idea why he mentioned me in the letter because at the time, he didn't seem to be particularly grateful for the treatment I'd given him.'

'We'll be taking statements from you all before we depart,' George said. 'Moving on, I understand that there was also another bomb or incendiary device on the Paragon; something called a Biopac. Can anyone here enlighten me as to what that might be?'

'We certainly can,' Liam said. 'The Biopac most definitely is not a bomb, and there is one available for you to inspect later, so you can see for yourself that it is only an electricity generator. I've also been led to believe that you are investigating the demise of a Transport Department inspector, Dan Govan; is that correct?'

'Yes. We've been tasked to act in this matter by the Transport Department,' George said. 'We understand that the inspector is deceased but would like to establish his movements prior to the point where his remains were recovered from a burning space station.'

Liam grinned. 'I have some welcome news for you. You can ask him yourself.'

'What are you talking about?' Lesley asked.

'He's been found,' Liam said. 'He's alive and well and sitting in the office next door.'

The police were dumbfounded.

'Hang on,' Lesley said, shuffling through her notes. 'It says here that the previous inspectors confirmed that Dan had died in a fire on a space station.'

'That's correct,' Liam confirmed. 'The inspectors recovered the remains of a body from the burning space station and confirmed his identity as Dan Govan. After they left, we cremated his remains under the bio-security protocol.'

'So what are you trying to tell us?' Lesley said.

'Obviously it was a case of mistaken identity,' Mia said. She produced a photo of the remains showing the burnt half of a body. 'This is all that was recovered from the space station. As you can see, the face is so badly damaged that it is barely recognisable.'

Lesley took the photograph and examined it. 'It looks like the body has melted,' she commented.

'That's because the body was subjected to an extreme level of heat,' Mia quickly added, acutely aware that the remains portrayed were actually made of biomass that had caused her some problems when she tried to scorch the head with a blowtorch. 'We didn't have any DNA to compare it with, so we had to rely upon the inspectors to identify the remains before we cremated them. Unfortunately, they got the wrong person.'

'Can anyone here confirm that the person claiming to be Dan Govan is actually him?' George asked.

'Certainly,' Liam said. 'Tom and I had in-depth conversations with Dan before he disappeared, and I can vouch for the fact that this person is definitely Dan Govern. He's even dressed in the same clothes he was wearing when we last saw him.'

George scratched his head. 'In that case, we'd better see this man who claims to be Dan Govan.'

Liam buzzed Ricci, who brought a man into the office. The police stared at him curiously.

'We would like to ask you a few questions,' George opened. 'For a start, we need your name and occupation.'

'My name is Dan Govan,' the man said, 'and I am an inspector for the Transport Department. Before you begin to question me, I have to inform you that I have suffered a memory loss and am unable to explain my whereabouts for the last few weeks.'

'What can you remember?' Lesley asked.

'The last thing I remember was checking out a space station on Skydock.' Dan pulled a camera from his bag and showed the assembled room pictures of the exterior of a damaged space station. 'After I took those pictures, I asked for a team to be sent out to investigate an anomaly I had discovered.' He produced his communicator and showed everyone the message he had sent.

'Can you recall what that anomaly was?' Lesley asked.

'Unfortunately, I can't,' Dan said. 'The next thing I became aware of was when I found myself talking to Mia in a cargo bay near here. Mia took me to see the doctor, who diagnosed memory loss, possibly associated with trauma. I have racked my brains, but I cannot explain what happened. I simply do not remember.''

'Is that correct?' George asked, looking at Mia.

'It is,' Mia confirmed. 'I was passing by the cargo bay when I noticed that the door had been left open, and it needed to be kept closed because it was a pressure safety lock. Before closing the door, I peered inside and saw Dan standing in the bay, looking confused. Although I had never previously met him, I recognised him immediately from the missing person pictures that had been circulated. I immediately took him to the medical centre where the doctor gave him a full check-up, including a body scan, and could not find anything wrong with him.'

'Can you explain what caused the memory loss?' Lesley asked.

'I'm only a nurse, but I have observed similar symptoms from people suffering from mini-strokes, which are difficult to accurately diagnose. That might explain his condition, but I couldn't say for certain.'

'If the body recovered from the space station wasn't Dan's, whose was it?' George asked.

'I don't think any of us can answer that question,' Tom said, 'but it must have been someone who knew how to pilot a space vehicle. However, nobody on Cornell has been reported missing, so we have no idea who it could have been or what their intentions were.'

George remained silent while Lesley scribbled a few notes. 'You mentioned the Biopac earlier on,' he eventually prompted.

'Yes,' Liam said. 'We've got one to show you.'

George was wary. 'Should we really be viewing a device that has been designated a bomb?' he asked.

Liam laughed. 'The device in question is a portable generator that goes by the name of Biopac, and the man who actually invented it is here to show you what it can do. Please follow me.'

With the exception of Dan, they all moved to the adjoining building where Jay was waiting for them. Next to him, perched on a benchtop, was a dark brown receptacle with two rows of shiny metallic contact points along its top. Liam introduced the man as Jay Conway, the inventor of the Biopac, and asked him to demonstrate its capabilities.

'This device is constructed from a biologically produced substance called biomass, and it contains no moving parts,' Jay said. 'It's a sealed unit that constantly creates and breaks down another, unique, liquid biomass core to produce electricity, and I will demonstrate what kind of power it produces.' Jay clipped some wires onto the exposed terminals and connected them to a nearby test set that immediately started spinning an attached electric motor. He applied a braking load to the motor's shaft and showed on the gauges how the Biopac immediately responded and increased its power output.

'You may notice that at times the machine's casing becomes translucent; that's just part of the bio-breakdown process and not a result of internal heating or anything,' Jay pointed out.

The two police officers were amazed to see the Biopac in action and at the same time relieved to find that it actually was a generator and not a bomb.

Lesley produced some photos of the Biopac on Xanthos and showed them to Jay. 'This is the Biopac that was taken off the Paragon by the bomb squad. They said that while it was being drilled open by a robot, it blew up, confirming that it must have contained some kind of explosive.'

'This machine here is exactly the same as the one that was on the Paragon,' Jay said. 'Nothing inside this receptacle is explosive, but at a critically high temperature, the internal liquid biomass will go into thermal shock and produce a huge dump of latent energy. I'm talking about trigger temperatures that would melt metal, but the receptacle case is exceptionally tough and if it was being drilled, the friction of the drill bit could have started a reaction.'

'Does this ring a bell?' Lesley said, handing Jay a photo of a blackened and destroyed room.

Jay was amused. 'Oh, yes. I presume this was the fate of my first Biopac. That's a perfect example of what an energy dump will do; it's more of a constrained energy surge than an explosion. You can tell by the scorch marks on the walls; there is an even gradation of colour from light grey at the floor to jet-black at the ceiling. An explosion would have blackened everything in the room.'

'That's a really impressive machine,' George said. 'It's a shame that the other one was destroyed. Do you have any more of these?'

'I've only produced the two Biopacs,' Jay said. 'Once I invent something, I tend to lose interest.'

Lesley leaned over and checked Jay's identity pass. 'It says here that you are a caretaker. Is that correct?'

'I know what you're thinking, but I'm happy to work as a caretaker because it allows me time to do what I want on the side without any restrictions,' Jay said. 'Some people call me the original nutty professor, but I'm not interested in commercial activities, which is why I gave my original prototype Biopac to Tom to do with what he wanted.'

George asked Tom if that was correct.

'Yes, and I shared ownership of the Biopac with Liam and Mia with the object of developing it commercially,' Tom confirmed, 'but we then found out that there would be complications because we were all contracted to Karman Mining and the company would be able to claim copyright on any inventions we declared. Because of that restriction, we decided that there was no point in keeping the Biopac, which is why we handed it to the team of inspectors.'

George closed his notes. 'You've convinced me that this device is not a bomb, but I do wonder why the bomb squad was so fixed in its views.'

'We originally felt the same way when we first came across the Biopac,' Tom said. 'I think it was because we had never seen anything like it before. I'm an engineer, and I still find it difficult to accept that a current can be generated without using metal or moving parts.'

'I don't think anyone has seen a machine like this before,' George said. He turned to Liam. 'Now we come to the tricky part – the drug scene. I'm sure you must be aware that after the bomb was smuggled on board the Paragon inside a drug consignment, the drug trade on Cornell cannot be allowed to continue.'

'I presumed as much,' Liam said, and handed a sheet of paper to George. 'Along with his confession, Max produced a list of active drug dealers on the planet. I have added details of their locations.'

'There are twenty drug manufacturers on this list; how did it manage to get to that state?' Lesley asked.

'Drug making has been custom and practice ever since the government set up its data bases here, and the players were manufacturing drugs in their own time,' Liam said. 'They weren't doing anything illegal, and the industry grew because the demand from Xanthos always outstripped the supply from Cornell. That demand is still increasing, but it's beyond my control; perhaps it's something your police could look at.'

George ignored the comment and reached into his case to pull out a federal warrant. 'I apologise for having to over-ride your Station Commander's jurisdiction, but the bombing of the transporter has brought everything to a head.' He handed a sheet of paper to Liam.

Liam carefully examined the warrant.

'Due to the sensitivity of breaking a precedent, the warrant has been authorised by the Supreme Court, the highest authority on Xanthos, and it cannot be challenged,' George pointed out. 'Please excuse us. I must call in reinforcements and arrest the people on this list.'

#####  Chapter Twelve

After having dinner with Lesley the next evening, George pushed his plate aside and commented, 'I've had some bad meals in my time, but that must be the worst I've ever eaten. Without wishing to sound crude, it must be the closest thing to recycled food you can find outside a bathroom.'

Lesley had already given up on hers. 'That was a truly inedible meal,' she agreed. 'We shouldn't have eaten in the hotel, but one of the waiters told me why the food is so bad. Five years ago, Cornell started making its own alcohol and wines, but that activity started to overload the planet's water production. Liam was forced to hold a referendum on whether to allocate the remaining water to alcohol or irrigation, and the population voted to go for the booze. Since then, half the food consumed here has been imported as dried produce.'

'That would explain it,' George said. He picked up an empty wine bottle and read the label. 'However, the wine was unexpectedly good, so the available water is obviously being put to good use. This must be the best thing Cornell produces.'

'In my diary entry for today, I shall write that the highlight of our trip here was sharing a bottle of Cornell red,' Lesley said, 'but before we pull out, tell me if you are wholly convinced by the explanation of the Transport Department inspector's missing memory.'

'Not totally, but he's obviously very much alive and kicking,' George said. 'I don't think that we can do any more to satisfy the Transport Department's request. If they aren't satisfied, they can ask him themselves. Have you heard back from them yet?'

'Yes, earlier today they confirmed that the photo I sent them was definitely Dan Govan; I guess he must have lost his ID card while he was wandering around.'

'We're running out of reasons to be here,' George said. 'Are you up to date with your report?'

'Just about. I've compared photos of the Biopac on Xanthos before it burnt out with the photos I took of the one Jay showed us, and they are definitely the same item – a portable generator. I've made a backup for you of the interview recordings, and I'll transcribe them when we get home.'

'The drug dealers have been arrested and are already on their way to Xanthos,' George said. 'Dan is travelling with them, and that just about wraps everything up.'

'Do you think those dealers will end up in prison?' Lesley asked.

George shook his head. 'We established the identity of the person responsible for placing the bomb on the transporter, and the other drug dealers have been taken in for questioning to find out if they were involved. It sounds like they weren't, but the exercise will serve as a deterrent should they decide to take up drug manufacturing again. Liam has told me that while the drug makers are away, he's going to remove and destroy all their equipment, which should put a damper on their activities. So, I think our mission has been completed, and we can start packing for the return journey.'

Lesley looked around the dimly lit dining room and pulled a face. 'Don't worry, I'm already packed.'

The next morning, George sat in the shuttle taking him and Lesley back to Xanthos, and whilst surveying the vast array of bright stars around him that never seemed to move, he pondered the events of the last few days. He looked sideways at Lesley, who was sitting next to him with her eyes closed, although George knew from experience that she was not asleep.

'You're very quiet,' he observed.

'I'm thinking,' Lesley said, opening her eyes.

'You're always thinking; what is it this time?'

'It's nothing.'

'I've known you for a long time. Something's bothering you; tell me about it.'

Leslie pulled her seat upright. 'Okay, let me run this by you. On the face of it, our investigation on Cornell was a resounding success, but I have a gnawing doubt that won't go away. Don't you think it was all too good to be true? For instance, take that guy Dan, who claimed to have lost his memory. He was missing for four weeks, and apart from Mia's mini-stroke theory, there was never a believable explanation for how that happened. During his time away, where did he sleep, and what did he eat?'

'Unless he'd been conjured up out of thin air, which I consider highly improbable, he must have been hiding somewhere,' George offered.

'Could he have been taking drugs?'

'It's a possibility,' George said, 'but he appeared to be coherent and could clearly recall all the details leading up to and following his memory block. Like you, I wasn't convinced about the mini-stroke idea, but I think Dan actually suffered a serious memory loss and there must have been a reason for it, a reason of which we are not aware. What did surprise me though, was that after the bombing, the drug manufacturers made no effort to hide their laboratories; it's almost as if they were challenging us to try to prosecute them. Big mistake.'

'Maybe after Max coughed and left the scene, they thought nobody would bother them, especially if they had nothing to do with the actual bombing and assumed they were still operating outside the reach of Xanthos law.'

'That assumption expired the minute the bomb was placed on the transporter inside a package of drugs,' George said. 'They were insane to think that there wouldn't be a significant response to such an action. Those guys sure got one hell of a shock when the assault team walked in on them.'

'I still have my suspicions about what went on back there.'

'I understand how you feel, but we reached a point where we couldn't go any further,' George said. 'All our concerns were addressed; we even sent back an inspector who had been confirmed dead by his fellow inspectors and his remains subsequently cremated. That has to be a hard act to follow; what more could anyone expect of us?'

Lesley laughed. 'Changing the subject, I must confess that I found Mia an interesting character.'

'You mean the nomad?'

'Yes. She had a certain aura around her.'

'You're beginning to sound like a clairvoyant yourself,' George said. 'I saw you two having a pash before we left.'

'I only gave her a hug; I just had to touch her.'

'It was probably just pheromones. Maybe she had the hots for you.'

'No, I could definitely feel the energy in her, and I'm not going to talk to you if all you can think of is sex.'

'Then I'm not going to think about sex,' George said. 'Is there a bar on board?'

'I've seen a vending machine on the next level,' Lesley said.

George gave her some dollars. 'Get me a beer, will you, and have a glass of wine yourself.'

Lesley raised her eyebrows. 'Do I get a say?'

'I think it's just red or white.'

'Oh, forget it,' Lesley said and went to find the drinks machine.

After Lesley had left, George started to think about what she had said. He had to admit that he was having similar doubts to hers: everything in the investigation had come together so effortlessly. What bomb? Our caretaker cobbles them up in his spare time, and he'd love to show you his latest model. George recalled the sight of Lesley putting her fingers in her ears and shutting her eyes as Jay connected the Biopac to the test set, causing him to laugh aloud. Apart from being cremated, what had dead Dan been up to? He's next door; would you like a word? And who put the bomb on board? The bombers name and confession are in this letter, which he conveniently left behind before topping himself, and, to help you out, he's provided a list of all the drug makers on the planet. There were no human remains left, and there was no record of anyone missing from the planet, so if Dan was still alive, whose body had been cremated? Thinking back to the investigation, he had always felt that the people they interviewed were holding something back, but the investigation had revealed nothing at all to attach them to the drug scene, or to the inspector's memory loss, and the Biopac was undeniably a portable generator, not a bomb. So why were they concerned?

Lesley returned with the drinks.

'Have we missed something?' George asked.

'Let me put it this way,' Lesley replied. 'So far, we have a missing space station, an inspector went missing, and his memory is still missing. In answer to your question – yes, I think we could have missed something, but do you seriously want to go back and look further?'

'Not unless I have to.'

'Maybe this will help. Last night, I carried out a search of all the government databases, and there was only one Jay Conway ever on record. Listen to this - he was an inventor and had built his own space station.'

George's ears pricked up. 'Then that's our man!'

'There's only one small problem,' Lesley said. 'He lived on Earth two thousand five hundred years ago.'

'Ah, then I think it definitely rules him out as a witness.'

'But it means the man who is calling himself Jay Conway may be using a false name. Why would he feel the need to use a false name? And how did he just happen upon a name that hasn't been used for thousands of years and belonged to an inventor who once lived in a space station?'

'Don't forget that Cornell has become the last chance saloon for half the criminals on Xanthos; I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people sent here have changed their names at some time. Is it possible for there to be some kind of connection with someone who lived all that time ago?'

'There's more,' Lesley said.

'You never give up, do you? Tell me more.'

'When I found the report about Jay Conway, I discovered that someone else had accessed the very same report within the last six months.'

'What's the significance of that?'

'The government database has restricted access through the Xanthos portal, which means that the report was accessed by a government employee.'

'That's more than a coincidence,' George said, 'but what's it telling us about the man who calls himself Jay Conway?'

'Hold in your thoughts this scene: a nutty professor is working as a caretaker on a planet in the back end of beyond whilst producing an incredible machine that has the potential to change everyone's lives by providing them with free electricity. The Biopac patent must be worth a mint, yet he doesn't do commercial. Something isn't right. Jay is obviously a clever man, and I presume he must have made other inventions in the past, but there was no mention or evidence of them.'

'Without the two thousand year plus time difference, I think we might have reason to look further. As it stands, nothing really links up.'

'On the face of it, it doesn't. Something else that doesn't add up is the fact that when we arrived on Cornell, everyone seemed to be very much aware of our intentions. How did they find out?'

'Liam was a senior manager in Karman Mining, and I assume that the company, would have given him advance warning of our visit. It would have been relatively straightforward to work out what we would be looking for.'

'The whole time we were interviewing them, they were leading the agenda; they told us everything we needed to know and provided answers to our questions almost before we asked them.'

'Maybe we should go back and look further,' George suggested.

'No,' Lesley said. 'You are right; those people are no longer part of our investigation, and we can't go back on a fishing expedition just because we feel like it. However, I don't think we should let this drop.'

'So where's your line of thought leading?'

'I think we should take another approach. Why don't we let them come to us?'

'How's that going to happen?'

'Those inspectors who took the Biopac to Xanthos almost certainly intended to make money out of it before the bomb squad denied them that opportunity, and I genuinely believe that at some point, one or more of the people we have just interviewed will try to produce the Biopac commercially,' Lesley said. 'When that happens, it will certainly hit the news headlines, so all we have to do is put out alerts and when their names are flagged up, we can start keeping tabs on their activities.'

'Whatever their intentions are concerning the Biopac, they aren't obliged to reveal them to us,' George said, 'and if Jay is willing to part with his invention, that's up to him.' He thought it over. 'I get that the men could be up for giving it a try, but where does your friend Mia fit into the scheme of things?'

'This is where it gets interesting. When we interviewed Liam's assistant, Ricci, she said that Max had once beaten her and she was impressed with the way Mia treated her wounds. Later, Max himself suffered a beating and Mia treated him. That was what Max was referring to in his suicide note, or whatever it was, when he said Mia had changed his life forever, although Mia was quick to deny it. It's obvious that she possesses unique healing powers, and I will be surprised if Mia the nomad doesn't eventually end up employing those powers on Xanthos.'

'I can't fault your logic,' George said. 'Is that it?'

'No. There's one more thing.'

George laughed. 'There always is. Go on; make my day.'

'It's the space station.'

'That never figured in the investigation.'

'A space station was found, and Dan investigated it. It was stolen, and Dan was accused of stealing it. Then it caught fire, and Dan, who was supposed to be on board, was written off as dead, yet nobody wanted to talk about it.'

'I'm beginning to wish you hadn't talked about it,' George said. 'You can speculate all you like, but I don't think we'll ever be able to establish who was actually on board the station when it caught fire. Nobody had been reported missing, and the fire destroyed any DNA evidence. Let's leave that for another occasion.'

'Jay Conway had a space station,' Lesley persisted.

'Stop! I can't take any more!' George held up his tin of beer. 'Here's looking forward to interesting times ahead,' he said.

'I'll drink to that,' Lesley responded, holding up her plastic cup of wine.

The two of them remained silent for several minutes until George asked, 'What about the space station?'

'It's not important,' Lesley said, staring pointedly out of the window. 'We can talk about it later. When you can find the time.'

'Okay, I'm sorry I wasn't taking any notice, but now I'm listening,' George said. 'If you've got something to say, say it, but I must remind you that by virtue of being alive, Dan Govan is no longer part of the investigation, and the station was burnt out and destroyed before we turned up on the scene.'

'As you wish,' Lesley said, 'but technically, Dan still is part of the investigation. Our brief was to investigate the circumstances leading up to his reported death. We haven't done that.'

George groaned. 'There's no peace for the wicked. Don't worry about me; just go right ahead and spoil my day.'

'I'm really getting into this,' Lesley happily announced. 'I think I've worked out the connection.'

'What connection?'

'I'm talking about the link between the Jay Conway of the past and the one who just showed us his Biopac.'

George could not help but be drawn in. 'Keep going.'

'When I discovered the news item that referred to the name Jay Conway, it also included the information that he had painted his space station with a yellow bio-coating to advertise his products.' Lesley pulled out her communicator and brought up some pictures to show George.

George flicked through the pictures. 'What's this supposed to be?'

'This is the space station that Dan went out to Cornell to inspect.'

'It looks like a pile of wreckage. How could that be a space station?'

Lesley enlarged one of the images. 'Take a good look. What colour can you see?'

George carefully examined the image. 'Okay, so there are some yellow panels amongst that mess, but they don't appear to be part of a structure.'

'Dan thought they did; these are copies of the images taken from his camera.'

George leaned back in his seat. 'Based on a few pieces of yellow wreckage, it's a big leap to claim that this so-called space station once belonged to the original Jay Conway.'

'How often have you seen a yellow space vehicle? We're probably looking at what's left of the only one ever made. I believe that this is the two thousand five hundred year old event that links the original Jay Conway to the one we just met.'

'You're making my teeth hurt,' George said. 'What else have you got lined up for my torture?'

'I've been thinking. Dan said he was checking out the space station when he lost his memory, and these images were the last ones he took, none of which would appear to home in on anything important. From the context of the statement I took from him, I took it to mean that he was actually inside the space station when he discovered the anomaly that caused him to contact his base. He had taken about twenty photos of the exterior, and I assume he would have taken even more shots of the interior, particularly shots of whatever caused him concern, yet there were none on his camera.'

'Assuming you're right, what happened to those photos?'

Lesley pulled out her notebook and checked her observations. 'Along with his camera, Dan had a communicator, and he showed us the last message he sent back to Xanthos. After that, there was no record of messages sent or received. It's unthinkable that the Transport Department didn't try to contact him after they received his request. I think that they must have made multiple calls, but those calls would appear to have been deleted from the communicator.'

'That's a lot of supposition.'

'I think I may be able to support that supposition. In order to close down our investigation before we left Cornell, I was gathering any evidence I could find. It was my intention to sort and copy the active memories of Dan's machines, but because I was short of time, I just copied their entire operating systems, which included all their software. If any files had been deleted from either machine, they'll probably still be available on their base memories.'

'Can you access them?'

'Not here, but when we get back to Xanthos, I'll take my copies of the systems to the forensic department, and they should be able to retrieve any deleted items that are accessible.'

'You've got me hooked. What do you think they'll find?'

'At the very least, a large number of frantic calls on the communicator asking Dan what he found, where he is, and why he isn't responding. I also think that whoever deleted items from the communicator may have also deleted items from the camera. If Dan had taken interior shots, there could be some very interesting photos stored in that camera. Maybe they could throw some light on what that anomaly was all about.'

'If you're correct in your supposition, who do you think is responsible for deleting data from those machines?'

'Ah, that's the million dollar question,' Lesley said. 'We need to work that out.'

George dug around inside his pocket and held out some dollar bills. 'In that case, I think we need some more drinks.'

Lesley smiled sweetly. 'It's your turn. Mine's a white wine, and while you're there, help yourself to a beer.'

##### Chapter Thirteen

That night, Tom and Mia attended a party at Liam's apartment. Jay was already there when they arrived, and Liam greeted both of them at the door with a glass of special vintage wine before calling them all together to drink a toast to the future.

Following the toast, Tom looked around Liam's apartment, which he had never been inside before, and was surprised to find the walls covered with paintings of fish. 'Who's the artist?' he asked.

'That'll be me,' Liam said. 'I paint fish to keep alive my retirement dream of buying a boat and spending the rest of my days fishing the rivers and seas of Xanthos.'

'You're very talented,' Tom commented. 'These fish look lifelike.'

'It's all that's kept me sane over the last few weeks,' Liam said, 'but our major problems appear to be behind us, and I feel that at last we can all start to wind down. The drug problem has been resolved; the government has decided to keep its database on Cornell; and, most importantly, Karman is about to trial a robotic mining machine here, which, if successful, would give the industry a major boost. The threat of a shutdown has been withdrawn, and I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that.'

Mia turned to Jay. 'I understand that you and Liam are going to develop the Biopac. What made you choose to do that?'

'I heard that Sollus is about to ditch Karman as energy supplier and start up its own power industry,' Jay said. 'I discussed it with Liam and we've decided to set up production of the Biopac there; we want to produce cheap, clean electricity for everyone to access.'

'I'm taking early retirement and will be financing our venture from my pension fund,' Liam added. 'It looks like my dreams are finally going to come true; Karman will probably hate me, but hey.'

'Tom and I wish you both the best of luck,' Mia said.

'I've worked for Karman long enough to know that it won't all be plain sailing,' Liam said. 'I've asked Ricci if she would be interested in joining us, and I think she might be. Actually, she said something about working with the devil you know, which I took as a compliment. Now, I think Jay wants a word with you and Tom.'

'You've both done a lot for me, and I want to return the favour,' Jay said. 'After we've cleared all the legal hurdles and started production of the Biopac, we'll be in touch and give you shares in the company.'

'That's very kind of you,' Tom said. 'Let's hope that you don't encounter too many problems on the way.'

'What about you two? Have you two made any plans for the future?' Liam asked.

'We haven't had time,' Mia said. 'I think we'll have to move on; this place won't be the same without you.'

'Then let's make the most of tonight,' Liam said. He held a bottle in the air. 'I've got a private stock of vintage wine to finish off before I retire. Nobody's leaving until this is all gone.'

Later, Tom and Mia, feeling heady with all the wine they had drunk, were contentedly lying in bed, talking and trying to work out a plan for the future.

'Things seem to have quietened down and everything is returning to normal,' Tom said. 'I'd love to be in the room when Dan turns up for work and meets the other inspectors. Can you imagine the conversation?'

'I bet that would be a conversation worth recording,' Mia said. 'You have to go back to Xanthos and work in the nuclear power industry again. I think you must be ready to leave Cornell after all you've been through.'

'With Entity and your healing powers, you have a mission and must also leave this place; I've no intention of leaving without you.

Mia smiled mysteriously. 'I wonder how we're going to get round my travel ban.'

'I guess we'll just have to get married,' Tom said.

'I thought you would never ask again,' Mia said.

'With all that's been going on over the last few weeks, I haven't had the opportunity, or, to be honest, the energy. In the morning, I'll talk to Liam about obtaining a marriage licence, and I suggest we spend our honeymoon on Xanthos.'

'Liam will probably tell you where the best fishing spots are.'

'I'm not even sure I like fish,' Tom said. 'Anyway, we won't have time for that; we'll have to work out what to do with Entity. I'm not convinced Xanthos is ready for it.'

'Don't worry,' Mia said. 'When the time comes, Entity will know what to do.'

Tom turned over and stared at the ceiling with a smile on his face. 'For the first time, I think everybody is finally content with what they have.'

'Then we must work to keep it that way,' Mia said.

'I will,' Tom said. 'I don't think I could take a repeat of what we've just been through. It'll be nice to make a fresh, clean start in a place where nobody knows anything about us.'

Police Headquarters on Xanthos – Two weeks later

It was dark by the time Lesley finished transcribing the last of the statements from her investigation on Cornell. She was thankful that the job was finally complete but frustrated that the call from the forensic laboratory, which she had been waiting for all day, had not materialised. The laboratory had been working on a memory stick she had provided, the one containing information from Dan Govan's communicator and camera. She checked the time. It was late, but she was unwilling to pester the lab because she had called in a favour and they were not charging her for their time. Despite her mounting frustration, she was forced to accept that the laboratory had shut down for the night and the lab results would not become available until the following day. After tidying her desk, she looked around the deserted office one last time, uncertain what to do next. A takeaway meal followed by an evening alone in her apartment appeared to be her only option. Just as she was leaving the office, however, her communicator sounded.

'Hi, Lesley. It's Harry from forensics. I've got some stuff for you.'

'What did you find?' Lesley asked.

'You were right about the communicator; seventy two calls, all from the Transport Department, were deleted. I'll send the readouts to you by internal mail; you should get them first thing in the morning.'

'That's great news. What was on the camera?'

'I've managed to recover some deleted photos,' Harry said, and then paused before adding, 'I think you should come down to the lab to see them.'

'Just send them to my communicator. I'll pick them up on screen.'

'I can't do that,' Harry said. 'You need to see them first.'

'Why can't you just send them?'

'All I'm willing to say on an open line is that after you've seen them, you'll understand why. I'll hang on in the lab until you get here.'

'I'm on my way,' Lesley acknowledged. She put her communicator away, left the office and locked the door. As she walked quickly though the building to the auto park exit, a wry smile crossed her lips; she had been so certain that there was more to the Cornell story than they had been told, and now she suspected she was going to be proved right.

THE END

