The quickest way back to the Huguenot Quarter from Principal is through the old diamond mine. Temperance bought the entire volume from the deKhnastre for a penny, half a span back. No one else would buy the land because the Restoration Liability of the volume was higher than its Potential Development Value. Many blind eyes were turned. This was the point at which it became apparent that Temperance was too big to be brought down. War - and the end of Prohibition - was still more than a quarter off but the writing was on the wall. When the war ended the Restoration Liability was taken off the books by Paradigm as an act of goodwill. Temperance could do whatever they wanted with it. The deKhnastre, federalists through and through, found plenty of ways to make their money back under the new system.

Parx transferred access rights to Flick, including a stop-off at Segonda, which lies directly beneath the mine at Datum. She has no intention of taking him up on the offer but Parx said he would leave it open in case she ever needs a bolt hole. Above the township the mine remains undeveloped although Flick is led to understand there are plans. For the moment it is used by the games companies for developing scenarios capable of interfacing with Boomboom as well as, presumably, next-gen Gamechanger-compatible environments. Consequently there are lots of nooks and crannies, which Mikey negotiates with his usual panache, followed by large, open voidspaces, minimally lit with led-gel panels that look like distant suns. Swooping into one of these, Flick experiences a sudden flash of vertigo and she resorts once again to clutching the back pole from a lying down position on the bed of the skiff. Looking upwards from here it feels like she's in space, except for the cool air flowing over her cheeks.

Some of the neuro-transmitters embedded in the led-gel must still be operational because Flick can feel something tugging at her mind. What little Boomboom is left in her system responds to this subtle magnetism by plunging her into dark and manic reveries in which she fends off strange creatures; halfling arachnids looming at her out of the darkness with menacing spider-eyes and human sexual organs. She imagines the effect must be extremely potent if you've dropped a Boomboom pill and it's started kicking in.

It is from one of these episodes that Mikey pulls her by swooping from voidspace into a pokey old adit then suddenly coming to a stop at a junction. In her mind she is being chased by a winged halfling, ridden by Vutign utThalé himself, so it is highly unsettling to have stopped until she realises that Mikey is up to something.

''I'm being hailed,'' he says eventually, after listening for some time. ''Prefect neStelle requests an audience. She's close by.''

''Really?'' Flick is still half-thinking this is the Boomboom. ''How did she get in here? It's restricted void.''

''There's a Paradigm utilities shaft which connects with the volume. She wants us to go down that and meet us in Pulse. Paradigm have cleared us for access.''

''Pulse? Didn't realise we were so close.'' Flick recalls that the neStelle have close diplomatic ties with Paradigm.

''She says she has information relevant to your current situation.''

''This'll be Shem, sulking because he can't follow me through the mine.''

Mikey communicates with neStelle then says: ''Negative. The Prefect says whatever you think it is, it is not.''

''Okay,'' says Flick. ''Curiosity duly piqued. Let's go see her.''

Mikey takes them a couple of hundred cubits deeper into the adit on the left then stops beneath a metal grate in the tunnel roof. He unfastens this with a device he pulls from a leg cavity, then takes them up into the maintenance shaft, magnetically drawing the grate back into position behind them.

The utilities shaft is nothing like the mine adits, being encased in liquiglass and lit by a led-gel skin. It's like jumping from the romantic past into a slightly too polished modernity. Also it means that Mikey can pick up the pace from here by tuning into Paradigm's Mind and letting that take the helm.

Flick remains in a prone position and shuts her eyes but at least the reveries have stopped, although she's left with the impression that she shouldn't tell her non-existent best friend that her husband was captured by a cannibal horde. They speed this way and that through the shaft before being ejaculated into the Paradigm hub.

As a city state, one of the ways in which Murgatroyd retains its integrity is by keeping control of its relationship with The Overburden. To this end, Paradigm is charged with ensuring a shield is in place, allowing only screened information to pass into the mountain and only approved information emanating from the Nest to pass out into the world. The Gnostic Penitentiary Narratives, for example, are not permitted to leave the mountain for reasons of religious prerogative. This electromagnetical and editorial jiggery-pokery is carried out, surreptitiously, in the hub known, amongst the initiated, as Pulse. Situated directly beneath the caldera, not a million cubits, horizontally speaking, from Tertial, although you wouldn't know it, from which access can be gained via a fielded field containing a range of masts and antennae and, vertically speaking between Tertial and Lilleth where it sits, like a cyst, it is also a place where many Paradigm operatives and diplomats come to speak to each other, surreptitiously, often with guests from Temperance or the Gnostic Hierarchy. Consequently, it's rather a quaint, idiosyncratic type of a place. A sort of hybrid of sleepy village with abundant open space, peppered by quiet wood-analogue lodges, tree-like bio-structures and even, from certain perspectives, an actual sky, and high-tech arts and multi-media quarter with a plethora of liquiglass mezzanines and field fountains making complex, perpetually shifting water-sculptures.

Mikey lands in one of the latter areas, in a pleasant little liquiglass piazza, with a water feature in the centre, surrounded on the periphery by boutiques, restaurants and bars which form the ground level to the offices above. To the left, a quarter of the circle is left clear to provide a view of the adjacent 'woodland'. Thoughtfully, he slows enough before descending to allow Flick to regain her composure.

neStelle is waiting on a bench by a coffle concession, from which she has bought two cups.

''I hope you take it black.''

''Perfect, Prefect, thank-you.'' Flick is struck by the difference in neStelle's demeanor from their last meeting.

''Shall we walk? There's a quiet spot over by the viewpoint.''

They wander down past the water sculpture, currently displaying as a unicorn and weeping infant and over towards a gated terrace, accessed through a liquiglass arch.

''I'm sorry you've had to go through this,'' neStelle gestures for her to sit first at a quiet table facing out over into the wooded landscape. ''For a woman of your standing it's demeaning.''

''It's fine. It serves a purpose.''

''I'm glad you see it that way. It's why I was brought in.''

''By my brother?''

neStelle raises an eyebrow: ''Godh no,'' she says. ''But Vinst had to be the one who triggered your return - it's in the regs.''

''What regs?''

''The Nomenclature Reinstatement Act. Schedule II.''

''I'm no lawyer...'' says Flick.

''No, that's why I'm here. Schedule II relates specifically to Exile. It states that for a family name to be reinstated to a person in Exile, a leading member of the family has to act as sponsor. The term 'sponsor' is loosely defined but it would include, inter alia, 'the instigation or transportation of said Exile from outwith the territory to any place within the border.'''

Flick smiles. ''Vinst is no lawyer either.''

''That would appear to be the case,'' says neStelle.

''So who is paying you?''

''I'm not at liberty to say but she sends her regards.''

Flick nods.

''More importantly, I need to tell you not, under any circumstances, however bad it might get, to allow Vinst to get you out of prison by the back door. Schedule III of the Act - which relates to people incarcerated by the penal system - states that any prisoner shall not receive a family name except by public vote to be held during the period of incarceration.''

''Ah. I thought it wouldn't do me any good, politically, didn't realise it was actually a legal requirement.''

''Vinst knows about Schedule III. Once we'd got you into the city I had to declare him as Legal Sponsor. He took separate advice after that. Called me all sorts of names.''

''How did you get in on it in the first place?''

''kiLasse set it up - she'd implied to him that your return, and subsequent incarceration couldn't be tied to him, so he wasn't best pleased when we outed him as Sponsor.''

''I can imagine,' says Flick, delighted. 'I bet he was spitting feathers. But surely he would have been against bringing me in under any circumstances...''

''He was afraid your mother was going to bring you in anyway. He decided he had the numbers to keep you under lock and key if he kept control of the narrative.''

''He worked that out all by himself?''

''kiLasse may have helped a little.'' Beth smiles. She glances at a young woman, who has edged into their space - a civilian, blonde. ''There's someone else you need to meet. I just deal with the legal side - this is the one who actually gets her hands dirty.''

Flick feels a thrill run through her. She hasn't felt this for a long time. More than simple attraction, this is fate walking in her direction, pure and simple.

''This is your client?'' Flick asks.

''No. We work together now and again. She's freelance like me.''

''Okay.''

''I'll leave you it,'' says neStelle. They touch phones. Flick feels the buzz run through her.

The young woman gets herself a Yorkshire from the concession and strolls over, confident for a youngster. Flick, feeling her age, tidies her hair.

''Emelia,'' says the woman, who is a little older than she first appeared. ''Maginty.'' She offers Flick her hand and Flick clasps it, keeping a good long hold.

''Felice. Call me Flick. You work for Temperance?''

Emelia sits next to Flick. ''No. We just needed your brother to think he was in touch with them.''

Flick smiles. ''Crafty. So what is your job?''

''I'm the Project Manager.''

''Nice. And who are you working for?''

''I'm working for you of course.'' Emelia smiles, a devastatingly simple thing that shakes Flick to her core. ''I've touched base with Arbitration and they are fundamentally supportive of the project, so that should help us get you the likes you need to trigger a vote.''

She has brown eyes and light skin - the opposite of Flick and Flick is drawn to this other like a magnet. ''That doesn't mean you won't have to work for it though.''

''Understood.''

''It obviously becomes more sustainable the closer the figures are to the truth.''

''It's fine - that part I can do.''

''Good. I'll keep in contact with Arbitration, see if I can move things along.''

''What about The Chemist?''

''Do you know who he is yet?''

''I've narrowed it down. He's one of a few people I can think of. But beyond that...''

''When you give them a name, Arbitration will let you know how to get to him. It's kind of a failsafe they're using. They don't want to take you down a path you're not fully committed to.''

''Stalemate, then.''

Emelia sucks her teeth. ''Not necessarily. I can help with that. I know people who know people who might be able to help you put the names you have into some kind of perspective, for ruling out purposes.''

''And when might that happen?''

''Shortly. You'll have to bear with. I just have to get my balls in order. I'll send someone to speak with you - but Vinst mustn't know I'm behind it. He might try to force the issue.''

''No problem. When you say touched base, with Arbitration, what do you mean exactly? Have you actually met them?''

''Nobody's actually met them. They use nanites to communicate,'' says Emelia, ''so they can take whatever form they like. The scarier the better it seems.''

''I know them,'' says Flick. ''They come from a dark place. Be careful.''

Emelia looks at her like Flick has seen into her very soul. She nods, almost imperceptibly.

''You have... concerns?'' asks Flick.

''Something's brewing I think,'' says Emelia. ''Something nasty.''

Flick takes Emelia's hand, just because she wants to. ''I think so too.''