Maddy tugged on the final strap of the cheap backpack that contained all her possessions.

'Not much of a choice, is it?'

Dorac, sitting in the window-alcove of Maddy's bedroom, fidgeted with the dagger she had neglected to pack, spinning it around in his six fingers with the skill acquired by years of practice. Outside the window was a live holographic feed from the top of a hill, sent down to make it look as if the house was outdoors.

'You're right there. Not much at all, I'm sorry, but I couldn't gainsay the Clan-father.'

'Gainsay? What kind of word's that?'

He held the dagger out like he had in the meeting, hilt towards Maddy.

'You should keep this. You might need it.'

She shook her head. 'I'm leaving it behind deliberately. It's not my kind of thing, you know. Thank you for the honour of letting me wear it, but it's, well...'

He put the knife back in its sheath. 'I know. It's a reminder. I'm sorry Eridu didn't work out for you as a home. So where do you think you'll go?'

When her exile had been announced, she thought immediately of returning to Barnard's Star. The Endeavour colony would be more firmly established and she might be able to pick up the ragged edges of her old life. But it hadn't taken long to dismiss the idea: too many memories there as well, too many open wounds.

'I don't know yet. What about you?

He shrugged. 'Somewhere quiet. I don't have to leave until Friday. Neither do you. Wherever it is, you could...I don't know...would you like to come with me? I mean, we make a pretty good team. Your intelligence and common sense, my rugged good looks and...yeah, rugged good looks.' He unsheathed the dagger and began spinning it again.

Maddy kept her head down, seriously thinking about it. It was tempting. Dorac had proved her only friend for a long time. But there was a lot against such an idea, too. Perhaps it would be good to take a break, go somewhere all by herself. She meant to say that, but for some odd reason her refusal of his suggestion came out differently.

'You need a girlfriend of your own species.'

The silence that followed went on for a long time, and the dagger stayed still all the while.

Eventually Dorac cleared his throat. 'Why have you packed already? You don't have to rush off.'

Because she wanted to get out of the presence of Maru and Hera Rani and all the other Doracs who spat at her and talked about her behind her back. Sometimes Dorac could be so dumb.

'Shut up, Landa.'

She caught a glimpse out of the window at the landscape beyond, at the planet she was leaving. A volcano on the horizon smoked ash into the air; maybe it would explode one day and bury the Sashas and the other clans and families and the whole damn city and she could finally forget the place.

'There's something I never asked you,' he said, 'although I suspect the clan-parents did: how did you manage to hack into a police AI and tell it to release us? That was pretty neat.'

Maddy was about to say that it was more than pretty neat, it was a fantastic piece of electronic skill, a perfect example of why she was an amazing engineer—but of course, that would be a lie.

'I didn't hack in,' she said, snapping the locks on her backpack. 'No one could do that. Zeus controls the security for Elite police AI's, and you know how efficient Zeus is at things like that. I didn't know what I was doing, I was just fooling around trying to find anything that might work.'

'But you did control it. How?'

'Use your common sense. I couldn't hack into a genuine police code. But I hacked into theirs. So...'

She waved her hand as if trying to draw the realisation out of him, but his face remained blank.

'So,' she continued, 'they weren't real police. You might want to tell your clan that. It might cast a new light on the assassination.'

He seemed to digest those words for a moment. Then, 'You're always seeing conspiracies.' He stood up. Maddy thought he didn't seem so big here surrounded by Sirian architecture and furniture. 'If you're wondering where to spend your years in exile, I'd suggest Mars.'

Mars had crossed her mind, too. It seemed an odd choice, given it was so close to Earth, and that was the one place she had no reason to return. But Mars was a quiet enough backwater for all its proximity to those who wanted her blood. It was perhaps easier to hide in plain sight.

'You'll be given another identity, of course' he continued. 'Whoever you want.'

'You can do that?' She held up her wrist. 'I thought Elite implants...' No, of course. She didn't carry an Elite implant. Her ID had been placed under her skin by her own people, colonists, at the orders of the Elite. But the technology wasn't Elite, which meant...

'You'd be surprised at what we Sirians can do,' said Dorac with a chuckle. 'And don't forget the ID system is an Elite way of doing things, and of course that's basically fucked. Now, who would you like to be?'

A good question. 'Anyone at all?'

She liked being Maddy Hawthorn. It would be dangerous to remain so if she was going to start a new life, but she couldn't abandon her old self entirely. After a moment she said, 'Linda Jones.'

'Where did that come from?'

Dorac had little understanding of Sape names: perhaps it was hard enough keeping track of his family's convoluted appellations without bothering about those of other species.

'You saw my file when we met on the Endeavour. Linda was my mother's name. Jones was my father's.'

'That's dangerous. The Elite could easily make a link to you.'

She noticed an item of clothing she had neglected to pack, undid the straps on the lower half of her backpack again, then paced across the room to collect the garment.

'I don't care,' she said.

He nodded. 'All right. Linda Jones it is. But you'll take care?'

'No, Landa. I'll be a complete dickhead.'

'Maddy, this is serious.' Dorac reached automatically for a cigarette and lit up. He stared at her for a long moment. 'Well, I never could convince a Sape when they were being dumb. The thing is,' he continued, opening the door and exhaling his smoke into the corridor outside, 'I'm not going to be there to protect you.'

She paused in the act of stuffing the shirt into her pack. When she tugged the straps tight again she was breathing heavily. 'I suppose you feel bad about that,' she said almost too low for him to hear.

'Well of course, I...'

Maddy stood with her back to Dorac, staring down at herself. There had a been a time, shortly after being gang raped back on Endeavour, when she's regarded herself as a pathetic, pale, lump of violated flesh. But so much had changed since then, and she'd killed people and done things that her father would have hated, and things that he would have been proud of, and now this stupid, great Sirian was telling her he had to protect her. It was tempting to turn around and lash out, to slap his face hard. But all that happened was a single tear dripped down her cheek. Her shoulders hunched. When they started to shake she felt Dorac place a hand on her arm. He turned her slowly and pulled her close for a while. The cloth of his shirt became damp where her face pressed against it.

'I'm sorry,' he said.

She put her hands up to grab his shoulders and squeeze. He squeezed back.

'Ow.'

'Sorry.'

'Stop saying that. I don't need you to protect me. Or at least stop pretending you're the only one who can.'

She pushed away and lifted her pack onto her back. It wasn't so heavy; there were few enough things in it.

'How's that look?'

The cigarette went back into his mouth and dropped ash onto the floor as he regarded her. 'I don't know,' he said. 'You look harmless enough. Yes, I suppose you'll do.'

She held up her wrist. 'When does this happen?'

'Anytime you like. Yama can do the surgery. Making the implant shouldn't take too long.' He finished his cigarette and ground it out in the glass ashtray on the table. 'Look, Maddy—'

'Linda.'

'Maddy, I'm serious. Mars is rough. Quite apart from the fact it's right next door to Earth, it's a wild place anyway. There are Sapes there, of course, and a few Sirians. But trust no one, not until you get to know them really well.'

She sighed and removed the pack, letting it thump onto her bed. 'You're doing it again.'

'All right. I'll shut up. Forever.' And he walked out, leaving a thin aroma of cigarette smoke behind him.

Maddy sat on the bed and stared at the dagger he'd left behind on the window ledge. His dagger, not hers. It had never been hers.