‘I couldn’t hurt you. I wouldn’t.’

‘I wish I could believe you,’ said Ariadne. ‘but your first instinct is destruction. You would try and kill me simply because of who I am.’

‘I’m trying to be good. With God’s help, I’m trying. Why won’t you come out and talk to me?’

‘You hear but you don’t understand. You are on a ship, a special ship that sails between the stars as easily as a boat goes from port to port. When you were in the emperor’s garden and looked up, what did you see?’

‘I . . . I thought I saw a bird. It must have been a big bird, as big as a whale.’

‘That was me. I am the ship. This is my body, Va. I’m not human like you, but I’m still a person.’

Va looked for a door. There was an archway leading out into a corridor, but Ariadne closed it off before he could get through.

‘How did you do that?’ He looked for a latch, something to open it with. ‘Where are you?’

‘You are confined for your own safety, Va. We must reach an understanding before I can let you roam about me at will. There is a great deal of damage you could do that would endanger both me and your companions.’

Va scrabbled around, circling the room like a caged wolf, looking for the slightest opening. Ariadne’s constant conversation with him did nothing to stop the rising panic. He eventually fell to his knees and wrapped his head in his arms, cackling and weeping.

‘Do you remember?’

‘No,’ said Va. ‘I want to forget.’

‘This is important, Va. When you were in the garden, what happened?’

‘You’re a voice in my head. I won’t answer you.’

‘Perhaps this will help. Look up.’

Light started to penetrate between the cracks in Va’s fingers. Slowly he uncurled. There was an angel, wings unfurled, bending down over him. She held out her hand and beckoned him to rise.

‘Is that what you are?’

‘No. I am the ship. I’m just trying to give you a focus, something you recognize as part of your world-view. I could appear as Saint Basil or the Holy Mother if you prefer.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Va. ‘If you’re not an angel, then who are you?’

‘The ship, Va. The ship. I am the ship. It’s who I am. Ariadne Shipsister. This angel is an avatar, an image I can choose, but what I am is a ship. You can choose to believe me or not,’ she said, ‘but that doesn’t change what I am.’

‘A person can’t be a thing. That’s wrong. This place is full of evil spirits, tormenting me. I am in Hell, I must be.’

Ariadne fluttered her wings noiselessly. ‘You think you know where you are. For you, it’s a place worse than any hell, which is why you try to explain it using the only words you understand. If you were in Hell, there would be demons and devils and souls in torment, and you would recognize it as such. No one in Hell would ever mistake their surroundings for somewhere else.’

Va knew that what the angel said was true. ‘Then you are . . .’ His voice failed.

‘Say it.’

‘No.’

‘You’re wrong, but say it anyway. You have to get past this point and move on to greater understanding.’

‘You’re Users.’ Va spat the word out. He looked around again, for anything he could use as a weapon. Wrecking was God’s work, and this place needed burning as badly as Akisi’s tower in An Cobh.

‘We are not those people you call Users. If you’ll let me, I’ll explain. If you attempt to damage any of my systems, I will subdue you.’ The angel folded her arms. ‘Which is it to be?’

‘The Users were the masters of lies.’

‘And we are not Users. I haven’t lied to you yet. Neither do I intend to do so. It’s not in my nature.’

‘The Users were destroyed by God. How did you escape?’

‘Va, you have to listen to me. My name is Ariadne Shipsister. I am a starship. I was not made by the culture you call Users, and Benzamir is not a User either. The Users are gone, their bones are dust; they only live on in your memory.’ The angel started to lose its shape. ‘I’ll leave you to think on these things. When you are ready, we can talk again.’

‘Wait!’ Va reached out and his hand passed through the angel’s robe. He stared at his hand. ‘How?’

‘It’s a projection, beamed into your eyes. You see it as real; it’s nothing but an illusion. But this is not important. Don’t get distracted by the detail, Va. I need you to concentrate.’ Ariadne’s angel took shape again. ‘Are you ready?’

Va sat back on his haunches, a haunted look on his face. ‘What if I’m not?’

‘Then I will keep you unconscious until we have the opportunity to leave you somewhere safe. Time has run out. As soon as he’s finished helping me sew Princess Elenya’s small intestine back together, Benzamir will finish the job he came to do.’

‘Elenya?’

‘You were there. Wahir had led you to the garden. You were surrounded by the emperor’s guard, and Elenya had her knife pressed against the emperor’s neck. Benzamir and the remotes came to find you. You must remember what happened next.’

Va started to tremble. Memories of a many-armed monster rising from the ground, of Mahmood killing it with a gesture, and metal balls that darted like silver fish, and soldiers falling to the ground. Of Va trying to protect the emperor by holding onto Elenya’s knife, of her folding in on herself, bright blood staining her front, of a sudden explosion of light and sound that made his whole body melt. None of it made sense; everything seemed disconnected and unreal.

He opened his hand and there was a bloody cut across his palm. As he flexed it, fresh blood and fresh pain leaked out.

‘Who will save me from myself?’ he asked.

‘So you do remember.’ Ariadne sat on the floor in front of Va. ‘I have no arms to comfort you, but take heart. Elenya will live, at least for today. And by a strange turn of events, it seems that Benzamir’s mission and yours are the same. You want to take the User books back home? Benzamir will find them for you. You want to keep their knowledge inside their covers? So does Benzamir. You want to save the world? That’s why we’re here.’

‘You’d help me?’

‘If we can. If you like, we have been sent by your God in answer to your prayers. Who are you to tell Him how He should respond?’

‘I . . .’ He was at a loss for words.

‘Now listen. Somewhere on this world is a ship, like me. The people with it came with the best of motives. They want to feed the hungry, heal the sick, shelter the homeless, fill your lives with such wonder and light that you will curse them that they did not come sooner. Their power is a hundred times greater than that of the Users. They want to change the way you live utterly. The people of Earth will reach up again to the stars, and claim them for their own.

‘And anyone who opposes them will be killed, out of hand. You lost forty brothers to them, for no other reason than they were in the way: that was just the start. How many did they kill today? Hundreds. If the empire falls, which it still might, there will be ten thousand more corpses and a million lives in ruin.

‘And into that gap they will stride. Conquerors. Lords. Priests. They will rule over you for ever, because they cannot die of old age or disease – and don’t think you, Va, could fight against them. Even the Users would have been swept aside as if they were nothing but cattle.

‘This is the hard part, Va. We left here long ago, when the Users were at their height, to save humanity from annihilation. But we’ve spent too many centuries away from our cradle to call this our home any more. What happens here is not up to a cabal of renegades who would crush you even as they’re trying to save you. We are your children, and it’s not for children to tell their parents what to do. We’ll stop them from taking over, and then we’ll go.’

‘If all this is true, then why do they need the books? Did my brothers die for nothing?’

Ariadne bowed her head and showed her dazzling crown. ‘I do not know. This is a mystery to me, and something we need to learn the truth of before we leave you.’ She looked up. ‘Are you hungry, Va? Are you thirsty?’