Starflyer—Hostile alien of unknown origin

Qatux—A Raiel, living on the High Angel

The SI—Sentient intelligence, machine based, of human origin

OTHERS

Mellanie Rescorai—Unisphere personality, SI agent

Orion—Parentless teenage boy from Silvergalde

Dudley Bose—Astronomer at Gralmond University, re-lifed

Hoshe Finn—Detective, Darklake city police

Gore Burnelli—Head of the Burnelli Grand Family

Mark Vernon—Engineer

Liz Vernon—Biogenetic technician, Mark’s wife

Simon Rand—Founder of Randtown, leader of resistance

Alessandra Baron—News show presenter, Starflyer agent

Tiger Pansy—Actress in “adult” TSI dramas

Paul Cramley—Professional hacker

Kaspar Murdo—Head janitor at Saffron Clinic

The Agent—Underworld security personnel manager on Illuminatus

Niall Swalt—Junior employee, Grand Triad Adventures tour company

Edmund Li—Officer in Far Away freight inspectorate division, Boongate Station

Michelangelo—TSI news anchor

PROLOGUE

Right from the start, there was something about the investigation that made Lieutenant Renne Kampasa uneasy. The first little qualm came sliding up out of her subconscious when she saw the victim’s loft apartment. She’d been inside loft apartments just like it a hundred times before. It was the kind of plush metropolitan pad that a group of funky TSI soap characters usually lived in: beautiful single people with well-paying jobs that gave them most of the day off so they could enjoy a floor space of around five hundred square meters as they lounged around in an extravagant décor provided by overpriced interior designers. The kind of scenario completely divorced from real life but full of dramatic or comic potential for the scriptwriters.