"Begin please, Ng," said the man sitting opposite Thalia, Senior Prefect Michael Crissel. She placed the recovered diskettes on the table's edge, almost dropping them in her nervousness.

"Thank you, Senior Prefect. These are the triplicate physical summary packages from the Perigal polling core.". She nodded at the clockwork-gear shape of the Perigal habitat, imaged as a tiny representation in the tactical room's Solid Orrery, enlarged and elevated above its real orbital plane.

"The data has now been copied into our archives, all one thousand days' worth of it. I've verified that the three triplicate summaries are consistent, with no indication of tampering.".

"And your findings?".

"I've only had a few hours to look into things, which really isn't enough time to do more than skim – ". Senior Prefect Gaston Clearmountain growled his impatience.

"Cut the blather, Ng. Just tell us what you have.".

"Sir," Thalia said, almost stammering.

"Preliminary analysis confirms everything in the lockdown report. House Perigal were indeed guilty of tampering with the democratic process. On at least eight occasions they were able to bias voting patterns in marginal polls, either to their advantage, or to the advantage of their allies. There may be more instances. We'll have a clearer picture when we've run a full audit on the packages.".

"I was hoping for a clearer picture now," Clearmountain said. Senior Prefect Sheridan Gaffney leaned forward in his huge black chair with a creak of leather.

"Easy on her, Gaston," he growled.