“I’m not going to let them get me,” she said. “Don’t worry.” He gave a bitter laugh. “How can I not worry?”

She stopped and looked at him. “Just try. And don’t do anything.that’s going to land both of us in even more trouble.” She tipped her head to one side, staring at him.

Eventually he looked away. “All right,” he said.

They resumed their walk.

“So,” he said. “What will you do?”

She shrugged. “Run,” she said. “They’ve only got a year; And-”

“A year and a day if we’re going to be precise about it.”

“Yes. Well, I’ll just have to try and keep a step or two ahead of them for a year… and a day.” She kicked at the glass surface beneath their feet. “And I suppose I have to try and find that last Lazy Gun. The one the Huhsz want. It’s the only other way to end this.”

“Will you get the team back together?” Geis asked, his voice neutral.

“I’ll need them if I’m going to find that damn Gun,” she told him. “And I’ll have to try, anyway. If the Huhsz get hold of one of them… it would make it easier to find me.”

“Ali. Then it really doesn’t wear off?”

“SNB? No, Geis, it doesn’t wear off. Like certain exotic diseases, and unlike love, synchroneurobonding is for life.”

Geis lowered his eyes. “You weren’t always so cynical about love.”

“As they say; ignorance pays.”

Geis looked as though he was about to say something else, but then shook his head. “You’ll need money, then,” he said. “Let me-”

“I’m not destitute, Geis,” she told him. “And who knows, perhaps there are still Antiquities contracts outstanding.” She clasped her hands together, kneading them without realising it. “If the family lore is right, the way to find the Lazy Gun is to find the Universal Principles first.”

“Yes, if the lore is right,” Geis said sceptically. “I’ve tried tracking that rumour down myself and nobody knows how it started.”