There were a couple of tiny red lights high up on the front of the beachcombing machine, ten metres away; the lights winked slowly, on and off. They hadn’t been there a few seconds earlier.

“Yes?” she said.

“Am I addressing Lady Sharrow?” said the machine. Its voice was deep, with the distinctive chime at the start of each word which was supposed to ensure that people knew it was a machine doing the talking.

Her eyes narrowed. The machine sensed her left arm tensing. “I think,” she said, “you know who I am.”

“Well, indeed. Allow me to introduce myself…” The machine made a whining noise and lurched towards her, the rubber treads on its left-side tracks splashing through the small waves.

She backed away; two quick, long steps. The machine stopped suddenly. “Oh; I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to startle you. just a second…” The machine trundled back a couple of metres to where it had been. “There. As I was saying; allow me to introduce myself; I am a-”

“I don’t care who you are; what are you doing spying on me and my cousin?”

“A necessary subterfuge, dear lady, to ensure that I had the relevant personages-namely yourself and Count Geis correctly identified. Also, having unintentionally found myself in such close proximity to your conference, I thought it prudent and indeed only polite to delay making myself known to you until the said noble gentleman had bade you farewell, as considerations of good manners apart-my instructions are to reveal myself to you and you alone, initially at any rate.”

“You’re hellish talkative for a beachcomber.”

“Ah, dear lady, let not this rude appearance deceive you; beneath my tatterdemalion disguise lurk several brand spanking new components of a Suprotector (TradeMark) Personal Escort Suite, Mark Seventeen, Class Five, certified civil space legal in all but a handful of jurisdictions and battlefield limited to the remainder. And I-that is the aforesaid system, in full, combined with the services of various highly trained human operatives am at your service, my lady, exclusively, for as long as you may desire.”