"Because she worked them out. They could tell she wanted to be part of it. So they recruited recruited her. Had her do stuff for them, like, like initiation. Give them information, deliver things." This was impossible stuff. With a look she challenged me to mock and I was silent. "They gave her addresses where she should leave letters and things. In her. Had her do stuff for them, like, like initiation. Give them information, deliver things." This was impossible stuff. With a look she challenged me to mock and I was silent. "They gave her addresses where she should leave letters and things. In dissensi dissensi. Messages back and forth. She was writing back. They were telling her things. About Orciny. She told me a little bit about it, and the history and that, and it was like ... Places no one can see because they think they're in the other city. Bes think it's here; Ul Qomans think it's in Besel. The people in Orciny, they're not like us. They can do things that aren't..."

"Did she meet them?"

Yolanda stood beside the window pane, staring out and down at an angle that kept her from being framed by its whitewash-diffused light. She turned to look at me and said nothing. She had calmed into despondency. Aikam came closer to her. His eyes went between us like a spectator at a tennis match. Finally Yolanda shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Tell me."

"She wanted to. I don't know. I know at first they said no." Not yet Not yet, they had said. "They told her stuff, history, stuff about what we were doing. This stuff, the Precursor Age stuff... it's theirs theirs. When Ul Qoma digs it up, or even Besel, there's this whole thing about whose is it, where was it found, you know, all that? It's not Ul Qoma's or Besel's. It's Orciny's; it always was. They told her about stuff we'd found that no one who hadn't put it there could know no one who hadn't put it there could know. This is their history. They were here before Ul Qoma and Besel split, or joined, around them. They never went away."

"But it was just lying there until a bunch of Canadian archaeologists-"

"That's where they kept kept it. That stuff wasn't lost. The earth under Ul Qoma and Besel's their it. That stuff wasn't lost. The earth under Ul Qoma and Besel's their store storeroom. It's all Orciny's. It was all theirs, and we were just... I think she was telling them where we were digging, what we were finding."

"She was stealing for them."

"We were stealing were stealing from from them ... She never breached, you know." them ... She never breached, you know."

"What? I thought all of you-"

"You mean ... like games? Not Mahalia. She couldn't. Too much to lose. Too likely someone was watching, she said. She never never breached, not even in one of those ways that you can't tell, standing there, you know? She wouldn't give Breach a chance to take her." She shivered again. I squatted down and looked around. "Aikam," she said in Illitan. "Can you get us something to drink?" He did not want to leave the room, but he could see she was not afraid of me anymore. breached, not even in one of those ways that you can't tell, standing there, you know? She wouldn't give Breach a chance to take her." She shivered again. I squatted down and looked around. "Aikam," she said in Illitan. "Can you get us something to drink?" He did not want to leave the room, but he could see she was not afraid of me anymore.

"What she did do," she said, "was go to these places where they'd leave her letters. The dissensi dissensi are entrances to Orciny. She was so close to being part of it. She thought. At first." I waited, and at last she continued. "I kept asking her what was up. Something was really wrong, in the last couple of weeks. She stopped going to the dig, meetings, everything." are entrances to Orciny. She was so close to being part of it. She thought. At first." I waited, and at last she continued. "I kept asking her what was up. Something was really wrong, in the last couple of weeks. She stopped going to the dig, meetings, everything."

"I heard."

"'What is it?' I kept saying, and at first she was like, 'Nothing,' but in the end she told me she was scared. 'Something's wrong,' she said. She'd been frustrated I think because Orciny wouldn't let her in, and she'd been going mad with work. She was studying harder than I'd ever seen. I asked her what it was. She just kept saying she was scared. She said she'd been going over and over her notes, and that she was figuring stuff out. Bad stuff. She said we could be thieves without even knowing."

Aikam came back. He carried for me and for Yolanda warm cans of Qora-Oranja.

"I think she'd done something to make Orciny angry angry. She knew she was in trouble, and Bowden too. She said so just before she-"

"Why would they kill him?" I said. "He doesn't even believe in Orciny any more."

"Oh, G.o.d, of course he knows they're real. Of course he does. He's denied it for years because he needs work, but have you read his book? They're going after everyone who knows about them. Mahalia told me he was in trouble. Just before she disappeared. He knew too much, and I do too. And now you do too."

"What are you intending to do?"

"Stay here. Hide. Get out."

"How's that going?" I said. She looked at me in misery. "Your boy did his best. He was asking me how a criminal might get out of the city." She even smiled. "Let me help you."

"You can't. They're everywhere."

"You don't know that."

"How can you keep me safe? They're going to get you now too."

Every few seconds there came the sounds of someone ascending outside the apartment, shouts and the noise of a handheld MP3 player, rap or Ul Qoman techno played loud enough to be insolent. Such everyday noises could be camouflage. Corwi was a city away. Listening now it seemed that every few noises paused by the door to the apartment.

"We don't know what the truth is," I said. I had intended to say more, but realising that I was not sure whom I was trying to convince of what, I hesitated, and she interrupted me.

"Mahalia did. What are you doing?" I had taken out my phone. I held it up as if surrendering, both hands.

"Don't panic," I said. "I was just thinking ... we need to work out what we're going to do. There are people who might be able to help us-"

"Stop," she said. Aikam looked as if he might come for me again. I got ready to sidestep but waved the phone so she could see it was not on.

"There's an option you never pursued," I said. "You could go outside, cross the road a little bit down the way there, and walk into YahudStrasz. It's in Besel." She looked at me as though I was crazy. "Stand there, wave your hands. You could breach." Her eyes got wider.

Another loud man ran upstairs outside, and we three waited. "Did you ever think it was worth a try? Who can touch Breach? Breach? If Orciny's out to get you ..." Yolanda was staring at the boxes of her books, her boxed-up self. "Maybe you'd be safer, even." If Orciny's out to get you ..." Yolanda was staring at the boxes of her books, her boxed-up self. "Maybe you'd be safer, even."

"Mahalia said they were enemies," she said. She sounded far away. "She once said the whole history of Besel and Ul Qoma was the history of the war between Orciny and Breach. Besel and Ul Qoma were set up like chess moves, in that war. They might do anything to me."

"Come on," I interrupted. "You know most foreigners who breach are just ejected-" But she interrupted back.

"Even if I knew what they'd do, which neither of us do, think about it. A secret for like more than a thousand years, in between Ul Qoma and Besel, watching us all the time, whether we know it or not. With its own agenda. You think I'd be safer if Breach had me? In the knew what they'd do, which neither of us do, think about it. A secret for like more than a thousand years, in between Ul Qoma and Besel, watching us all the time, whether we know it or not. With its own agenda. You think I'd be safer if Breach had me? In the Breach? Breach? I'm not Mahalia. I'm not sure Orciny and the Breach are enemies at all." She looked at me then and I did not disdain her. "Maybe they work together. Or maybe when you I'm not Mahalia. I'm not sure Orciny and the Breach are enemies at all." She looked at me then and I did not disdain her. "Maybe they work together. Or maybe when you invoke invoke you've been handing power to Orciny for centuries, while you all sit there telling each other it's a fairy tale. I think Orciny is the name Breach calls itself." you've been handing power to Orciny for centuries, while you all sit there telling each other it's a fairy tale. I think Orciny is the name Breach calls itself."

Chapter Twenty.

FIRST SHE HAD NOT WANTED ME TO ENTER; then Yolanda did not want me to leave. "They'll see you! They'll find you. They'll take you and then they'll come for me." me."

"I can't stay here."

"They'll get you."

"I can't stay here."

She watched me walk the width of the room, to the window and back to the door.

"Don't-you can't make a phone call from here-"

"You have to stop panicking." But I stopped myself, because I was not sure that she was wrong to do so. "Aikam, are there other ways out of this building?"

"Not the way we came in?" He looked intently and emptily a moment. "Some of the apartments downstairs are empty, and maybe you could go through them ..."

"Okay." It had begun to rain, fingertipping against the obscured windows. Judging by the halfhearted darkening of the white windows, it was only just overcast. Washed out of colour, perhaps. Still it felt safer to escape than if it had been clear or coldly sunny, as it had that morning. I paced the room.

"You're alone in Ul Qoma," Yolanda whispered. "What can you do?" I looked at her at last.

"Do you trust me?" I said.

"No."

"Too bad. You've no choice. I'm going to get you out. I'm not in my element here, but..."

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm going to get you out of here, back to home ground, back to where I can make things happen. I'm going to get you to Besel."

She protested. She had never been to Besel. Both cities were controlled by Orciny, both were overlooked by Breach. I interrupted her.

"What else are you going to do? Besel's my city. I can't negotiate the system here. I have no contacts. I don't know my way around. But I can get you out from Besel, and you can help me."

"You can't-"

"Yolanda, shut up. Aikam, don't move another step." No time for this immobility. She was right, I could promise her nothing but an attempt. "I can get you out, but not from here. One more day. Wait here. Aikam, your job's finished. You don't work at Bol Ye'an any more. Your job's to stay here and look after Yolanda." He would provide little protection, but his continued interventions at Bol Ye'an would eventually attract other people's attention than my own. "I will be back. You understand? And I'll get you out."

She had food for some days, a diet of tins. This little living room/bedroom, another, smaller, filled with only damp, the kitchen with its electricity and gas supplies disconnected. The bathroom was not good but it would not kill them another day or two: from some standpipe Aikam had brought buckets that stood ready to flush. The many air fresheners he had bought made a stink different than it would otherwise have been.

"Stay," I said. "I'll be back." Aikam recognised the phrase, though it was in English. He smiled and so I said the words again for him in an Austrian accent. Yolanda did not get it. "I will get you out," I said to her.

On the ground floor a few shoves at doors yielded me an empty apartment, a long time since fire-damaged but still smelling of carbon. I stood in its gla.s.sless kitchen and watched the hardiest girls and boys outside refuse to get out of the rain. I watched for a long time, looking into all the shadows I could see. I saw only those children. My sleeves pulled over my fingertips in case of a fringe of gla.s.s, I vaulted out into the yard, where if any of the kids saw me emerge they did not remark.

I know how to watch to ensure I am not followed. I walked quickly through the byway meanders of the project, between its bins and cars, graffiti and children's playgrounds, until I made it out of cul-de-sac land into the streetscape of Ul Qoma, and Besel. With relief at being one of several pedestrians rather than the only purposeful figure in sight, I breathed out a little, I took on the same rain-avoidance gait as everyone else, and at last turned on my phone. It scolded me with how many messages I had missed. All from Dhatt. I was starving and uncertain of how to get back to the Old Town. I wandered, looking for a Metro but finding a phone box. I called him.

"Dhatt."

"It's Borlu."

"Where the f.u.c.k f.u.c.k are you? Where've you been?" He was angry but conspiratorial, his voice quieter as he turned and muttered into his phone, not louder. A good sign. "I've been trying to call you for f.u.c.king hours. Is everything ... Are you alright? What the f.u.c.k's going on?" are you? Where've you been?" He was angry but conspiratorial, his voice quieter as he turned and muttered into his phone, not louder. A good sign. "I've been trying to call you for f.u.c.king hours. Is everything ... Are you alright? What the f.u.c.k's going on?"

"I'm alright, but..."

"Something happened?" Anger but not only anger in his voice.

"Yeah, something happened. I can't talk about it."

"The f.u.c.k you can't."

"Listen. Listen Listen. I need to talk to you but I don't have time for this. You want to know what's been going on, meet me, I don't know"-flipping through my street map-"in Kaing She, in the square by the station, in two hours, and Dhatt, do not not bring anyone else. This is serious s.h.i.t. There's more going on here than you know. I don't know who to talk to. Now are you going to help me?" bring anyone else. This is serious s.h.i.t. There's more going on here than you know. I don't know who to talk to. Now are you going to help me?"

I made him wait an hour. I watched him from the corner as he must surely have known I would. Kaing She Station is the city's major terminus, so the square outside it bustled with Ul Qomans in cafes, by street performers, buying DVDs and electronics from stalls. The topolganger square in Besel was not quite empty, so unseen Bes citizens were grosstopically there too. I stayed in the shadows of one of the cigarette kiosks shaped in homage to an Ul Qoman temporary hut, once common on the wetlands where scavengers sifted through the crosshatched mud. I saw Dhatt look for me, but I stayed out of sight while it grew dark and watched to see if he made any calls (he did not) or hand signals (he did not). He only set his face more and more as he drank teas and glowered in the shadows. At last I stepped into his line of sight and moved my hand in a little regular motion that caught his eye and beckoned him over.

"What the f.u.c.k is going on?" he said. "I've had your boss on the phone. And Corwi. Who the f.u.c.k is she anyway? What's happening?"

"I don't blame you being angry, but you're keeping your voice low, so you're being careful and you want to know what's going on. You're right. Something's up. I found Yolanda."

When I would not tell him where she was he was enraged enough to start threatening an international incident. "This is not your f.u.c.king city," he said, "you come here and use our resources, you f.u.c.king hold up our investigations," and so on, but still he kept his voice low and walked with me, so I let his anger ebb out a bit and began to tell him how Yolanda was afraid.

"We both know we can't rea.s.sure her," I said. "Come on. Neither of us knows the truth about what the h.e.l.l's going on. About the unifs, the nats, the bomb, about Orciny Orciny. s.h.i.t, Dhatt, for all we know ..." He stared at me, so I said, "Whatever this is"-I glanced around to indicate everything that was happening-"it goes somewhere bad."

We were both silent a while. "So why the f.u.c.k are you talking to me?"

"Because I need someone. But yeah, you're right, it might be a mistake. You're the only person who might understand ... the scale of what might be going on. I want to get her out. Listen to me: this is not not about Ul Qoma. I don't trust my own lot any more than you. I want to get that girl out, away from Ul Qoma about Ul Qoma. I don't trust my own lot any more than you. I want to get that girl out, away from Ul Qoma and and Besel. And I can't do it from here; this isn't my patch. She's watched here." Besel. And I can't do it from here; this isn't my patch. She's watched here."

"Maybe I could."

"You volunteering?" He said nothing. "Right. I am. I have contacts back home. You don't cop for this long without being able to score tickets and false papers. I can hide her; I can talk to her in Besel before I get her out, get some more sense of all this. This isn't about giving up: the opposite. If we get her out of harm's way we've got a much better chance of not getting blindsided. We can maybe work out what's going on."

"You said Mahalia had already made enemies back in Besel. I thought you wanted them for this."

"The nats? That doesn't make much sense anymore. A, all this is way beyond Syedr and his boys, and B, Yolanda Yolanda hasn't p.i.s.sed off hasn't p.i.s.sed off anyone anyone back home; she's never been there. I can do my job there." I could go beyond my job, I meant-could pull strings and favours. "I'm not trying to cut you out, Dhatt. I'll tell you what I know if I get any more from her, maybe even come back and we can go hunting criminals, but I want to get that girl out of here. She's scared to death, Dhatt, and can we really say she's wrong to be?" back home; she's never been there. I can do my job there." I could go beyond my job, I meant-could pull strings and favours. "I'm not trying to cut you out, Dhatt. I'll tell you what I know if I get any more from her, maybe even come back and we can go hunting criminals, but I want to get that girl out of here. She's scared to death, Dhatt, and can we really say she's wrong to be?"

Dhatt kept shaking his head. He was neither agreeing nor disagreeing with me. After a minute he spoke again, tersely. "I sent my crew back to the unifs. No sign of Jaris. We don't even know the little f.u.c.ker's real name. If any of his mates know where he is or that he was seeing her they're not saying."

"Do you believe them?"

He shrugged. "We've been checking them out. Can't find anything. Doesn't look like they know s.h.i.t. One or two of them it's obvious 'Marya' rings a bell, but most of them never even met her."

"This is all beyond them."

"Oh, they're up to all kinds of s.h.i.t, don't you worry; we've got moles say they're going to do this and that, they're going to break the boundaries, planning all sorts of revolutions ..."

"That's not what we're talking about. And you hear that stuff all the time."

He was silent while I listed for him again what had happened on our watch. We slowed down in the dark and sped up in the pools of lamplight. When I told him that according to Yolanda, Mahalia had said that Bowden was in danger too, he halted. We stood in that freezing silence for seconds.

"Today while you were f.u.c.king around with Little Miss Paranoid we searched Bowden's flat. There's no sign of forced entry, no sign of struggle. Nothing. Food left on the side, books page-down on the chair. We did find a letter on his desk."

"From who?"

"Yallya told me you'd be onto something. The letter doesn't say. It's not in Illitan. It was just a single word. I thought it was in weird-looking Bes but it isn't. It's in Precursor."

"What? What does it say?"

"I took it to Nancy. She said it's an old version of the script she hasn't seen before and she wouldn't want to swear to it yadda yadda, but she's pretty sure it's a warning."

"A warning of what?"

"Just a warning. Like a skull-and-crossbones. A word that is is a warning." It was dark enough that we could not see each other's faces well. Not deliberately, I had steered us close to an intersection with a total Bes street. Those squat brick buildings in their brown light, the men and women walking beneath them in long coats under the swinging sepia signs that I unsaw bisected the Ul Qoman sodium-lit strip of gla.s.s fronts and imports like something old and recurrent. a warning." It was dark enough that we could not see each other's faces well. Not deliberately, I had steered us close to an intersection with a total Bes street. Those squat brick buildings in their brown light, the men and women walking beneath them in long coats under the swinging sepia signs that I unsaw bisected the Ul Qoman sodium-lit strip of gla.s.s fronts and imports like something old and recurrent.

"So who might use that kind of...?"

"Don't f.u.c.king tell me about secret cities. Don't." Dhatt looked haunted and hunted. He looked sick. He turned and bundled himself into the corner of a doorway, punched his own palm furiously several times. "What the f.u.c.k?" he said, looking into the dark.

What lived like Orciny would live, if one indulged Yolanda's and Mahalia's ideas? Something so small, so powerful, lodged in the crevices of another organism. Willing to kill. A parasite. A tick-city, quite ruthless.

"Even if... even if, say, something is wrong with my lot and your lot, whatever," Dhatt said at last.

"Controlled. Bought."