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TheThe LogicLogic BombBomb

byby PaulPaul WordsworthWordsworth

Amsterdam 2054: Damen van Hool is working on just another job: directing the vid story of how, three decades before, gravity wave signals were detected from another intelligence. His work takes him inside the datasystems of Kittcorps, the international corporation set up to exploit the new science and technologies arising from the alien contact. But he stumbles across something that Kittcorps would rather keep secret; something which puts him in mortal peril...

to Jeanette

© Paul Wordsworth 2011 [email protected] 11 20 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

Damen rested a moment, breathing heavily. Trudi sighed and held him closely, possessively, for a minute before he rolled to the side and lay on his back in the soft comfortable double bed. A gentle amber autumnal light filtered in past the green foliage of the houseplants in the window. After a whileTrudi spoke.

'It's'It's gonegone eight,eight, Damen.Damen. I'veI've gotgot toto bebe inin byby ninenine thirty.thirty. TimeTime wewe werewere gettinggetting up.up. Didn't you say you had a meeting this morning?'

'Oh'Oh hell,hell, yes,'yes,' DamenDamen yawned,yawned, 'The'The KittcorpsKittcorps job.job. WithWith theirtheir headhead ofof publicity.publicity. II connect at ten, I think. Suppose you're right. Still, nice start to the day. '

'Yes'Yes itit was,'was,' TrudiTrudi replied,replied, leaningleaning overover toto kisskiss himhim quicklyquickly beforebefore throwingthrowing backback thethe cover. 'It's nice in the morning sometimes. Trouble is, I'm always looking at the time if I 've got to be somewhere. '

She sat on the edge of the bed, stretched out her arms and got up to go to the bathroom. Damen pulled the cover back over himself, unwilling to leave the warmth of the bed just yet. He looked at her as she stretched and yawned, her curly brown hair falling down over her shoulders, her arched back, her sensuous curves. She quietly and gracefully left the room; then he lapsed into thinking about the day ahead. First a long breakfast to wake him up, then the linkup with his client. He hated business linkups. It was the people he had to deal with; corporate types with no art, no imagination, all business and money and hassle and agendas. Still, without them there was no business, no money, no nice luxury apartment in Amsterdam, no work. He resolved to be a bit firmer with Kittcorps' publicity head today. He was well-known now after all, critically acclaimed, even a minor celebrity after the string of well-received infodramas and TVD shows he had composed and directed over the last five years, so he no longer needed to kowtow to these corporate types. He yawned, heaved himself out of bed, pulled on his trousers, went over to the window, and opened it.

The air was crisp, still, and sharp; the view across the canal tranquil and picturesque. The trees with the last of their golden leaves were reflected in the limpid water. Barges and water buses glided along, their electric engines purring almost inaudibly. There were the sounds of street trams, the occasional voices, and the background bustle of the busy city. The tall ancient houses, tastefully presented, carefully modernised and perfectly maintained, curved away along the canal banks in either direction. He had been here with Trudi just over two years but on mornings like this he still felt the exhilaration he had first experienced when they moved to one of the most beautiful and expensive areas of one of the most beautiful and expensive cities in the world. Thirty four, fit and healthy, successful, and the world was his for the taking.

He went to the kitchen to get breakfast, speaking as he entered. 'Coffee,'Coffee, breakfastbreakfast mix,mix, white.white. CroissantsCroissants withwith parmaparma ham.ham. OrangeOrange conserveconserve after.'after.'

The housecom responded in a low, gentle male voice. 'Order'Order confirmed.confirmed. EightEight minutes.minutes. ''

'Music'Music mediummedium lowlow vol,'vol,' DamenDamen continued,continued, 'Monteverdi'Monteverdi oror ScarlattiScarlatti willwill bebe fine.fine.

The disembodied voice again replied, 'Confirmed. Extracts from Il Ballo Della Ingrate by Monteverdi. '

The gentle operatic music filled the kitchen and a few minutes later the coffee and breakfast arrived. A panel in the wall units slid open and Damen took out the contents. As he was halfway through his first coffee, Trudi came in, now dressed for work in a blouse and business suit. She ordered her breakfast; camomile tea, soft scrambled eggs, toast and marmalade; and sat down to complete her dressing and makeup until it arrived.

'Will'Will youyou bebe atat thethe HealthHealth CentreCentre allall day,'day,' DamenDamen asked.asked.

'No.'No. UntilUntil threethree oror so.so. '' TrudiTrudi repliedreplied asas sheshe carefullycarefully appliedapplied justjust aa littlelittle eyeeye makeup.makeup.

'Interviews'Interviews forfor twotwo newnew doctorsdoctors today,today, thenthen thethe equipmentequipment budgetbudget predictionspredictions toto twotwo thousand fifty eight. Louis Gaston, he’s the regional manager now, he’ll be there so I don't want to be late. Do you need the car today?'

'Yes,'Yes, II wantwant toto gogo toto Hilversum.Hilversum. II cancan alwaysalways dodo mymy linkuplinkup byby Pcom.Pcom. ''

'Oh'Oh no,no, notnot really,'really,' TrudiTrudi lookedlooked sternlysternly upup atat himhim overover herher mirror.mirror. 'You'You can'tcan't useuse youryour portable for such an important client, can you? It would look insulting. Whatever would they think of you?'

'Then'Then II 'll'll dropdrop byby thethe cafecafe andand useuse theirtheir room,'room,' DamenDamen replied,replied, irked.irked. 'I'I alsoalso wantwant toto talk to Karl about rowing tomorrow. He’s usually there first thing. Then I suppose I better earn some money and do some composing this afternoon. '

'Don't'Don't forgetforget we'rewe're goinggoing toto FrancisFrancis andand Jan'sJan's tonighttonight forfor dinner.dinner. It'llIt'll taketake usus atat leastleast an hour to get there at that time in the evening' Trudi said, finishing her makeup. 'Must'Must gogo inin tenten minutes.minutes. YouYou goinggoing toto getget dresseddressed now,now, dear?'dear?'

Damen rose and went to the bathroom. The light turned on and brightened as he entered. He looked into the mirror. Need a haircut soon, he thought, looking at his straight brown hair hanging lankly at collar length. The top right corner of the mirror displayed a number in glowing green letters: his weight today. Eighty five kilos. Just right for his height of a little over one metre nine hundred. Steady for three weeks. Just as well with the rowing competition in a week's time; must be at the optimum weight for that. He brushed his teeth with the electric brush, shaved, and stepped into the shower. A fine mist of soapy water sprayed on to him from the neck down.

'Five'Five degreesdegrees colder,'colder,' hehe calledcalled out.out. 'Confirmed.'Confirmed. CoolingCooling now,' now,' thethe housecom's housecom's voicevoice replied,replied, and and the the showershower sprayspray temperature dropped accordingly.

By the time he was dressed and ready Trudi was getting impatient, and they left the apartment with her leading the way briskly to the lift. Outside, their car came to life as they approached, the whine of the electric motors rising to the operating level hum as they got in. It was a small model, since there was a strict size restriction on those cars allowed into central Amsterdam; indeed they were fortunate to have a permit for one at all. About one and a half metres long, one and a half high, with the streamlined plasmetal body finished in a one-off retro deco design in green, gold and white. Trudi spoke the destination and the autonav flashed the least-congested route. They set off into the morning traffic to the Health Centre where Trudi worked. Damen as he drove along had his mind on which of the three TVDs he was working on at present was the most urgent and which could wait. His reverie was interrupted by Trudi turning on the car's newsvid.

'' .. .and.and therethere hashas beenbeen aa furtherfurther restructuringrestructuring ofof thethe AseanAsean debtdebt byby thethe WorldWorld BankBank which should result in the stabilisation of the far east economy within three years. President Ricci of the UAS has announced a fifty trillion dollar investment program in the new hydrokinetic power storage technology. Speaking at the Convention of the four major economic powers in Lvov yesterday, President Ricci said that HPS was one of the most important new developments so far to come from the Kralien initiative. It promised to revolutionise the technology of energy storage and revitalise the world economy. Local news now, and in Den Haag a man was killed following an attempted raid on the Allied com production facility earlier today. Marty van den Hoegarten has the details. . . '

After dropping Trudi at work Damen returned to central Amsterdam and stopped at his usual cafe, the Rialto. About ten or so people were inside reading, talking and drinking coffee. Norbert the manager greeted him as he entered.

'Good'Good morning,morning, Damen.Damen. AnnaAnna droppeddropped inin earlierearlier lookinglooking forfor you.you. NothingNothing urgent,urgent, just a hello. Karl's over there making a call.'

Damen thanked him, ordered a coffee, and went to sit down near the window. He knew why Anna didn't like to call him at home: she hated Trudi. And with good reason, because three years ago it was with Anna and not Trudi he was considering setting up home. He still felt bad about that even now, but he told himself it was all for the best, and he and Anna remained good friends. But however well he got on with Anna, the chemistry wasn't quite there, and it had taken Trudi's arrival on the scene to make him realise this. He wished Anna had found someone else since, though.

A tall bronzed blond man, good looking and well-dressed with cropped hair, and aquiline nose and a square protruding jaw interrupted Damen's musing by sitting next to him.

'Good'Good morning,morning, Damen,'Damen,' hehe saidsaid withwith aa slightslight GermanGerman accent,accent, 'You'You stillstill allrightallright toto row tomorrow morning?' 'Ah,'Ah, hellohello Karl,'Karl,' DamenDamen lookedlooked up.up. 'Yes,'Yes, sure.sure. AboutAbout aa couplecouple ofof hourshours OK?OK? II thinkthink we should make this our last long session before the race next week. By the way, are you going to Jan and Frances' tonight?'

'No'No we'rewe're not.not. That'llThat'll leaveleave youyou freefree toto talktalk shopshop withwith JanJan aboutabout vidsvids andand backdropsbackdrops and comstudios and so forth,' Karl replied. 'About ten tomorrow at the boathouse? Yes, I think we need one good workout, then maybe a few light sessions next week. I 'll have to go now though. I'm on duty this morning. See you tomorrow. '

He got up and left, heading in the direction of Central Station. Deputy Inspector Karl Landmann - why on earth had he joined the police? At University twelve years ago he was the one always drinking, dropping, fornicating, getting into scrapes with the authorities. It had been Damen who had worked and studied the harder. Mind you, he had had to. A double doctorate in Cultural History and Computing Technology was a difficult mix, but the only one possible for Damen. But he just loved making vids, and that’s what it took to do it properly.

Damen finished his coffee and went to the cafe's small private communications room for his linkup with Kittcorps' publicity head, who was in Seattle. He was making an edudoc for them about the Kralien contact. The meeting opened with a few formal pleasanteries, then moved quickly on to the usual stuff: When would the work be ready for the first edit deadline? Was Friday possible, because they wanted to review it at a board meeting on Saturday? Was the TVD positive enough? Would it appeal to schoolkids? Did it stress the excitement of the contact sufficiently? Did it put forward the benefits of Kittcorps' work strongly enough? Damen responded with a few queries of his own. Where was the fee instalment he was due? What about the access code to the Kittcorps' databank he had so as to include some of their new products in the spiel - when did it expire? What about the copyright split- had they spoken to his lawyer yet? Was the distribution deal european or global? Were Fox involved – he wouldn’t work with them on ethical grounds – it was in his contract with them, he pointed out. After about twenty minutes the tedious conference was over and Damen returned to the cafe proper. He decided to have an early lunch there before returning to the flat to work. Lambert was there - Lambert Spookje, the cafe layabout; small, dark, and fast-talking. Not well off, he earned what little money he had in various occasional casual and even illegal activities; but he was educated and interesting, with the offbeat view on life and events which comes to those with only a marginal involvement in such mundane activities as working or making money. Damen bought him lunch and they talked about old film stars, Lambert's special area of interest which Damen also shared. Afterwards Damen returned to the flat. He had work to do now - the Kittcorps TVD wouldn't wait. Just an afternoon's work, Damen thought. But one that would change his life and change the world. 22 20 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

'Switch'Switch on,'on,' DamenDamen spokespoke toto thethe wallwall inin hishis studiostudio asas hehe entered.entered. TheThe screensscreens whichwhich comprised all of the walls and the ceiling came alive with his current favourite backdrop: the south pole. It was so clean and bright, spacious and minimal. It was also one of the last places on earth with natural snowcover. He was surrounded by an intense blue whiteness as the polar scene was imaged around him and the moaning of the antarctic wind filled the small room. The temperature in the studio dropped a refreshing five degrees.

'Open'Open diary,'diary,' hehe saidsaid andand aa partpart ofof thethe centralcentral wallwall imagedimaged aa frameframe aboutabout aa metremetre square in which various icons and information could be read in clear distinct print.

Tuesday 20 October 2054. Current engagements: Dinner with Jan and Francis tonight. He entered the rowing appointment at ten with Karl tomorrow at the boathouse on the Ij. Wednesday: Linkup with Philson entertainment tendering group about the development of the docudrama on the far east financial crash of 2036 and the riots that followed: ‘The Taipei Meltdown’. Thursday, meeting with Laura about backscenes for the TVD crime series; 'Wicked World.' And so down to Friday: he entered the first edit deadline for 'The Kralien Contact'. That was the one he had to spend most of his time working on; that was what he had to get on with today. He needed to make progress. He would watch the news, then get on with an edit of the first part, now almost complete.

'News,''News,' hehe saidsaid andand thethe screenscreen displayeddisplayed anan intricately-structuredintricately-structured menumenu ofof newsnews items, tailored to his interests and disposition. He selected four items and watched their previews.

'From'From KatangaKatanga wewe havehave thethe latestlatest onon thethe CentralCentral AfricanAfrican War.War. FierceFierce fightingfighting hashas again broken out...... '

'The'The CentralCentral EuropeanEuropean BankBank announcedannounced aa reductionreduction inin interestinterest ratesrates toto twotwo pointpoint twotwo five percent earlier today. . . . '

'.'. .and.and inin sport,sport, FeyenoordFeyenoord werewere relegatedrelegated toto thethe secondsecond divisiondivision afterafter aa defeatdefeat byby Ajax ... '

'.'...... and.and leadingleading comcom composercomposer HarryHarry WonWon dieddied peacefullypeacefully atat hishis homehome inin SanSan Fransisco earlier today. Best known for his pioneering work in combining new acting with sophisticated com remodelling, he developed. . . '

After a few minutes Damen paused the newscast.

'Ah'Ah well, well, this this isn'tisn't paying paying thethe rent.rent. To To work work II suppose.suppose. CloseClose cast. cast. Kittcorps Kittcorps Adverdoc folder,' Damen said distinctly, and the screen box dissolved and changed to show a list of titles and commentary.

'Open'Open filefile 'The'The KralienKralien Contact'.Contact'. LatestLatest version.version. ReviewReview mode,mode, realreal time.time. Run.Run. ''

The screen dissolved into a neutral grey, then to a vast star-studded blackness. A large animated fiery title grew slowly and elaborately from a central dot until it filled the centre screen. It read: 'The Kralien Story. First Contact. 2026' and was accompanied by stirring orchestral music which rose to a crescendo and then subsided into a background accompaniment to a warm and sultry female voiceover. The commentary began as the image panned slowly across the starscape until a large full moon came into view. It zoomed in, then panned out again to show a huge and intricate space platform in close orbit around the moon, consisting of an enormous latticework dish twinned with a huge bulbous structure: an immense nuclear reactor shell. The two were joined by an intricate web of solid and lattice steelwork. The whole platform slowly and majestically swept over the bleak, bright lunar surface whilst the dish remained locked on some fixed point in the firmament.

'The'The storystory ofof thethe KralienKralien contactcontact startsstarts backback inin thethe earlyearly yearsyears ofof thethe milleniummillenium inin Britain at Cambridge University. The Hawking-Saunders gravity wave theory of two thousand eighteen took the scientific world by storm by predicting that a type of gravity wave known as a gravitrino should travel almost instantaneously across vast distances,’ the voiceover purred mellifluously. ‘It does this by travelling through the curled up dimensions defined in M String Theory, in which the entire universe is only a few light minutes across, rather than the eighty billion light years it is in our three expanded dimensions. The tiny size of the universe in these curled dimensions was also found to account for the gravitational effect which had been known as dark matter and dark energy, since in these dimensions, which are known as Mspace, everything is so close to everything else that it casts a gravitational shadow on our own world by means of these gravitrinos.

But it was not until two thousand and twenty three that the European Schengen States, the Central Asian Federation and the United American States set up a modest joint research project to map the heavens for gravitrinos. During this project in two thousand twenty six an astonishing discovery was made by Doctor Dean Raynerman of the research team at Palo Alto. '

The image faded to one of a middleaged bearded man in a cluttered and untidy library piled with coms, screens, prints, disks and even some old books, who spoke in a strong southern american accent.

'I'I waswas analysinganalysing thethe latestlatest gravitrinogravitrino datadata fromfrom thethe ReticulumReticulum constellationconstellation inin thethe southern hemisphere when I noticed something very odd. There appeared to be a very faint but regular pulsed signal. It was coming in a specific direction from what seemed like empty space near to the star Kappa Reticulum. Now we had never encountered anything quite like this before. We’d detected regular gravitrino pulses before from pulsars and collapsars, but this was completely different. It came in short very small pulses with different time intervals between them. Well, we just kept our dish on this source but we couldn't make out what was making it at all. So we passed the results over to Professor Timmerman at Leyden to see what she could make of them. '

The image faded and cut to an angular white-haired woman seated in a university comroom. She spoke animatedly.

'I'I analysedanalysed thethe KappaKappa ReticulumReticulum patternpattern andand foundfound thethe mostmost amazingamazing thingthing II couldcould ever have imagined. The pattern resembled a very complex binary code of some sort, which repeated over a period of ninety four minutes. It seemed to carry an awful lot of information. When this was analysed we could make no sense of any of it except for two very small segments. One appeared to give all the Fibonnacci Series numbers in correct ascending order. Another appeared to give the number of protons and neutrons in each shell of all the elements and known isotopes of the periodic table. We were very excited by the discovery. It could not be a natural source. So we were left with only one conclusion. It had to be a message from an intelligence of some kind. '

The scene faded again and cut to a vast galactic starscape, then zoomed to a small insignificant star. A superimposition appeared showing the binary code pattern pulses as an animated red and green bar graph. The commentary continued.

'For'For twotwo yearsyears thethe transmissiontransmission waswas monitoredmonitored whilstwhilst thethe scientificscientific worldworld debated.debated. The world media at first hailed this as the biggest event in history: first contact with an alien intelligence. The intelligence was named the Kappa Reticulum Alien Source, which rapidly became shortened to the 'Kraliens'. Newsvids reacted by giving extensive coverage to what the Kraliens would be like, although of course this was pure speculation at this stage, and based more on old scifi dramas than on modern science. '

Cut to newsvid extracts flying towards the viewer, with headlines such as, 'Alien Intelligence Confirmed!', 'Martians Really Do Exist', and, 'Kralien Invasion Not Likely, Say Boffins', and even, 'What Do YOU Think The Kraliens Look Like? Enter Our Monster Competition!' Cut back to view of stars in empty space.

'But'But whenwhen therethere waswas nono furtherfurther newsnews oror picturespictures thethe storystory rapidlyrapidly dieddied outout inin thethe popular imagination. Only in the scientific community was there discussion about what the next steps should be. Could we reply? Should we reply?'

The image faded and cut to large hall in which scientific conference is taking place. Delegates huddle in knots in heated discussions. The commentary continued evenly.

'The'The possibilitypossibility ofof anyany physicalphysical contactcontact withwith whoeverwhoever oror whateverwhatever waswas sendingsending outout the signal was rapidly discounted by the scientists. The source of the signal appeared to be over seven hundred light years away from earth for one thing, and the laws of science as we understand them mean that to send even one very small spacecraft would take thousands of years and require enormous amounts of energy and material. '

An image of a small intricate spacecraft hurtling through empty space towards a distant nebula appeared.

'Popular'Popular sciencescience fiction,fiction, oror moremore accuratelyaccurately sciencescience fantasy,fantasy, hashas oftenoften supposedsupposed some sort of fancy hyperdrive capable of taking us to the stars within a human lifespan, either through space itself or via a black hole or M string dimension shortcut. But this theory has never had any justification whatsoever in the laws of physics. In fact, on the contrary, these laws specifically forbid the possibility of faster than light travel for any kind of material object, or travel through a black hole, or indeed any way of getting to the stars within any kind of feasible timescale. '

Fade to image of vast sun with luminous trail of matter being sucked out and spiralling into a nearby black hole.

'So'So thethe realityreality isis thatthat thethe unimaginablyunimaginably vastvast distancesdistances betweenbetween thethe stars,stars, andand thethe consequent problems of the massive accelerations, endless timespans, and huge gravitational forces that would have to be overcome to get to even the nearest stars, has led scientists to wholly discount interstellar travel as a serious scientific proposition. So any meaningful two way contact between intelligent lifeforms across the gulfs of space could only be achieved by using gravitrino pulses through the M string dimensions like those of the signals from Kappa Reticulum. Professor Raynerman explains how. '

Cut back to the American professor's head, this time backed by schematic of stars and planets connected by visualised gravitrino pulses. The backdrop animates to illustrate the points he makes.

'Now'Now allall bodiesbodies withwith massmass suchsuch asas starsstars andand planetsplanets generate,generate, oror moremore accuratelyaccurately have as a property, a gravity gradient in space. Usually this is a static field which diminishes rapidly as you move away from the body itself. But sometimes this steady gravity field can pulse; for example in a large, uneven and rapidly-rotating body such as a pulsar, which is an unstable collapsing star, or a black hole for that matter. Now these Gravitrino Pulses as they are known are not like normal electromagnetic waves like visible light or X rays. They don't travel through space in the same way at all. More accurately, they alternately stretch and compress the fabric of space itself by a very very small amount, often only by a few thousandths of a micromillimetre. But, - and this is important - it is almost instantaneous according to the theory, and as we now know by observation, because it also acts through the curled M string dimensions of Mspace, as well as the three space dimensions that light moves in. That means that although the light from the Kappa Reticulum system has taken over seven hundred years to get here, and remember that light can travel the equivalent of seven times the earth's circumference in a single second, the gravitrino pulse is transmitted and received in a fraction of a second or so across the tiny amount of Mspace between us and the aliens. '

The head of the professor faded out and was replaced by a picture of a starfield in space: the image zoomed to a particular star, and a point in space nearby was shown by a glowing yellow arrow. The professor's head reappeared superimposed on the backdrop and spoke.

'That'That explainedexplained toto usus whywhy thethe KralienKralien pulsepulse appearedappeared toto originateoriginate inin emptyempty space.space. ItIt was not from where we could see the star Kappa Reticulum, because we can only see where it was seven hundred years ago when the light set out on its long journey. It was where that star would be now, if we could see it so. But there was one thing which still bothered us. It was the strength of the gravitrino signal. To transmit such a signal suggested either a vast amount of energy was being used, or that we had been targeted by a narrow gravitrino pulse, rather like a laser beam. In either case it suggested very strongly that we were dealing with an intelligence more technologically advanced than we are; maybe by thousands, even millions of years. '

The whole image dissolved to a picture of old United Nations building, then to a meeting within. The commentary continued.

'Whether'Whether we we should should try try to to construct construct our our own own gravitrino gravitrino transmitter transmitter to to reply reply was was discussed at length around the world and at the United Nations. Politicians argued, and religious leaders stated their positions. The Pope said it was essential to take the message of the Gospel to the Kraliens. The Islamic world was split between those who thought that it was Allah's will and that they had therefore nothing to fear by the contact, and those who considered it could pollute the message of Islam in an already divided world. The Dalai Lama thought that if we made the contact only out of desire for the material benefits, we could be seduced and enslaved by evil karmic spirits. The United Protestants wanted to find out if the Kraliens had a Saviour too. Others such as some ultra-orthodox Hindus predicted that the end of the world; the end of time and progress as we know it, would ensue from contact.'

Damen blinked and formed a thought in his mind; and a red marker reading, 'Edit 1' appeared on the screen for three seconds. The commentary continued.

'But'But inin thethe endend itit waswas thethe politicalpolitical realityreality ofof aa divideddivided worldworld whichwhich ledled toto thethe decisiondecision to try to establish contact. Military leaders advised the politicians that a successful contact could eventually lead to the transfer of entirely new technologies with wide military and security implications. The temptation to be the first to establish contact and benefit from the new technologies would be irresistible to many blocs' political- economic-military establishments. The threat of being left behind and dominated by other blocs' new technologies would be so great they would feel forced to develop their own strategies for contact. It would be virtually impossible for the world agencies or governments to effectively enforce an embargo on making contact with the Kraliens. Therefore we had to make contact, worldwide and collectively. So the biggest irony of whether we should contact the Kraliens was that it had nothing to do with humanity acting as a whole and everything to do with humanity still being divided in competing political, economic, and cultural groups. '

Damen formed a thought again. 'Edit 2' appeared in red for three seconds on the screen. The scene faded and cut to space again. Orbiting around the moon, the vast space station seen earlier is under construction. Spacecraft come and go, bringing components and materials both from the earth and the moon. The commentary started again.

'And'And soso KittcorpsKittcorps camecame intointo being;being; anan internationalinternational corporationcorporation answerableanswerable toto thethe United Nations and owned equally by the four superstates who provided the huge resources needed to build and run it. Kittcorps: the Kralien Information and Technology Transfer Corporation. The European Schengen States, the United American States, the Central Asian Federation, and the Asean Co-prosperity Group together set up a large team of top scientists, technologists, linguists, logicians, and military strategists to establish and develop two way contact with the Kraliens. ' The image zoomed in to the Kittcorps logo of two blue globes joined by a red lightning bolt, on the side of the space platform, then panned to the large bulbous structure of the space platform, then resolved as a graphic illustrating its components and how they work. The commentary continued.

'The'The basisbasis forfor thethe contactcontact wouldwould bebe thethe experimentalexperimental ProFissionProFission energyenergy generatorgenerator already developed by the UAS and built in lunar orbit, which alone was capable of generating the huge amount of energy necessary to make even a very tiny gravitrino pulse. ProFission antimatter generators had been banned from earth or earth orbit after the cataclysmic Sao Paolo Disaster of two thousand twenty eight where over three thousand square miles was laid waste by the explosion of this volatile yet enormously-powerful energy source. Even so, there was doubt whether our gravitrino signal, less than one thousandth of the estimated power of the Kralien beacon, would be anything like strong enough to be detectable even by a very advanced civilisation.

The transmitter itself works using a small singularity or black hole. A singularity is made of matter compressed to the point of almost infinite density and occupying only a point in space. It generates its own small but intense gravity well which distorts the fabric of space. It is held in position by very strong magnetic fields. By directing huge pulses of pure energy towards and into the singularity, the gravity field can be made to pulse very slightly. So to transmit a gravitrino signal, a normal binary electromagnetic signal like that used in coms and TVDs is amplified and boosted to a massive energy level and then blasted into the singularity, which then creates a microscopic gravitrino pulse.

In two thousand thirty three, after an intense four year construction period, the transmitter was ready to be switched on. The Kittcorps linguistic and logic team had come up with a binary code sequence four minutes long which they hoped would be understood by the Kraliens. On April the fourth two thousand thirty four, the signal was beamed out towards Kappa Reticulum. '

Fade to picture of transmitter control room with spacesuited staff moving around, reading dials and screens and setting controls. They wait tensely. Then scenes of astonishment, then wild excitement. The commentary continues.

'The'The earth earth signal signal had had been been transmitted transmitted for for only only eight eight minutes minutes before before the the most most remarkable event of all occurred. The Kralien signal abruptly stopped. After the second repeat of our signal the Kralien signal resumed, much more powerfully and with a different pattern. Recognition by an alien intelligence was finally and incontrovertibly established. The Golden Age of Earth - Kralien dialogue had begun’.

The sound of heroic orchestral music rose to a climax. The Kittcorps logo of twin blue globes linked by a red lightning bolt grew from a dot in space until it filled the screen. The commentary voice changed to a low, resonant male bass.

'It'It was was over over ten ten years years since since that that first first historic historic contact contact before before we we worked worked out out a a language to talk with the Kraliens. Communicating at first only in binary code, basic scientific concepts were transmitted and received until we understood each other a little. Then the language based on mathematics and physics was slowly, ever so slowly developed as Man and Kralien learned to talk together. Then new concepts, new philosophies, new sciences were first glimpsed, then understood and applied as they flowed across the void between worlds. And still the new wonder technologies come thick and fast. Molecular data memory. Cold fusion. Multilayer processors. Herculaneum. Genetic rejuvenation. And strangest and most marvellous of all, atomic water engineering. The most dramatic Informational and Technological advances in the history of Man. And Kittcorps has been working ceaselessly ever since to bring these I .T . benefits to everyone, everywhere, throughout the world. ' A pause, the logo reappeared, then the deep voice rolled, 'Kittcorps. All the I T you’ll ever need!'

The music swelled to a crescendo of baroque magnificence then faded to the background as title credits rolled across the screen. The final credit rolled: 'Composed'Composed andand DirectedDirected byby DamenDamen vanvan Hool'.Hool'.

Damen sat back as the credits ended.

'Coffee.'Coffee. '' hehe called;called; andand inin thirtythirty secondsseconds aa panelpanel inin thethe wallwall behindbehind himhim opened.opened. There was in it a plastic cup of coffee and a small biscuit. He swivelled round in his chair, picked up the coffee, drunk a little of it, and spoke again.

'Go'Go toto EditEdit one'.one'. TheThe screenscreen litlit upup withwith thethe UnitedUnited NationsNations discussiondiscussion andand thethe voiceover saying, '. . .with humanity still being divided in competing political and military organisations. '

Damen spoke. 'Back ten. Stop. Indicate source for following. '

A box appeared beside the main screen with 'Doctor Herzog Rosenfeld. Professor of History University of Tel Aviv 2032 - 2053'.

'Image'Image ofof professor,'professor,' DamenDamen ordered.ordered. AA picturepicture ofof aa young-lookingyoung-looking manman dresseddressed inin aa gaudy printed shirt appeared.

'Too'Too loud. loud. No No gravitas. gravitas. More More sober,' sober,' Damen Damen muttered, muttered, then then spoke spoke loudly, loudly, 'Wardrobe.'Wardrobe. ''

A succession of clothing images appeared and a list accompanied. With a thought Damen selected a suit and tie from the list. The professor appeared again, this time dressed in the suit.

'Too'Too young.young. MoreMore authority,'authority,' DamenDamen mutteredmuttered againagain andand withwith aa fewfew moremore rapidrapid menus, flashes of grey appeared at the professor's temples, the face became a little more lined.

'Yes.'Yes. That'sThat's aboutabout it,'it,' DamenDamen mutteredmuttered again.again. 'These'These neuralneural transmitterstransmitters suresure areare worth it. Save hours with these menu choices. Now where were we? Professor speaks. Continue from edit stop. ' Instead of the commentary, this time the professor's purposefully-aged head spoke atop his reclad body. 'In the end it was pragmatism which led to. . . '

'Stop!'Stop! '' DamenDamen calledcalled again.again. 'Edit'Edit voice.voice. AgeAge timbretimbre upup three.three. AccentAccent AmerisraeliAmerisraeli point four. Back three. Reconfigure to new. Run. ' The professor now spoke with a slight shake in his voice and with a more pronounced accent. 'In the end it was pragmatism which led. . '

'Stop!'Stop! NewNew backdrop.backdrop. Library,Library, twentyfirsttwentyfirst technomilitary.technomilitary. '' ImagesImages ofof armouredarmoured cars,cars, tanks, strangely-clad troopers, and aircraft. It took Damen more than twenty minutes to cycle through the almost endless video library and configure a thirty second collage of military manoevres. Eventually he said, 'Reconfigure to new minus two. Run to Edit two then revert. Run. ' The voiceover began again.

'.'. .. .and.and progressprogress asas wewe knowknow it,it, wouldwould ensueensue fromfrom thethe contact.contact. '' TheThe UnitedUnited NationsNations scene faded and was replaced by the modified image of the Israeli professor against a backdrop of military machines on the move. The professor spoke, 'In the end it was the pragmatism. . . '

Damen continued for another hour until he was editing the final sequence. The deep male voiceover was announcing the new wonder technologies. '.

Molecular data memory. Cold fusion. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Herculaneum. Genetic rejuvenation. And strangest. . . . '

'Stop!''Stop!' DamenDamen calledcalled outout againagain inin aa tiredtired voice.voice. 'Back'Back five.five. Run.Run. '' The burst of interference after ‘cold fusion’ was still there.

'Stop.'Stop. BackBack two.two. ShowShow code.code. FileFile information.information. Forward,Forward, stop!'stop!'

There! An erasure? There was a whole section of null code in the middle of what should have been his list. What was it? He hadn't put it there he was sure.

'Edit'Edit code.code. TimeTime andand origin,'origin,' hehe ordered,ordered, butbut hehe foundfound therethere waswas nono timetime andand nono origination for the code. Very odd. Not impossible, just very odd. What was there before the static? He sat and thought back to his first version. He called up the backup file. It was the same, just the buzz after cold fusion. He called up all the other backups and archives made by his comsystem since he recorded it two days previously; the same. Only one memory bank left to check to solve the mystery, his own mind’s. He thought back to when he was composing this piece. He had a technique for these kinds of lists which he’d often use in adVDs. The cadence of three, twice. Molecular data memory, cold fusion, something. Herculaneum, genetic rejuvenation, and so forth. Now what was the one which was missing? Yes! Multilayer something or other, that was it. Yes, now he remembered. Multilayer processors. He had wanted some new technology in his list to whet the appertite for what was still to come, not just a recap of what everyone already knew about. So he had taken that one from the Kittcorps product database he had access to. But what had happened to it? How had it been erased? Was it a fault? Who but he had access to his own comstudio systems otherwise? He was disturbed in his musing by the insistent buzzing of a small icon on the screen, which grew steadily louder as the image grew and resolved itself into Trudi's picture. Annoyed at the interruption, he flashed a thought at the icon and Trudi's image appeared full size in front of him.

'At'At last!,'last!,' sheshe said,said, '' We'llWe'll bebe latelate forfor JanJan andand FrancisFrancis unlessunless youyou packpack thatthat inin nownow andand get ready. Are you coming then?'

'Allright,'Allright, allrightallright I'mI'm comingcoming now,'now,' DamenDamen replied.replied. HeHe waswas tiredtired anyway:anyway: timetime toto stop.stop. He would have to sort out the mystery of the vanishing menu item tomorrow.

'Switch'Switch off. off. ' ' he he said, said, going going to to the the door door and and leaving leaving the the studio. studio. The The screens screens darkened and the door locked as he left the room.

33 20 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

There were six at Jan and Francis' dinner party; the other two were a couple Damen and Trudi casually knew called Thomas and Elaine who had driven up from Europoort. The conversation was informed but predictable, and Damen contributed little. Work, investments, current affairs, music, fashion, food; the usual gamut of affluent urban middle class dinner talk. Thomas and Elaine left at ten as they had babysitters to relieve. Over a late coffee, whilst Trudi chatted with Frances, Damen told Jan about his edit problem earlier in the day.

Damen and Jan had originally met about eight years previously in the course of business and had struck up a lasting friendship. Jan was a small, round, fast-talking man in his late forties; who earned his living as a com technology security consultant. He had installed Damen's first comstudio facility, and they had worked and socialised together ever since. Jan was professionally intrigued by the glitch in Damen's program, and after a few minutes they had left the women and had gone off to Jan's own lavishly-equipped comstudio to try and find out what the problem could be. In any case Jan always relished the opportunity of demonstrating his fine com equipment to anyone with the patience or interest. First Jan connected through to Damen's comstudio and Damen downloaded his Kralien contact file to Jan's system; then they analysed the code together.

'Where'Where diddid youyou getget thethe originaloriginal datadata forfor thatthat bitbit fromfrom then,'then,' JanJan asked,asked, AndAnd cancan youyou get it again now?'

'Kittcorps'Kittcorps productproduct databank.databank. I'veI've gotgot anan accessaccess code,'code,' DamenDamen replied.replied. 'I'I cancan connectconnect now if you want.'

'Oo!'Oo! YesYes please!'please!' JanJan replied,replied, 'Never'Never beenbeen inin Kittcorps'Kittcorps' productproduct bankbank before.before. OftenOften wanted to though. You can really get us in there? They must think what you’re doing’s important to let you in there. Any restrictions?'

‘Just the usual confidentiality stuff. But don’t tell anyone you were here too or they’ll sue me, knowing Kittcorps. Humourless bunch of bastards.’

Damen connected with Kittcorps and opened their databank on new technology. Scanning down the menu list, Damen soon found what he was looking for.

'There.'There. AsAs II toldtold you.you. MultilayerMultilayer processors.processors. WantWant toto seesee whatwhat it'sit's about?about? I'mI'm notnot really supposed to go any further in but I don't see why not. You say you haven’t heard about this then Jan?'

'Not'Not asas such,such, butbut II havehave heardheard thatthat KittcorpsKittcorps areare workingworking onon somethingsomething veryvery bigbig andand very secret to do with a new processor chip. Maybe this is it. What is it exactly? What does it do?' said Jan, intrigued, as they opened the file, 'Look. It's not available yet commercially; it's still under beta evaluation. That means Kittcorps themselves are probably using them. Look, here’s the outline spec.’ A moment’s silence whilst they scan-read the specification on the screen before Jan spoke again.

‘ Can’t be right. It’s either a misprint or it’s a really fantastic piece of kit. A single cluster can take three thousand gigabytes and get to any item within a nanosecond? Planck time processing speeds? They’re kidding. This file isn’t dated April the first is it Damen?

‘No, it’s a new product they’re working on, that’s all I know,’ Damen replied, ‘besides which Kittcorps don’t have any sense of humour, so it can’t be a prank. They take themselves too seriously.’

'Look'Look atat thethe structure!'structure!' JanJan exclaimed,exclaimed, 'That's'That's fantastic.fantastic. It'llIt'll revolutioniserevolutionise everythingeverything inin data handling. Everything else will be instantly obsolete. You see, the data's mobile, it moves around, and the routes are mapped at these points here. So at any one time all the points' route maps are within a tenth of a nanosecond of access to their particular bits. Then these route maps are configured in the same way...'

'You've'You've lostlost meme there,there, Jan,'Jan,' DamenDamen said.said. 'And'And II stillstill don'tdon't understandunderstand howhow itsits namename disappeared from my program code.'

'Well,'Well, ifif itit isis aa waterwater siliconsilicon valencyvalency gellgell whichwhich isis whatwhat itit lookslooks likelike itit maymay be,be, itit actsacts aa bit like human memory does,' Jan replied, 'But cubed, if you follow. It's much much faster. As for your code loss I suppose it's so sensitive they've put a security lock on it for now. As I said, I heard rumours that Kittcorps were going to reveal some fantastic new gizmo and start selling it as a new year publicity stunt. I can see why...'

'But'But Jan,Jan, explainexplain toto meme howhow theythey cancan eraseerase itit fromfrom mymy program,'program,' DamenDamen interrupted.interrupted.

'Oh,'Oh, somesome kindkind ofof viruscodeviruscode II suppose,suppose, linkedlinked inin withwith thethe name,'name,' JanJan repliedreplied easily.easily. 'You'You downloaddownload thethe namename andand taketake thethe viruscodeviruscode asas wellwell asas aa sortsort ofof uninviteduninvited guest,guest, which erases the name, then itself. I didn't know they were that good, or that paranoid.'

'Can't'Can't be.be. I'veI've gotgot aa viruslockviruslock onon allall thethe time.time. YouYou installedinstalled it,it, remember?remember? StateState ofof thethe art you told me. Are you telling me now they've got round your lock?' Damen snapped back. 'Anyway, it didn't just erase the name on the current copy. It cut out every iteration of the name in every archive and backup too.'

Yeah, I must admit that's pretty damn good,' Jan replied, still concentrating on the screen, 'But not impossible. You must have taken a whole linked file with you when you downloaded the name for it to do all that.'

'No,'No, II didn't,didn't, I'mI'm sure,'sure,' DamenDamen replied,replied, 'I'I wouldwould havehave noticednoticed thethe length...'length...'

Another part of the screen lit up with the images of Frances and Trudi. 'There'There youyou bothboth are!'are!' FrancesFrances exclaimedexclaimed inin mockmock surprise.surprise. 'Whatever'Whatever areare youyou upup to?to? Working during a dinner party?'

Trudi spoke. 'Time to go soon Damen. I've got an early start tomorow I'm afraid dear.'

Damen and Jan looked wearily at each other.

'We'll'We'll talktalk aboutabout thisthis tomorrowtomorrow then,'then,' DamenDamen said,said, 'So'So nownow I'veI've gotgot toto breakbreak contactcontact with Kittcorps databank I'm afraid, Jan. There. Tell me more about this tomorrow.'

Damen and Trudi left soon after, and drove back through the quiet Amsterdam suburbs. Trudi was not at all interested when Damen started to tell her what he and Jan had been up to, so he dropped the subject and they drove in silence. It was nearly midnight when they got back, and they went to bed almost immediately.

20 October 2054 Seattle, UAS

Half a world away in Seattle, Hara Green sat in her executive penthouse office behind an enormous lacquered desk. Mid forties, very chic, with short dark hair, beautiful but with a brusque, somewhat cold manner. Outside the late afternoon sun glinted on the ocean beyond. But Hara wasn’t contemplating the view, magnificent though it was. A message on her comscreen was what held her attention, as she regarded it with pursed lips. Presently she spoke.

‘Instruction to executive Captain Howard, europe security. Investigate and remedy level zee data breach, two instances, Holland, traced to subcontractor van Hool. Priority over other current activities until concluded. End.’

The comscreen acknowledged the message sent as Hara got up to go to her three o’clock board meeting.

21 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

The following morning both Damen and Trudi got up about eight. Damen went for his customary early morning look out of the window. The weather was blustery, with blue sky flecked with high white cirrus and heavier cumulus clouds with ragged edges. Not ideal for rowing, he thought; too much wind would make the water choppy. Around was the usual bustle of a city waking up and getting to work. Down on the roadway next to the canal there was a telcomm van with three men unloading equipment. The van had fenced Damen's car in, so he called down to them to move it. They looked up, startled, then one of them acknowledged and moved the van along a few metres.

Breakfast was soon over and Damen drove Trudi to work before going on to the rowing club on the banks of the Ij. He would be early so he could have a leisurely coffee there, then a light workout before he and Karl were due to take to the water. When he had dropped off Trudi he turned on the car's newsvid as usual.

'..was'..was goinggoing toto makemake aa strongstrong recovery.recovery. LocalLocal newsnews justjust in,in, andand therethere hashas beenbeen anan horrific double murder in Haarlem last night according to a report just in. Police were called to affluent Groenstrasse at six o'clock this morning after neighbours heard a disturbance and screaming coming from one of the houses. Police officers broke in and found the mutilated bodies of the occupants, believed to be Mr Jan Timmerman and his wife Francis. Police are investigating but there appears to have been no robbery and no obvious motive for the attack...'

Damen became aware of car horns sounding. He had stopped in the middle of the carriageway, stunned by the news item. He collected himself and drove off to the rowing club which was only a little further on. In the car park he sat for a while thinking furiously, then called Trudi at her work.

'Trudi,'Trudi, areare you you alone? alone? Can Can you you talk? talk? It's It's serious,' serious,' DamenDamen began began when when he he was was connected. No she couldn't; she was in a meeting now and couldn't it wait? Damen insisted and she left to find a private office.

'This'This hadhad betterbetter bebe good...'good...' sheshe startedstarted butbut DamenDamen brokebroke in.in.

'It's'It's JanJan andand Francis.Francis. They'veThey've beenbeen murdered.murdered. Yes,Yes, murdered!murdered! YesYes II amam sure.sure. ItIt waswas on the news just now. About six this morning they said. No they don't know who did it or why. Mutilated bodies they said. Perhaps you can find out something from the path lab at Haarlem. I'll talk to Karl to see whether we should go to the police. We may have been the last people to see them alive. No I know we're not suspects. The security cameras in the lobby to our flats will have had us coming in at midnight. Yes I'll call you again when I've spoken to Karl.'

He went into the clubhouse, agitated, and drank several cups of coffee waiting for Karl to arrive. When he did, Damen hurriedly explained to him what had happened. Karl was concerned but reassuring. He put on his best professional police manner.

'Yes,'Yes, therethere havehave beenbeen severalseveral suchsuch incidentsincidents overover thethe lastlast year,'year,' KarlKarl said.said. 'But'But youyou should tell the police what you know, and when you left. Were they arguing? No? Then it is probably a break-in gone wrong. I know this must be most distressing for you. Do you still want to row or should we call it off for today?'

'No,'No, I'dI'd stillstill likelike toto row,'row,' DamenDamen said,said, calmingcalming downdown aa little.little. 'I'I thinkthink thethe exerciseexercise wouldwould settle me down a bit and give me a chance to take it in. You're probably right, it's just a bad coincidence that we were there last night. But it's such a shock. Jan and Francis, murdered. I can't believe it. I really can't take it in....

Yeah, OK, shall we get ready now?'

They got changed, did a few warm up exercises, and lifted their coxless pair boat from its cradle in the boathouse. It was a light and graceful craft, about five metres long, very slim, and hand-built. Its frame was made out of plywood covered by a thin layer of plasmetal, coated on the outer surface with teflon. The riggers which held the oars were of tubular aluminium alloy. It weighed only a few kilograms, and when they had lifted it into the water at the landing stage it bobbed lightly on the water, drawing hardly any draught at all. The oars were four metres long and of carbon steel and plasmetal, with big scoop blades. The boat was beautiful, Damen thought, because it was so simple, so minimal. Apart from some of the materials used, there was no com control, no hi-tech gadgets, nothing but the sleek physical essentials of a racing rowing boat. It was far removed from the normal twentyfirst century world in which he lived and worked. Neither of them ever took their PComs boating with them. When they were on the water they were out of touch with the world of other people but completely in touch with their own physical bodies and with the natural world around them.

They each slipped their oar into the rigger, climbed gingerly but expertly into the boat, and adjusted their stretcher settings before securing their feet in them and testing the smooth even action of their sliding seats. The boat gently bobbed out into the river as they were completing their adjustments. Then, when they were ready, Karl gave the word to commence rowing; a gentle row known as a paddle just to warm up. As they moved out into the broad expanse of the Ij estuary Damen could feel himself becoming more calm and collected despite the morning's awful news. That could wait for now.

Karl and Damen had rowed together since university, and they hardly needed to speak at all when on the water. This was one of the attractions of rowing to Damen. Rowing well with another person was in itself a form of physical communication. The balance and run of the boat through the water was only achieved by a harmony of action, a perfect physical co-ordination between them. Karl rowed stroke, which was the position at the back of the boat; and Damen rowed bow; but because both faced the rear, Damen was behind Karl and Karl steered by means of one of the foot stretchers which when moved to the left or right moved the rudder correspondingly. Steering a boat when you couldn't see where you were going was an art in itself. It was done by knowing the waterway, with its bends, currents and obstructions; and by watching the line of the boat's wake.

They struck out into the middle of the estuary, firming up their strokes and pulling harder. The bank with its line of buildings receded and the water grew a little choppy in the brisk blustery autumn wind. Above them was the vast dome of sky filling up the field of vision like the skies in a seventeenth century Dutch master's painting. The sky dwarfed the human structures which bobbed along the horizon on either side of them, and the various barges and ships which slid past them as they rowed. Blue sky with huge billowing clouds in every shade of white, blue-grey, and ochre. Scud flitted across their dark bases. The sun broke through, its rays lighting up the water beside them with glistening shards of piercing bright silver; then it went in again for an indeterminate while. The water, stretching around and away, lapping and flowing by, sometimes limpid and yielding; sometimes choppy and slapping at the side of the boat. Damen loved being out on the water. There wasn't another sport like rowing, apart perhaps from sailing or skiing, where the environment was everything - it was where you did your sport which mattered as much as what the sport itself was. It was the sky, the water, your boat, your partner, you; in harmony and in motion; that was all.

The rowing itself was invigorating and soothing. The even rhythm, the pull on all the body's muscles as the oar went crisply into the water and you took the strain, hauling the boat through and over the water, pushing and stretching out the arms and the legs through to the end of the stroke. Then the release as the oar blade lifted out; then that delicious moment of flying as the boat ran through the water under its own momentum as you coiled and tensed the body like a spring once more before the next stroke. At that moment if you listened closely there was the sibilant hiss of the water rushing along the gunwhales of the boat. Then the next stroke, then the next, smooth and even as the boat sliced through the water. Karl stepped up the rating to thirty five strokes a minute and they started to run at full speed - about sixteen knots or so. Damen felt his body loosen as he got into the rhythm, and he felt his mind relax and start to work more rationally too. The thought entered his head that Jan and Francis' murder may not have been random. Was it connected with what they had been doing in Jan's comstudio earlier? What had Jan said about Kittcorps? That he didn't know they were so paranoid? No, surely not. They were a respectable worldwide corporation, supported by the four superstates. Surely just coincidence. But an odd one nonetheless.

His musings were interrupted by the gathering whine of a boat's electric motor approaching ahead. Karl heard it too and they both slowed and glanced over their shoulders. A large motor cruiser was bearing down upon them directly ahead, about thirty metres away. Karl moved his foot and hence the rudder and they picked up the rate and rowed off to the right. Damen glanced over his left shoulder as they moved away. The motorboat had steered to the left and was once more heading for them. It was very close, now almost on top of them. He shouted to Karl but it was too late as the prow of the motorboat crashed into their stern, submerging it and throwing their oars violently into their chests. The motorboat powered by right alongside as they were thrown overboard and into the water. The alarming thrash of its screws next to them, then it was moving away from them. Karl had surfaced and was shouting at the receding motorboat.

'Idiots!'Idiots! Don'tDon't youyou look?look? II willwill findfind youyou andand reportreport you!you! YouYou couldcould havehave killedkilled us!'us!'

The boat was a large expensive modern ocean-going cruiser, low at the stern and with a high bridge carrying many aerials. Its white wake spewed up from behind it. They could not see who was steering it or anyone else on board. Occasionally this sort of incident happened. Some arrogant rich kid who couldn't handle such a powerful boat and who didn't understand or care for the rules of the river or for anyone else on it would come tearing by, wreaking havoc. They saw the motorboat ahead had slowed and was turning back to come to their assistance, the driver having seen what he had done, and they treaded water, waiting, thinking what they would say to him. But as it approached once more the boat speeded up rather than slowed, and they both saw with mounting alarm the prow cutting towards them. 'Keep'Keep awayaway fromfrom thethe screws!screws! Dive!'Dive!' KarlKarl yelledyelled inin thethe lastlast momentsmoments beforebefore thethe boatboat was on them again. Damen took a gulp of air and with the energy of desperation dived down and away from the boat. The water was a boiling confusion of noise and foam and he struggled to swim forward as he was buffetted and tumbled in the maelstrom. He felt an oar hit against his leg as it was churned around in the water. Then as he struggled to regain his balance and swim upwards it became quiet again and he surfaced, spluttering. Karl was gasping with his mouth open about three metres away. The boat was receding again. Their oars were floating in the water. They caught their breath and swam towards each other.

'Swim'Swim for for the the bank.' bank.' Karl Karl spluttered, spluttered, and and they they struck struck out out together together towards towards the the Amsterdam bank about twenty metres away. After they had swum about ten Damen stopped and looked back.

'Look'Look out!'out!' hehe criedcried asas hehe caughtcaught sightsight ofof thethe motorboat'smotorboat's prowprow nearlynearly onon toptop ofof themthem again.They dived as the water boiled and frothed in the boat's passing. Damen heard three watery hisses beside him as he surfaced, and he caught a glimpse of a figure on the stern of the boat pointing what may have been a handgun in his direction. He dived again on reflex as the water beside him hissed once more as bullets struck. He stayed down for about twenty seconds then surfaced. Karl was further towards the shore then he was, so he started swimming as strongly as he could to catch up with him to warn him. This was deliberate, no doubt of that now.

The motorboat swung round once again but then slowed down as the occupants searched the water for the two swimmers. Karl was just about at the bank now, but this consisted of a timber jetty which was impossible to climb. He held on and waited for Damen to join him as the motorboat suddenly picked up speed and surged menacingly towards them once again. Damen caught onto Karl, and struggled to find breath to speak . 'Dive!'Dive! It'sIt's deliberate!deliberate! TheyThey shotshot atat me!me! DiveDive forfor God'sGod's sake!'sake!'

He pulled Karl under as the boat roared alongside where they were holding on; and a spang! and a hiss! told Karl too that they were being shot at. They came up under the jetty and fortunately in a heavy shadow which hid them from the searching gaze of the gunman on the rear of the now idling motorboat ten metres away. Karl was astonished and angry, but he retained his professional presence of mind.

'Dive'Dive againagain gently,'gently,' hehe saidsaid softlysoftly toto DamenDamen besidebeside him,him, 'Work'Work youryour wayway alongalong thethe jetty in that direction. Surface as gently as you can. Go!'

They quietly slipped beneath the water and struck out, feeling the jetty wall on one side. After a lung-bursting twenty metres they surfaced as quietly as they could and looked back. The motorboat was turning round again and standing off the jetty, now pointing in their direction.

'Again,'Again, dive!'dive!' KarlKarl said,said, andand theythey swumswum anotheranother twentytwenty metresmetres submerged.submerged. WhenWhen they broke the surface the motorboat was where it had been previously. They dived three times more, each time getting further away from the motorboat, but on the third time they saw the boat roaring away back into the estuary. Swimming eventually to a ladder built into the jetty wall, they hauled their dripping exhausted bodies up and onto the quay, which was deserted. They both lay there for a while, too tired to speak.

44 21 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

When they had recovered sufficiently, Damen and Karl left the jetty and Karl called in his report from a harbour office. A patrol car arrived shortly afterwards to take them back to the clubhouse to change and dry out. In the car Damen told Karl about the Kittcorps data file he and Jan had been examining the previous night before Jan's murder. Karl received this information coolly and advised him to make formal statement to the police as soon as possible. Karl was in little doubt that the attack on them by the motorboat had been deliberate but he thought on balance it was most likely to be some criminal trying to settle a score with himself.

Back at the clubhouse Karl got changed at once and left in the patrol car, saying he would let Damen know if they found out anything about the motorboat. Damen found several urgent messages from Trudi had been left on his PCom and also at the clubhouse bar. He called her back as soon as he was changed. She was wound up and angry when he got through.

'Where'Where havehave youyou been?been? I'veI've beenbeen tryingtrying forfor anan hourhour toto getget inin touchtouch andand theythey toldtold meme you'd gone out rowing. At a time like this! Really, Damen you are the limit sometimes! Haven't you got any consideration at all?'

'Listen,'Listen, Trudi,Trudi, shutshut upup forfor aa momentmoment andand listenlisten willwill you?'you?' DamenDamen cutcut in,in, 'Karl'Karl andand II were attacked when we were out. A motorboat ran us down, then we were shot at. Yes, shot at! Karl thinks they may have been after him but I don't know, it may have been me they were after.'

'What'What dodo youyou mean,mean, afterafter you?you? JustJust whatwhat havehave youyou beenbeen upup to?to? WhyWhy shouldshould anyoneanyone shoot you for God's sake, Damen?'

'I'I don'tdon't know.know. WhyWhy shouldshould anyoneanyone murdermurder JanJan andand Francis?Francis? MaybeMaybe itit waswas toto dodo withwith what Jan and I were doing in his comstudio last night. You remember I told you that I was having trouble with a program I was working on?...'

'Oh,'Oh, shutshut upup aboutabout youryour wretchedwretched comscoms andand programsprograms forfor aa secondsecond willwill you!'you!' TrudiTrudi snapped, 'Can't you think of anything but your flaming coms and your bloody rowing? Can't you think of anything or anyone but yourself? If you'd bothered to ask me I'd tell you I got through to the Haarlem path lab. They'd been tortured. Francis had burn marks all over her, and..bits of her had been cut off...Jan too but worse...' She stopped and cried a while before continuing, 'They were in a dreadful state, evidently. And all you can talk about is some fool in a boat when you're out rowing! Who would want to do such an awful thing?'

Damen was silent for a moment, then he calmed himself and said evenly, 'Karl has advised that we go and make a statement about last night as soon as possible. I'll call for you in fifteen minutes and we'll do it now. Then we'll get away from Amsterdam for a day or two I think.' 'Oh,'Oh, runrun away,away, that'sthat's itit isis it?it? That'llThat'll solvesolve everything!everything! WhatWhat aboutabout youryour deadlinesdeadlines Damen? What about my work? And who's going to help Jan and Francis' parents to arrange the funeral? You just never think do you?'

'I'll'I'll seesee youyou inin fifteenfifteen minutes.minutes. We'llWe'll talktalk then.'then.'

Damen answered brusquely and he cut the connection. The conversation had surprised and angered him. He had never known Trudi to be so censorious, so uptight. Yes, she was under stress too after the dreadful happenings, but she had not even listened to him telling her about the boat incident.

With a sigh he left the clubhouse and went to his car. As he approached it two men wearing overalls and in a plain van parked in the space next to his pulled out and drove away at speed. They were in a hurry to get somewhere, Damen thought as he pulled out his keycard or why did they drive away so fast? He got into his own car, and then he paused, thinking. Had they been in a hurry to leave rather than to get somewhere? Had they been tampering with his car? Was he getting paranoid? It had been a hell of a morning, but this was getting ridiculous. Nevertheless, he didn't start the car but sprung the bonnet catch instead. Getting out and opening it he looked inside. the engine was a complicated mass of cabling and odd-shaped components of metal and plastic but he did know something about their working. Nothing appeared out of place except for one small detail. Some of the cables were a little too clean. All the others had a thin coating of oily grime, but these three didn't. Yet it was nearly a year since any work had been done to the car; he remembered because it was due for a service. Now where did the cables run from? The accumulators, yes, to the capacitators, and then to whatever that was. What was it? He had no idea what that component did, and no recollection of noticing such a component before. He stood back and scratched his head, feeling on the one hand very alarmed and on the other very foolish for even considering that his vehicle had been tampered with. How could he find out? Yes, that was it! Giulio at the clubhouse bar was a car enthusiast he remembered - he tuned them up and raced them in his spare time. He had helped him start his car on a previous occasion about three years ago. Damen went back to the clubhouse, found the barman, and showed him to the car, saying something about it being unreliable since he had it seen to by a backstreet mechanic earlier in the week. Giulio looked under the bonnet for a few minutes with Damen peering over his shoulder.

'Don't'Don't knowknow whatwhat youryour mechanic'smechanic's beenbeen doing,doing, butbut II wouldn'twouldn't drivedrive this,'this,' GiulioGiulio said,said, standing back. 'You see that? That's an accumulator booster add-on. Use them on old bangers to keep up the charge. But not on a new high-charge motor like this. And not wired on like that either. Bloody dangerous if you ask me. That'll overload most likely. Causes the batteries to supercharge. They can blow up when they're supercharged, you know. Bloke at the Hilversum rally killed himself last month by doing that to his engine. Nah! Cowboy work if you ask me. Do you want me to disconnect it then? I would if I were you.'

Damen said yes and Giulio cut through the three clean leads with his pocket knife. Then he got into Damen's car and started it. It ran perfectly. 'Don't'Don't knowknow whatwhat thethe plonkerplonker putput itit onon forfor inin thethe firstfirst place,'place,' hehe calledcalled throughthrough thethe window to Damen standing beside. 'Seems fine as it is to me. OK then, sir?'

Giulio said as he got out. Damen gave him a five hundred euro note for his trouble, thanking Giulio for saving him from the danger. It was more than the barman earned in a day.

'Thank'Thank you.you. VeryVery generousgenerous indeedindeed sir.sir. GladGlad toto bebe ofof service.service. ThankThank youyou veryvery much!'much!' he smiled as he went back to the clubhouse.

Damen drove straight to the Health Centre as fast as he dared. Trudi was waiting at the entrance, and as he pulled up she strode across, flung open the door, sat down abruptly, and slammed the door shut.

'Fifteen'Fifteen minutesminutes youyou said.said. I'veI've beenbeen waitingwaiting therethere nearlynearly anan hourhour forfor you.you. WhereWhere thethe hell have you been?'

'There'There waswas somethingsomething wrongwrong withwith thethe car.car. SomeoneSomeone hashas beenbeen tamperingtampering withwith itit whilst I was out rowing,' Damen replied, already doubting whether she would believe it even though it was true. He was right; she didn't.

'What'What dodo youyou meanmean somebodysomebody tamperedtampered withwith thethe car?car? WhyWhy wouldwould anyoneanyone dodo aa thingthing like that? What have you been up to, Damen? Or is this some kind of childish game to you? Can't you cope with Francis' and Jan's death? Perhaps you should go to see a doctor. You're acting very oddly, Damen. Can't you see this is stressful for me too? How do you think I feel?...'

'Trudi,'Trudi, listenlisten aa minute!'minute!' DamenDamen spokespoke firmlyfirmly betweenbetween grittedgritted teeth.teeth. 'Just'Just listen!listen! JanJan and I looked at a Kittcorps file last night. It may have been restricted. Four hours later Jan and Francis are tortured and killed. Then a boat runs Karl and me down and someone starts shooting at us. Then someone tampers with the car and nearly blows it up, and me up with it! Now we go to the police and explain everything and put it in their hands. It is not a question of coping. Something is going on I tell you. Will you take this seriously?'

'Well'Well ifif you'veyou've gotgot yourselfyourself intointo troubletrouble youyou can'tcan't blameblame me,me, Damen.Damen. II don'tdon't knowknow anything about your restricted file and Kittcorps. Don't be ridiculous! A big respectable company like Kittcorps wouldn't be involved in shootings and explosions. Honestly, Damen, I don't know what you've been up to or what kind of person you've been mixing with, but don't involve me. It's probably someone you met from that Rialto cafe you spend too much time at. And what about Jan and poor Francis? You'd no business getting them involved in whatever you've been up to. Am I involved in all this too then? Where does that leave me, Damen? Where does that leave me?'

Realising the futility of further argument Damen remained silent but fuming. This last few hours had certainly been an eye-opener as far as Trudi was concerned. She wasn't even prepared to listen. She would be no support at all, he realised. He was on his own as far as sorting this out was concerned. They arrived at the police station and independently made full statements before returning back to the flat in a stressed and tense silence. As soon as they got back Damen went straight into his comstudio and opened the Kittcorps file. He downloaded this to his PCom then accessed the Kittcorps database, reading out his access code authorisation. There, he was into the database, but there was no sign of the file he was looking for, the one he had accessed with Jan last night about the multilayer processor. He tried again, making sure he got the number correct, but the result was the same. Then he called up the Kittcorps assistant head of publicity for Europe, but he wasn’t put through, he was just kept waiting. After a few minutes Damen came offline feeling dissatisfied and uneasy.

He stayed in the comstudio so that he could think in peace and quiet, glad to be away from Trudi's angst for the first time. He called up the wallpaper menu, and selected a realtime view of the coast in Brittany. At once he was surrounded by a stunning image of black sea cliffs with gulls wheeling about, and huge rollers crashing against their rocky bases. The sky was overcast, almost gloomy, with the cloud streaming from the sea bringing squalls of rain. The sound of the wind and the waves rolled across the room; Damen softened the volume. The temperature in the comstudio dropped in response to the cold wind it detected in Finisterre. He drank a coffee and took stock of his position amidst the crash of the cold breakers and the plaintive cries of the gulls three hundred miles away. He was interrupted by an insistent buzzing icon of a priority call coming in. He cut the wallpaper and connected. The image of the police superintendent he had spoken to earlier came on the screen.

'Damen'Damen van van Hool? Hool? Superintendent Superintendent Steiger Steiger again. again. I I have have one one or or two two important important questions for you if you don’t mind. You said in your statement that you returned to your flat this morning about midnight, and you did not leave again until eight.' 'Yes,'Yes, thatthat isis correct,'correct,' DamenDamen replied.replied.

'We'We now now have have accessed accessed the the security security recording recording of of your your flat flat entrance entrance lobby lobby in in accordance with the Evidence Verification Statute. Will you please look at this?' The image changed to one of the lobby to Damen's block. The time indicated four am. A man which was clearly Damen could be seen exiting the front door. The scene changed to seven am, when Damen returned. Damen was stunned.

'But,'But, thatthat waswas notnot thisthis morning.morning. II diddid notnot leaveleave thethe flatflat thisthis morning.morning. ThereThere isis aa mistake on the dater or timer,' Damen said to the superintendent, whose image had returned.

'I'm'I'm afraidafraid that'sthat's impossibleimpossible MrMr vanvan Hool.Hool. TheThe recorderrecorder isis asas wewe accessedaccessed itit anan hourhour ago. I must ask you to return to the station for a further interview in connection with the murders of Jan and Francis Timmerman at approximately six fifteen this morning.'

'This'This isis ridiculous.ridiculous. ThereThere mustmust bebe somesome mistake,'mistake,' waswas allall DamenDamen couldcould thinkthink ofof saying. 'Yes I will come in three hours if that is convenient. I have an appointment first.' 'That'That willwill bebe satisfactorysatisfactory MrMr vanvan Hool,'Hool,' thethe superintendentsuperintendent replied,replied, 'But'But pleaseplease bebe nono later. By that time we expect to have further evidence from the security imagers in Groenstrasse which may eliminate you from our enquiries.'

Damen cut the connection and stood up, pacing the small room in furious concentration. What was happening? How had those images showing him leaving and entering been done? Or perhaps he really did have amnesia, or had been sleepwalking or something? Perhaps he had returned to Haarlem and murdered Jan and Francis, and he had now blocked it out of his mind? Surely Trudi would remember if he had gone out though? He left the comstudio and found her in the kitchen. She looked at him resentfully, angrily, as he walked in.

'Trudi,'Trudi, ThatThat callcall waswas thethe policepolice again.again. TheyThey thinkthink theythey havehave meme leavingleaving herehere atat fourfour this morning and coming back at seven, but of course I was here with you, wasn't I?'

'I'I don'tdon't know.know. II waswas stillstill widewide awakeawake soso II tooktook aa sleepingsleeping pillpill whenwhen wewe gotgot inin youyou remember,’ Trudi replied indignantly, as if Damen had somehow challenged her right to an unbroken night's sleep. ‘I was out from twelve thirty until eight this morning,'

'But'But II didn'tdidn't gogo out.out. II couldn'tcouldn't havehave gonegone out.out. II wouldwould havehave remembered.remembered. ThatThat meansmeans that the security imager was wrong..'

'How'How couldcould itit bebe wrong,wrong, Damen?Damen? YouYou mustmust havehave gonegone outout ifif itit showsshows you,you, musn'tmusn't you? I wouldn't have known. Just what's going on Damen? What have you been up to? Where did you go last night?'

'I'I wentwent nowhere.nowhere. ThatThat meansmeans thethe securitysecurity systemsystem isis wrong.wrong. ItIt mustmust havehave beenbeen faultyfaulty or it must have been tampered with. That's it! The telcomm van this morning! What were they doing here?'

'Oh'Oh Damen,Damen, don'tdon't bebe soso childish!childish! TamperedTampered withwith indeed!indeed! II reallyreally amam sicksick ofof allall this,this, dodo you hear? Come back here...'

But Damen wasn't listening; he had dashed back into the comstudio and was putting a call through to the Amsterdam telcomm company. Five minutes later he came out jubilant.

'There'There youyou areare then!then! ThereThere waswas nono workwork carriedcarried outout anywhereanywhere nearnear herehere byby AmtelAmtel today. The van which fenced me in must have belonged to imposters! They must have altered the security system to implicate me. Don't you see this ties in with the boat and the car?'

'I'I thinkthink you'reyou're crazycrazy Damen.Damen. YouYou needneed youryour headhead lookinglooking at.at. ThisThis isis ridiculous.ridiculous. YouYou have this stupid conspiracy theory now, all these things going on. Why don't you admit the truth? You must have gone out if the camera says you did. Where did you go Damen? Surely not back to...'

Trudi trailed off, shocked at where her train of thought was leading her. 'Now'Now you're you're being being ridiculous,' ridiculous,' Damen Damen told told her, her, sitting sitting down down opposite. opposite. 'I 'I went went nowhere. And Karl will tell you about the boat today. I wasn't just imagining it all. And you can call Amtel yourself if you want..'

'No'No II don'tdon't want!'want!' TrudiTrudi cried.cried. 'I'I sawsaw nono vanvan anyway.anyway. OnlyOnly youyou sawsaw thethe vanvan ifif therethere was one. Damen, what have you done? '

Damen rose and backed off from where she was seated. It was no good, she didn't even believe him. And if she didn't, who would? He had to get out of here for a while, get somewhere he could think clearly. He was due back at the police station in a few hours anyway. Would they believe him?

'Trudi,'Trudi, I'mI'm goinggoing out,out, backback toto thethe policepolice station,'station,' DamenDamen said.said. 'I'll'I'll bebe backback later,later, don'tdon't worry. And I've done nothing. Nothing at all. You have to believe me.'

'I'I don'tdon't knowknow whatwhat toto believebelieve Damen,Damen, II reallyreally don't,'don't,' TrudiTrudi waswas cryingcrying now.now. DamenDamen started to speak then stopped; it would wait. He picked up his PCom and his wallet, put on a jacket and left. He decided to go to the Rialto, see who was there, see if there was anyone he could talk to about this crazy situation. He would walk; he could think whilst he was walking.

He left the flat and walked briskly along the canal in the direction of the Rialto, which was about a kilometre away. The avenues were still busy. It was about three in the afternoon as he strode along through the crowd. He was thinking as he walked. Surely the tampering with the cameras would be verifiable? Surely the Groenstrasse security cameras would..... He stopped dead, and someone bumped into him with a curse. He apologised and walked on, deep in thought. If the lobby cameras could be so expertly doctored to frame him then the Groenstrasse cameras outside Jan and Francis' could be too. But who would go to such lengths and why? It had to be connected with the missing Kittcorps file on multilayer processors. In which case he was in serious trouble. But what had he done that Jan should be murdered, himself framed, and attempts on his life made? He was beginning to get scared. The whole situation seemed to be spiralling rapidly out of his control.

He arrived at the cafe and went in. It was very busy, crowded and bustling with shoppers and sightseers. Norbert was still behind the bar, and Damen ordered a coffee. Looking around whilst he was waiting for it, he caught sight of Lambert talking to Marie in the corner. Egbert was in, talking to Duane the tall rangy Australian and, he noted with relief, Anna. She was the same as ever: short, mid-brown long wavy hair, an oval face which was pretty enough with large blue eyes and wearing one of her many combinations of brightly-coloured scarfs blouses and skirts. Black tights and shoes completed the outfit. She was talking animatedly to the others as he took his coffee and went over to join them. They looked up and welcomed him, moving their chairs to make a space for him. Egbert, a bluff heavy red-faced farming type from the polders who was now rather incongrously a diamond trader, spoke first.

'Damen,'Damen, youyou havehave heardheard aboutabout JanJan andand Francis?Francis? ItIt isis terrible,terrible, isis itit not?'not?'

Damen said not only had he heard but that he was with them both last night, and there was much much more to the story. They leaned over the table, shocked at the murders and agog for news. Lambert and Marie, noticing the interest Damen was generating with the regulars, moved over to their table. Damen talked for half an hour or more with hardly an interruption, telling them fully the events of last night and the day. These were his friends and he felt he could trust them with the truth. Whether they believed it or not was another matter.

When he had finished they all sat back, taking it all in. In the meantime the cafe had emptied and become much quieter. Duane signalled Norbert to bring them each their preferred drink, then the questions began. All of his friends appeared to take his story at face value. Lambert in particular was ready to believe Kittcorps capable of anything, and Damen's story seemed to support and justify his dim view of the ethics of large corporations. Anna appeared to be the most concerned for Damen, which touched him considerably. He could see the trust and sympathy in her eyes, and he contrast between her seemingly ready acceptance of his tale and that of Trudi's reaction was not lost on him. He had always regretted the manner in which he had dumped her for Trudi two years previously but for the first time he thought he may have made the wrong decision.

After another hour it was time for him to go to the police station. He took his leave amidst the good wishes of his friends and went out into the now-dark street. It was about five thirty as he strode out in the direction of the main police station, about two kilometers distant. He had gone a couple of hundred meters and was crossing a bridge over the Herengracht when he saw a man coming towards him from the opposite direction. They met at the far side of the bridge and the man spoke to him.

'Excuse'Excuse me.me. YouYou areare DamenDamen vanvan Hool?'Hool?'

Damen nodded curtly, instantly becoming suspicious and apprehensive. Was this the police come to find him? But there was no identification. If not the police then.. Damen felt himself seized from behind by strong arms which pinned his own arms behind his back. The man in front of him spoke again.

'Good,'Good, thenthen II havehave somethingsomething forfor youyou MrMr vanvan Hool.'Hool.'

He produced a knife from under his coat and stabbed at Damen. 55 21 October 2054 Amsterdam, Holland

Damen struggled and squirmed violently but in vain to escape the arm pin of the hidden assailant behind him as the knifeman lunged at him. He was pushing hard with his feet, trying to unbalance the man holding him, then he suddenly lifted and coiled his legs and kicked out horizontally with both feet at the knife wielder with the force of berserk desperation. With all the power of leg muscles developed by competitive rowing he struck his assailant in the chest just below the midriff even as the knife blade was arcing towards him. The knifeman doubled up and reeled backwards, caught completely unaware and winded by the force of the blow, and the knife span out of his hands and clattered onto the cobbles. The reaction to the kick pushed Damen heavily into his rear assailant and they too staggered backwards and overbalanced, forcing the attacker to let go his grip on Damen's arms to break his own fall. But the knifeman had been propelled back right to the edge of the canal near the steps leading down by the side of the bridge, and losing his balance he fell backwards and down into the gloom below. There was a short cry, a sickening crack of breaking bone, and a loud splash.

Damen, in a heap and on top of his other assailant, rolled to one side and out of his reach, then got up as quickly as he could. This attacker was already on his feet and reaching down to pick up the fallen knife next to him. Damen could see him now in the light of an adjacent lamp: nearly two metres tall, short cropped black hair, twenties, thick neck with square jaw and prominent bent nose, wearing army surplus combat fatigues. He crouched forward, then came menacingly towards Damen with the knife held pointing upwards in his right palm and his cold gaze fixed on him. Damen glanced round: his only hope against such an assailant was in running but the only place to run to was an alley behind him. He turned and ran, and heard the clump of his attacker's boots following.

The alley ran between two old buildings through to the next canal, but was only occasionally lit by dim inadequate lamps fixed high to the sides of the buildings. A few crates, bins, and plastic rubbish bags were strewn here and there. Damen pelted along as fast as he could but was brought to a sudden rattling halt by a fence or gate of thin mesh across the alley. It was impossible to attempt to climb and Damen whirled round to confront his assailant. Frantically he cast round for a weapon; anything, anything at all to counter the lethal blade wielded by his opponent. There was nothing lying around but a short jagged length of flimsy wood, an old broken piece of packing case about half a metre long by a hundred or so wide with a stencil of a palm tree in green and orange visible on one face. Damen picked it up and held it out before him in a futile gesture of defiance, all too conscious of its pathetic inadequacy. The man with the knife saw this feeble defence and laughed as he strutted forward to finish the job.

Then the attacker lunged at Damen, sweeping the knife in a deadly arc in front of him. Damen leapt backwards with a crash into the mesh fence, then the knife arced back. Damen bounced forward off the fence and lashed out, stabbing the piece of wood hard at his assailant's head. The wood splintered into pointed shards as it struck the thug in the face and he cried in sudden pain as blood gushed from his left eye. As he raised his hand to his damaged face Damen kicked out at his legs in a desperate flying tackle and he overbalanced and fell forward. This time Damen was up first and he looked for the knife in the attacker's right hand. He stamped hard on the hand and the knife went flying from it and skittered down the alley a few metres. Damen went and picked it up and turned to face his assailant, who was groggily getting to his feet, clutching his face. Damen hesitated. To run would be the most sensible thing to do, because the assailant's partner might have got out of the canal by now. But he was fired up and angry now. The stress of the whole day became focused in his adrenalin-fuelled rage. Just who were these two, to accost and try to kill him? He would find out right now. Damen went up behind and seized the attacker by his hair whilst putting the blade at his neck. He pulled the head back and saw that a splint of the wood had gone into his eye socket, which was bleeding profusely down his face and dripping onto the green and brown jacket. But Damen didn't care for his attacker's injury; he had had enough. Right then he was mad enough to have killed his assailant.

'Who'Who areare you?you? HowHow diddid youyou knowknow mymy name?name? WhyWhy diddid youyou trytry toto killkill me?'me?' DamenDamen hissed from between clenched teeth. The man didn't answer so Damen pressed the knife harder against the neck and drew the edge along his flesh: a thin line of blood showed.

'Who'Who areare you?you? TellTell meme oror I’llI’ll killkill youyou rightright now!'now!'

'Just'Just aa job,'job,' thethe otherother stuttered,stuttered, 'We'We waswas paidpaid toto getget you.you. ToldTold wherewhere you'dyou'd be.be. SaidSaid you'd be no trouble; be easy money. My fucking eye! I've lost my bloody eye!'

'You'll'You'll loselose thethe otherother unlessunless II getget answers.answers. WhoWho sentsent you?'you?'

'Some'Some oldold businessbusiness geezer.geezer. DoDo aa lotlot forfor him.him. VeryVery big,big, cancan eveneven fixfix thingsthings withwith thethe police, but I don't know who. I swear I don't know who!'

'What'What diddid hehe say?say? WhereWhere diddid youyou meetmeet him?him? Talk,Talk, dammit!'dammit!'

'OK,'OK, OK!OK! CalledCalled usus voicevoice onlyonly thisthis morning,morning, saidsaid hehe hadhad anan urgenturgent jobjob forfor us,us, toptop priority, top money. Said you had to be shut up quick. Said the police knew about the job so they'd not be around or give us any trouble later. Gave us a big credit downline to our cashcards there and then an’ told us to wait for his call. Then he called us again at four and vidded your picture so’s we’d know it was you, and said you were in the Rialto Cafe and you'd be going to the main police station at five or so. That’s all I swear! My eye! My fucking eye!'

Damen released his grip and pushed the attacker away from him. No point in staying here any longer, so he turned and jogged back down the alley, looking back over his shoulder once or twice. But the wounded knifeman wasn't following; he just stayed there groaning.

Back at the alley entrance Damen stopped and looked cautiously round: where was the other knifeman? No sign of him, and only one or two other passers by about. Damen pocketed the knife, straightened his clothes, and stepped out of the alley. He went to the canal edge where the man had fallen, but there was still no sign. He walked onto the bridge and looked along the canal. About thirty metres away in the centre of the canal a dark shape floated motionless in the water. Was that him? Damen peered through the darkness but couldn't be sure. Should he call for help? No, out of the question in the circumstances; in any case his colleague could do that. Better get away from here, start walking, not too fast now, but walk where? To the police to report this of course; he should call them on his PCom now. But what had the other attacker just said about the police being in on it? Surely not, surely this was just a lie. But why would he risk such a lie with a knife at his throat?

Damen walked through the streets and along the canals, heedless of where he was going. He stopped at a small unfamiliar bar, went in and sat down. A large coffee was ordered and he picked up the evening newsvid and pretended to read it. But his mind was in ferment. He was still shaken, and shaking, following the murderous attack. More than that he was surprised by his escape, and by the unexpected effectiveness of his own violence. He had shown them! First one, into the canal. Then the other. Poked his eye out and took his knife away! Despite his predicament Damen felt quietly exultant about how he had extricated himself, and he had also found out something. He was wanted; so badly they, whoever they were, had made three attempts on his life. And just in case that wasn’t enough they were framing him for Jan's murder; probably quite successfully. And maybe the police were in on it too, so how could he go to them? He would have to find out whether he could still trust to ESS justice. He would call Karl now from here. He stood up and asked where the private combooth was, as he didn't want to use his own PCom - the police could track them anywhere if they were on, Karl had once told him. He put the call through to Karl's home: he was there.

'Karl'Karl thisthis isis Damen.Damen. Listen,Listen, II can'tcan't talktalk forfor long.long. DidDid youyou findfind outout aboutabout thethe boat?'boat?'

'Where'Where areare youyou Damen?Damen? II hearhear fromfrom SteigerSteiger thatthat hehe wantswants toto talktalk toto youyou urgently.urgently. There are some more questions to be answered about Jan and Francis’ deaths, some more evidence from the Groenstrasse security cameras. Where are you? You must go to the police station at once.' 'Karl,'Karl, I'veI've donedone nothing.nothing. It'sIt's aa frameframe up.up. AA goodgood one,one, butbut aa frameframe up.up. TheThe camerascameras have been tampered with. There was a bogus Amtel van outside my flat this morning: I checked with them. And there have been two more attempts to murder me. Once by tampering with my car at the clubhouse - ask Giulio if you don't believe me. And just now. Two men attacked me with knives, but I got away.'

'You'You mustmust gogo toto thethe policepolice station,station, Damen.Damen. IfIf you'veyou've donedone nothingnothing youyou havehave nothingnothing to fear. There will be a warrant out if you do not turn up soon. Then there will be nowhere for you to go. I have found out nothing about the boat. I think it was me they were after.'

'One'One ofof thethe attackersattackers toldtold meme thatthat thethe policepolice werewere inin onon this.this. ItIt mustmust bebe connectedconnected with the Kittcorps file I told you about. I daren't come in Karl. I think I'd be killed, or found guilty of two murders I didn't do. Look, find out what you can, will you and I'll call you back. I can't come in yet. Find out how the cameras have been changed. And let Trudi know I'm OK.' 'Damen,'Damen, thisthis isis foolish.foolish. YouYou mustmust comecome in.in. You'reYou're makingmaking itit worseworse byby notnot doingdoing this.this. II should not be telling you this but Steiger has searched your car and flat this afternoon, and he has found a knife and a bloodstained shirt. The forensic tests are being done now....'

'What!'What! That's That's impossible!impossible! There There was was no no knife! knife! Karl Karl I'mI'm being being set set up!up! You You mustmust believe me Karl!'

'I'I believe believe you you must must turn turn yourself yourself in, in, my my friend. friend. Perhaps Perhaps you you are are ill ill and and do do not not remember. But you have no alternative. Where are you calling from? Wait there and I will...'

'No!'No! IfIf II turnturn myselfmyself inin II amam dead,dead, oror elseelse inin prisonprison forfor aa veryvery longlong timetime atat best.best. Karl,Karl, II tell you I did not do these murders! Now I must go. I'll call you later.'

He cut the connection and left the bar. As he walked he heard behind him the sound of police sirens coming closer. He walked more quickly, threading his way through side streets and alleys. What was he to do now? He was faced with a stark choice. He could turn himself in and trust to the police to protect him and to discover why he had been framed for murder. In view of the day's events, not an attractive option at all. He would be completely at the mercy of events, and also at the mercy of his powerful antagonists, whoever they were. No, that was definitely out. Or he could try to stay at large and uncover what was happening and how Kittcorps were involved in all of this. Not attractive either, since as soon as the warrant for his arrest was posted he would lose access to all his credit for one thing. And where would he go? He couldn't stay in Holland for very long, or even anywhere in the ESS for that matter with a warrant hanging over him and with no credit.

He sat down on a bench at the side of a pleasant tree-lined canal not unlike the one outside his own apartment; but now, he realised with some alarm, he was on the outside, not the inside. He sat and thought furiously about his options, such as they were. In the end he didn’t like at all the conclusion he had to make. He couldn’t hide with any of his friends here in Holland. That would put them into too much danger, look what had happened to Jan, and almost to Karl, already. And without his friends he’d soon be run to ground, by the police first if he was lucky; Kittcorps if he wasn’t. No, he would have to go abroad, right away. But he couldn't fly out or take the usual ferries: they would be watched. He would have to get to the docks at Rotterdam and stow away, but where to? He thought of the alternatives. The United American States? A strong possibility. Asea? Too far, and there would be language and culture problems, as there would also be for the rest of Asia and Africa. Nearer: Britain? Yes, possible. Not part of the ESS but with close links, so he could stay in touch. No language problems. He could maybe establish some kind of base there to carry out his investigations and clear his name. He didn't know any Brits well enough to call but Lambert had lived there for quite a while and had many Brit friends. Perhaps he would help. Yes, find Lambert now! But first get some money before the warrant was issued.

He walked to an automatic teller and put in his ID card. Nothing happened; no screen display asking him for his pin number or anything. He waited for a minute with increasing anxiety. Someone was next to him waiting to use the machine, beginning to get impatient. Damen tried to elicit a response by pressing all the keys but there was no response. He realised that the warrant for his arrest had probably been issued and that the police had therefore been automatically notified he was using this machine. Abruptly he turned away and once more walked briskly down the street. He turned a corner after a couple of hundred metres and stopped to look back. A police car had arrived on the scene and stopped next to the teller. Two officers jumped out. He could see the impatient man in the queue talking to the first officer and pointing down the road in his direction. He left the scene quickly.

Half an hour later he was lurking in the vicinity of the Rialto Cafe, as he dare not go in - it was sure to be watched now. It was about seven thirty when the door opened and two people came out: Lambert and Anna. They walked slowly along the canal. Damen guessed they would go to Anna’s first as it was on the way to Lambert’s houseboat so he went ahead and found somewhere quiet on the route to await them. He concealed himself behind a parked van, and as they passed Damen called out their names in a quiet voice. They reacted with surprise because they had by then heard the news.

'There'There waswas aa bitbit onon thethe eveningevening newsvidnewsvid aboutabout youyou beingbeing wanted,'wanted,' AnnaAnna said,said, herher face a picture of anxiety and concern, 'And we wondered what had happened to you. What are you going to do, Damen?'

'I'I mustmust getget awayaway untiluntil II cancan sortsort thisthis out,'out,' DamenDamen toldtold themthem asas hehe directeddirected themthem intointo aa quiet street. 'It really is all lies as I told you. And there was another attack on me after I left you. I hate to ask this but I need help to get away. If you don't want to be involved, I will understand. It is a serious thing I ask you to do.'

'What'What cancan wewe do?'do?' AnnaAnna asked.asked. 'Surely'Surely youyou can'tcan't staystay freefree forfor long.long. AndAnd what'swhat's thethe point? You'll be caught in the end anyway.'

'I'I willwill gogo toto BritainBritain II think,'think,' DamenDamen replied,replied, 'I'll'I'll trytry toto findfind outout whatwhat thisthis isis allall aboutabout fromfrom there. I need money and help to get me to Rotterdam though. Lambert, you've lived in Britain for a while, you said. Can you tell me a little about it? Is there anyone you know who might help me if I pay?'

Lambert spoke. 'Yeah, I lived there for about two years, up in the northern hills with my friends Frankie and Alan. I loved it but it's not to everyone's taste. For one thing it's a bit primitive sometimes. Forget the transport – it’s dire. Hours of discomfort to get anywhere. Most of the buildings are from the last century techwise. Food's awful and all GM if you eat in caffs and such like. No good com network outside the main towns, and they're mainly for the foreign companies there. And not as well off as here by any means. Lot of unemployment, quite a lot of crime even though the police are really heavy sometimes. But it's fine if you've money. They can be a bit parochial though. Don't like foreigners much, I found. Usual thing: declining country still thinks it's God's gift to civilisation. Bit pathetic really.'

'Weren't'Weren't theythey inin thethe ESSESS somesome timetime ago?'ago?' AnnaAnna asked.asked. 'Don't'Don't II rememberremember themthem beingbeing in Europe for a while?' 'Not'Not thethe ESS,ESS, theythey didn'tdidn't joinjoin that,'that,' LambertLambert replied.replied. 'Were'Were sortsort ofof inin untiluntil thethe earlyearly years of the century. Couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to be in or out, so they got shut out in the end when the ESS was formed. Stayed on associate status since but it doesn't really mean much any more. Just a small sad old island now. The south’s totally different from the north though, and then there’s Wales and..'

'Yes'Yes thankthank youyou forfor thethe geographygeography lesson,lesson, butbut dodo youyou knowknow anyoneanyone there,there, Lambert?'Lambert?' Damen interrupted.

'Yeah,'Yeah, sure,sure, loadsloads ofof people.people. FrankieFrankie andand AlanAlan areare mymy bestbest matesmates andand theythey livelive onon this hill farm in the northern hills. Place called Buckwell, or just outside. Really nice there. You'd think you were back two hundred years. Farm's called Long John Farm after some fictional pirate or other since they made the money to buy it out of pirating software. There's some other joke in the name about it being cold there but I didn't get that. But they might be a bit alternative for you, Damen, though I'm sure you'd get on with them if you called there. Want me to give Frankie a call and say you might visit?'

'I'I wouldwould bebe veryvery gratefulgrateful ifif youyou wouldwould dodo that,that, Lambert,'Lambert,' DamenDamen replied.replied. 'I'I wouldwould bebe most grateful. But don't use my name on the line in case there is a namesearcher for me on the comm lines now. Please be very discreet so no-one will know I am planning to go there. I’m afraid you too may be being monitored by now since you ‘ve been seen with me recently. Tell me, are they connected there? I’ve got to be able to connect to find out what the hell’s going on.'

'Oh,'Oh, sure.sure. You’llYou’ll bebe finefine there.there. FactFact is,is, that'sthat's stillstill theirtheir business,business, internationalinternational pirating.'pirating.' Lambert said. 'They bring in so much money they keep nearly all the village going, because apart from a bit of tourism there's nothing else happening there. So they're well-liked thereabouts. And Britain's a good base for that business anyway, being outside the main blocks but still connected.'

'Yes,'Yes, pleaseplease letlet themthem knowknow II maymay come,'come,' DamenDamen saidsaid toto Lambert,Lambert, thenthen toto Anna,Anna, 'Could'Could youyou getget somesome moneymoney forfor me?me? AndAnd taketake meme toto EuropoortEuropoort inin youryour carcar now,now, tonight? I will make my own way from there.'

'You're'You're inin nono fitfit statestate toto gogo anywhereanywhere tonight,'tonight,' AnnaAnna replied.replied. 'You'You cancan staystay withwith meme and we'll go tomorrow morning.'

'No'No it'sit's muchmuch tootoo dangerousdangerous forfor you.you. TheyThey willwill looklook forfor meme atat allall mymy friends'friends' flats,flats, II think. I must stay somewhere else tonight if we can't go now.'

'I'I know,'know,' LambertLambert interjected,interjected, 'Stay'Stay withwith mymy matemate DenDen onon hishis boat.boat. HeHe owesowes meme oneone and he won't mind. It's not far from here.'

It was settled: Anna went to her own flat and arranged to meet Damen outside the Rijksmuseeum at ten the following morning with eighty thousand Euros on a gencredit card; all she could afford from her meagre savings. Her work as a product buyer for a TVD distribution company did not pay very well. Damen was again touched by her sacrifice for him and promised he would make it up to her.

Damen went with Lambert to a brightly-painted houseboat moored on the Keitzersgracht where he was introduced to Den, an easygoing and scruffy sort of bloke of about sixty who collected old books and worked as a plumber. After a large impromptu meal of bread, cheese, mashed potatoes and assorted boiled vegetables washed down with beer Damen slumped exhausted in the spare bow cabin. It had been the longest day of his life.

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