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before I began, I was amazed to find all the requisite ingredients to hand; it was as if whoever had provisioned the villa had known of my culinary predilections.
    They had even stocked the cooler full of our favourite beer.
    We ate on the patio as they sun went down and the Ring of Tharssos brightened. As we ate and chatted, I wondered if I was not alone in sensing—despite being among my best friends at long last—an air of unease hovering over us like a storm cloud. First there was the visitation of the Yall apparition, then Hawk’s dream urging him to travel to the Falls in his starship, Petronious’s gift of the cone necklace and Da Souza’s odd reaction to seeing it—not to mention Kee’s shivery assessment of what we had seen underground. I think she had spoken for all of us then.
    If we were aware of the finger of fate directing us towards who knew what outcome, we did our best not to acknowledge it. Conversation was light, jocular; Hawk told disparaging stories about the tourists he’d shepherded around the Expansion and Hannah chipped in with some of the more light-hearted stories of life in the Mackinley police department. Even Kee joined in with a story recounting Hawk’s embarrassment when he snubbed a minor royal at a party on the newly-settled colony world of Runciman, Aldebaran VI.
    Spluttering on his beer, Hawk laughed, “How the hell was I supposed to know? I thought he was a waiter!”
    “It’s true,” Kee giggled. “Hawk asked him to refill my glass!”
    The night proceeded in this fashion as the stars came out, a blazing panoply of brilliance high above the Ring. It was a good night, just like old times, but I couldn’t help but notice that one of our number was uncharacteristically quiet: Matt smiled and on occasion even laughed, but he didn’t join in with stories of his own, or offer dry comments. It was not like him. He seemed to hold himself apart from the conversation, observing.
    At one point I asked my friends about what we’d seen in the subterranean chamber. “Did you get the impression that Da Souza wasn’t telling us everything down there?”
    “I’m sure she wasn’t,” Hawk said. “I’m sure the boffins have discovered a hell of a lot more than she told us.”
    “Isn’t that to be expected, after all?” Maddie asked.
    “Of course,” I said, “it’s just that…”
    Hannah was looking at me with professional eyes. She leaned forward and said, “You had words with Da Souza on the way down, David. And after that her manner was… let’s say cagey. What did you say to her? Out with it.”
    I wondered if I could ever hide anything from my wife.
    “Well, it wasn’t so much what I said…” And I went on to tell them about Da Souza’s reaction to seeing Ella’s alien necklace. “It was almost as if she’d seen it before,” I finished.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matt lean forward minimally and open his mouth as if to say something. He thought better of it and leaned back. I glanced at him, but he looked away and drained the last of his beer.
    I knew better than to quiz him then. Maybe later, I thought, when we were alone.
    Maddie said, “Perhaps she has seen something like it before: what of it?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps I was wrong. It just struck me as odd—I mean, if she did recognise the necklace, surely she would have commented?”
    “You’re drunk, David Conway. You’re reading more into a casual remark than was really there,” Hannah said.
    I shrugged. Beside me, Ella said tiredly, “Daddy’s not drunk, are you! The lady did look at my necklace. I think she knew it was worth millions and millions of creds!” She lifted the cone and stared at it, and a little later slipped from the table and went to play in the garden next to the patio.
    I turned to Kee, “Do you know if the Ashentay knew anything about the underground chamber?”
    Her reaction surprised me; she looked away pointedly and said, “I’m sure they