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ion from his face. "One of the other cartels moved against us. They tried to come against me, but they haven't got the clout for that. This thing has gone right to the top of the Gaian Ascendancy. Might work to our advantage, that - it just might tear them apart."
"What about me?"
"Don't worry about it. You'll be okay."
"Axel! I'm on trial for heresy!"
At least he has the grace to look embarrassed. By rights he should be here too. But he is a powerful man - with a lot of favours owed by influential Gaians. I must pin my hopes on that, and just pray that he is owed enough.
"It isn't all bad news," he adds after a pause. I just look up bemused. The tears have died, but the salt stings my eyes.
"They haven't been able to stop my presses. The book's doing well. The money's rolling in. There hasn't been a publishing success like this in decades. It's being read out there on the industrial colonies. People are reading what you've said - millions of them - and it's got the Gaians scared. You're going to be a rich man."
I can't help laughing bitterly.
NATURALLY, I will be forced to take on an assumed name. Axel will take care of the details. All I have to do is assume my new identity and enjoy the comfortable life that the Royalties will bring. I am sure I will be able to write. I shall literally exist under a pseudonym - Axel can take care of that too. The only thing that concerns me is Suzanne. I miss her and I want her back. Will she return when I am a new man?
LIGHT gushes from the opening to Gaia's womb. It glimmers from her pregnant belly painted with the continents of the world. On either side of the portal - symbolic of Gaia's open thighs - are the benches where my judges sit in shadow.
A figure appears in the depths of the light. It emerges in the form of a young woman wearing the ceremonial robes of a Gaian priestess. She walks to the centre of the hall, her brazen eyes fixed on me, her swaying hips perversely creating flutters in the pit of