There was uproar in the vurtiverse of Kalonia, only a little short of civil war. Cwendor had been monitoring the power feeds when he heard of events in the defence room and on the mirror bridge from his friends in the sanctum. Pausing only to arm himself, the master builder made straight for the top of the station. He met Embelin on the way who was now similarly well informed and similarly armed. The two men shared a bleak smile. If Kalonia fell today they would at least have some form of revenge on Gyrun for murdering their friend Tenerick and betraying their leader and their Enclave. They caught the traitor heading down towards the sanctum. Gyrun was in a kind of daze and not thinking clearly. The two seers felt no inclination to show mercy and made swift and efficient work of their grim task, knowing now that there was so little time to lose. In "dying" this way Gyrun was only returning to the vurtiverse, as Tenerick and Hirrilow had done before him where he would eventually be joining the conflict raging within the sanctum. As an artilect he could not really be killed unless his presence in the vurtiverse were finally extinguished but at least he was out of the game as far as the mortal world was concerned. It was here and now that the important battles would be won or lost. It didn't look good. The Embassy to the Substrate numbered only three of the original six seers who were supposed to look after the physical life of the station and this was not a time to be leaderless and short of man power. A great responsibility fell on the remaining decanted seers. They must defend the sanctum at all costs. Cwendor was quickly able to establish that there was no hope of sealing the outer doors or restoring the functions of the somatic shields. Riders were already at the gates of the dome. "There is only one option", he said to Embelin. "We must round up Malorye and Orietta and seal the inner barriers around the sanctum. There are separate systems there which Gyrun will not have been able to modify. We have to abandon the rest of the dome but in the sanctum itself we may be able to hold out."