"That is something I had not considered," Molokov said, annoyed that this possibility had not occurred him. He had been working on the premise that the city had been set up specially for them and the people simply imported in as some kind of test. There was no reason at all why these poor people could not have simply been there first and taken away.

"But this frightens me. All of this frightens me. I have had some... experience with government with power but never anything like this. What can we do to protect ourselves against someone who can wipe away memories or disappear an entire city?"