Thought for the day: DO NOT ASK WHY YOU SERVE. ONLY ASK HOW.

Master,

The new directive from their master was terse but clear: "THE LATEST TITHE ESTIMATES FROM THE VILLAGE OF DILLIGENCE, NORTH CONTINENT, SOPHOS PRIME REFER TO OUR HOLY GOD-EMPEROR AS 'THE KING' THROUGHOUT. INVESTIGATE AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION. YOU ARE ASSIGNED BERTHS ON THE TITHE-SHIP 'GRACE OF THE EMPEROR' DEPARTING SCINTILLA HIGHPORT TOMORROW. A MILITARY ESCORT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE AT YOUR DESTINATION." They had barely enough time to buy essential suppiles at the Highport before boarding their ship.

The "Grace of the Emperor" was large and well-equipped, but dedicated entirely to efficiency in the name of the Administratum. Faced with quarters that contained only utilitarian furniture, copies of the Imperial Creed and the Concise Guide to Tithe-Accounting Procedures, and a vox system that broadcast hymns to Saint Xanthia at all hours , the Acolytes chose to spend much of the journey socialising with the ship's crew.

Landing at the starport on Sophos Prime, they were met by their military escort - a young Lieutenant and a platoon of Planetary Defense troops. The Lieutenant, whose name was Jericus, knew nothing about the mission except that he was assigned to the Acolytes and that they were due to depart for the village within a few hours on the annual supply transport. He was, however, able to give them a little more information on their destination.

Sophos Prime is a mining world, notable only for paying its tithes in monumental stone for use in the public edifices and sculpure of Scintilla. Most of its population lives in mining camps or around the starport, but the village of Diligence is a rare exception - and rarer yet in that it receives tithes instead of paying them. It was founded as a base for the maintenance of a network of navigation beacons that keep a number of critical flight-paths open during the winter storms, and recieves an annual delivery of spare parts, building materials, and goods that cannot be produced locally. It is located near the extreme tip of the northern continent, where the midwinter night lasts for nearly three months. The arrival of supplies in misummer, according to the pilot of the transport, was celebrated as a festival by the villagers.

From the air, the village was a tiny patch of order in a vast expanse tudra dotted with lakes and small, strangely regular hills. A landing-strip connected by a short road to three rectangles of utilitarian housing arranged around a central storage bunker. In the far distnace, two beacons were visible: great closed metal towers topped with antennae. Bunting and flags were flying from the landing-strip buildings but, curiously, there was no sign of the expected procession from the village.

On landing, a small crowd approached the transport - seventy or eighty people in bright colours and fancy-dress masks, accompanied by musicians. Jakob thought to notice a trickle of blood coming from under one of the masks... but before he was able to raise a warning the crowd had arrived at the transport. In excited tones they bid the Acolytes and their escort welcome in the name of "the King, the shining King, the radiant King, the King in rags!" and struck up a sprightly dance that the Acolytes were barely able to resist joining. Sweeping up the soldiers, they processed into the transport and then immediately out again, stopping before the acolytes. For a moment, the voice of the sergeant was heard calling to his men - and then a flurry of motion reduced the soldiers to bloody tatters in the hands of the crowd. Looking closely, the Acolytes began to realize that not all the bird-masks and bright feather cloaks were costumes.

Urged on by the crowd and accompanied by soft, faintly mocking music, the Acolytes proceeded into the village. There was no sign of the other villagers, and there were omninous brown stains in places on the concrete streets. Once, in a side-street, they glimpsed a sculpture like a tree of rusted blades. They soon arrived at the Templum, which was richly-decorated and appeared undefiled. Stopping outside, the crowd urged them in.

Inside, the Templum was hung with mirrors - all of the mirrors in the village, hung from the walls and roof and placed on the floor in no clear pattern. Above, in the rafters, something pale was moving. Floating down to them, it proved to be an autocherub - a minor servitor usually tasked with singing or managing incense-burners. Stopping just beyong their reach, it greeted them in cheerful tones: "I sent a message and you have come!", it said, "Now - let me tell you how we an help each other."