'Are you shocked?'
'No, Gregor, I'm not. I believe radicalism is inevitable. We all become radicals eventually as we appreciate that we must know our enemy in order to defeat him. The real dangers come from extreme puritans. Puritanism is fuelled by ignorance, and ignorance is the greatest peril of all. That's not to suggest the path of the radical is easy. Eventually even the most careful and responsible radical will be overwhelmed by the warp. The real judge of character is what good a man can do for the Imperium before he is drawn too far.'
'There is one other thing. In the mind of his daughter there was an image of a desiccated world that closely matches the one you describe from the eldar revelations. There was a name connected with it: Ghtil!
'Let me investigate that further/ he said, and turned his force chair back down the walkway towards the camp.
Ravenor had brought me to that remote jungle world because Promody had featured in another of the eldar visions. Khanjar the Sharp had been there recently, perhaps as little as six weeks before. Ravenor intended to find out why.
Ravenor's field team numbered about ten individuals – several technicians, six astropaths and an archaeologist called Kenzer, the grey-haired man I had seen earlier.
'But there are no ruins on Promody/ I remarked shortly after I had been introduced to him.
'Not any more, sir/ he agreed. 'But there is compelling theory that Promody was once one of several worlds inhabited by an ancient culture/
'How ancient?'
He glanced at me nervously. 'Pre-Dawn/ he said.
A culture from before the rise of Man. That was breathtaking.
'So this compelling theory/ I pressed, 'this comes from the eldar?'
He didn't want to answer but my rank gave him little option.
'Yes, sir. But this culture predates even them. And was quite dead long before even they came to the stars/
Ravenor's technicians had spent their time since reaching Promody conducting a survey with the assistance of the astropaths. They had studied the surface and atmosphere of the planet for signs of Khanjar's visit, looking for traces of landing sites, the residual pollution of vehicle exhausts, the echoes of human minds. They were certain now that the campsite on the bayou was close to the place where Khanjar made planetfall. Now the astropaths were preparing for an auto-seance on a scale greater than any I had ever attempted.
* * *
Gideon called me to the force tent.
'Ghiil is the name of a planet/ he said.
The dead world in the vision?'
'Quite probably/
And where is it?'