Copyright

Copyright © 1987 by Iain M. Banks

Excerpt from

Matter

copyright © 2008 by Iain M. Banks

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,

distributed, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written

permission of the publisher.

Orbit

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at

www.HachetteBookGroup.com

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First eBook Edition: December 2009

Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Ltd.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and

not intended by the

author.

ISBN: 978-0-316-09583-9