Book excerpt: Old enemies meet on new worlds in The Line of Polity, the second novel in Neal Asher's popular Agent Cormac series. At the frontiers of human-occupied space, the Miranda space station has been utterly destroyed. Earth Central assigns Agent Ian Cormac to discover the truth, because the alien bioconstruct Dragon seems the most likely culprit. Meanwhile, rebellion is brewing on Masada. The planet’s people are enslaved on the surface, living in fear of their overlords in orbit, who punish transgressions with laser strikes. Leaving their compounds also means death, as monstrous predators roam the toxic wilderness. Civil war looms, while a rebel biophysicist brings lethal Jain technology to this world. Agent Cormac must find out what connects these events, if he is to avert catastrophe. The Line of Polity is followed by Brass Man, the third title in the Agent Cormac series.