The Sidereal Office is an interstellar station with “stars in the background”, where the Time Bandits fight guardian automata during their faster-than-light journey from Constantinople in 1055 to 1050, via Alpha Centauri. It is described as a sidereal office with automata, mechanical cubes and a “bronze man”, guardians of the interstellar gates.
- It lies between star systems, outside local reality.
- It is guarded by automata with a “machine soul” (alma de máquina).
- It serves as an interstellar transit point; another teleport from the office leads to the outskirts of Constantinople in 1050.
It appears in The Fruit of Knowledge. It may be a construction of the civilization of the Machines of Tetraxis.