Corey was still stretching out sore limbs when he reached the other hangar. The habitation pods attached to Khem’s ship had about enough room to exist in, and not much else. They were bulletproof, though, so Corey had sucked up his discomfort and toughed it out. His joints were not happy about that.

His colossal bodyguard went through the door first, despite the fact Farsus was already waiting inside, and had been for several minutes. Once Khem had determined the coast was clear, he waved Corey through.

“Hey, Farsus,” Corey said.

“Corvash! Good to see you,” Farsus said. His enthusiasm was slightly muted by Corey’s temporary bodyguard. “Khem.”

“Farsus.”

The stony silence was cut by the welcome return of the Wild Card Wanderer. Corey got a rare view of the ship landing from the outside, and appreciated the sleek frame of the ship as it gently drifted to rest. He was always surprised at how gracefully such massive things could move. Though maybe it was just Tooley’s piloting making things look graceful.

The ever graceful (when it came to flying, at least) Tooley descended the boarding ramp first, with Doprel and Kamak in tow. Kamak made sure to stay a few steps behind Doprel, just to keep him in between himself and Khem.

“Khem. Good to see you,” Kamak said. He hoped, but doubted, Khem was happy to see him. “Thanks for taking care of Corvash.”

“I was given a job,” Khem said. “With your return, that job is over. Goodbye.”

“Hey, wait,” Kamak said, before Khem could finish turning to leave. “This killer is after anyone connected to us. Keep an eye out, Khem.”

“I am always vigilant, Kamak,” Khem said. “Watch yourself.”

Khem stomped out of the hangar without another word. They could still feel his footsteps shaking the floor as he headed back down the hall. Tooley raised an eyebrow.

“Was that him being nice, or rude?”

“Nice, rude, as long as he’s not trying to spear me I don’t give a fuck,” Kamak said. He lost interest in Khem and turned to people he liked slightly more. “You two enjoy your solo ventures?”

Corey did not dignify it with a response. Kamak knew damn well that Corey had been in a knife fight and then spent several swaps stuck in a tube.

“Spending time with Yìhán has been very illuminating,” Farsus said. He’d had a much more pleasant time. “I had no idea humanity had so many string instruments.”

“You never asked,” Corey said.

“Maybe you didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d know,” Kamak added.

“I know plenty of instruments! I even played the drums for a little bit.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Every culture has drums, no one gives a shit.”

Corey huffed with anger and changed the subject. They had something much more important to deal with anyway.

“So. Apparently our killer uses clones. Or body doubles. Something in that vein of bullshit.”

“Cosmetic surgery is pretty advanced, Corvash,” Kamak said. “Maybe your killer just changed her skin tone. Met a lady from some aerospace company who’d done something like that while we were on vacation. Turned herself silver.”

“Aerospace company?”

“Yeah. EmSolo Aerodynamics,” Kamak said. Corey’s immediate shock caught his eyes. “Why?”

“EmSolo volunteered corporate security to To Vo’s house.”

“Oh, so we have a company with skin-changing executives right on top of a murderous doppelganger,” Kamak said. “That might be the first actual lead we’ve had in a while.”

“Feels like grasping at straws,” Tooley said. “But we need to grasp at something.”

“It’s either that or Bevo,” Corey said.

“Bevo?”

“Yeah, she showed up not long after everything went down at To Vo’s,” Corey said. “She’s followed us to two crime scenes. That’s at least a little suspicious.”

“I don’t really think she has it in her,” Kamak said. “But maybe somebody’s using her as a scout, or something.”

“Or she might just be an idiot,” Tooley said. “Bevo’s on the suspect list, but about as low as it gets. Frankly, I rank Khem higher.”

The hangar floor started to rattle with pounding footsteps. Tooley ducked for cover behind Doprel.

“Shit, did he bug Corey?”

“He shouldn’t have,” Corey said. He frantically patted down his clothes just to be safe. As safe as one could be, if Khem was on the warpath.

While Khem was on the warpath, Tooley was not the target of his ire. The massive bounty hunter slammed through the hangar door, took two stomping steps in, and threw down a disassembled device. Even taken to pieces, Kamak knew a bomb when he saw one.

“That was attached to my ship,” Khem growled.

“Shit,” Corey said. “Look, I know I was the last one there-”

“I do not suspect you, Corey Vash,” Khem snapped. “It was not there when we left.”

“The person who did put it there is probably still out there,” Kamak said. “Everybody spread out, I’m going to call the spooky government guys and try to get the security footage pulled ASAP, try to track them down.”

“Why bother?” Tooley scoffed. “We’re in the hangar district, there’s a hundred ships in and out of here every few ticks. Whoever did this probably did it on their way out.”

“Well we have to do something!”

“Then let’s stop trying to play catch up and start trying to get ahead of them,” Corey suggested.

“We still need to pull the security footage,” Doprel said. “We need as much information as possible.”

Kamak’s brow furrowed, and he bit his tongue. As much information as possible.

“Khem, I know better than to ask you for a favor, but I figure you’re probably pissed enough to chase this down too,” Kamak said. “You grab the security footage and make sure we get sent a copy. I’m going for information.”

“I won’t spend my time on what little information can be gleaned from a camera,” Khem said. “If you think you have a helpful informant, I want to know what they know.”

“I wouldn’t call it thinking, more like hoping,” Kamak said. “You don’t want any part of this particular field trip, Khem.”

“I am aware of your informant on Paga For, Kamak,” Khem growled. “Do not think to exclude me.”

“I ain’t going to Paga For.”

“Then where?”

Kamak glanced sideways at one of the security cameras in the hangar, and then lowered his voice.

“Sáovar.”

Khem had nearly killed all five of them, at one point. He’d cut his way through an entire Horuk army not long after that. He was very close to collecting more bounties than any hunter in history, and was widely regarded as one of the deadliest single lifeforms in the universe. At the mere mention of Sáovar, he took a step back.

“If this is a bluff-”

“It’s not a bluff,” Kamak said.

“Could we make it into a bluff?” Tooley squeaked. “Please?”

“You don’t have to fly me there, but that’s where I want to go,” Kamak said. “We want to stop getting outsmarted, it’s time to go to the smartest things in the universe.”

Kamak pointed right back at the Wanderer’s boarding ramp.

“Let’s go talk to the AI.”