Can't Trust A Spy, or a Friend

> "My lover's fingers twine with mine, my lover's heart, her heart in mine. If ever there was a home I knew, oh my true love, it's here with you."

>

> -from "The House on the Hill", traditional Emerri love song

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Yan survived the night of partying with her family, but she felt like only barely. She had enjoyed it more than she had expected, and had stayed longer than she anticipated, but it took a toll on her. There had been plenty of good moments, of course. It was nice to see the people that she loved again, and it was nice to get to dance with Sylva. People kept putting drinks in her hand, and she kept passing them off to other people. It wasn't as though she didn't trust her family or anything, she just had no intention of getting drunk. Her thoughts flashed back, increasingly as the night wore on, to what Kino was doing aboard the First Star without anybody else around. Probably nothing, but Yan felt bad for leaving her there.

She felt worse when the party ground down and it was time at last to say goodbye to her family. She had no idea when she would see them again, so it was a bitter parting on amicable terms. She hugged her uncle and aunts and cousins, and she said a formal farewell to Pellon, no longer her captain. She flew the shuttle back to the First Star with hands that shook ever so slightly on the yoke and stared out the window as they watched the Iron Dreams jump away, going towards Emerri and a world that Yan was forever cut off from. She hoped that Maxes really would deliver her letter. She had spent a lot of thought writing it.

She slept soundly that night, though her dreams were filled with her family's faces, and their mundane chatter about daily life aboard the ship she would never return to.

The next morning, they gathered in the kitchen, as was their custom. Yan busied herself with making coffee as Sylva reconstituted some scrambled eggs out of a dry powder. Yan could not wait until the tanks and greenhouse were up and running, then they could have fresh meat and vegetables again. It would be a while, another month or so, though, before any of that was ready. They would have to content themselves with stored food until then.

Iri and Kino sat at stools around the island. Of the four of them, Kino seemed the most awake, probably because she had woken up several hours before the rest of them, as she had not been out all night with Yan's family. Yan somehow doubted that Kino was sad to have missed it. Even without any bitterness that her family may have had, Kino was not the party type.

Breakfast cooked and served, everyone ate, each waiting for someone else to broach some topic of conversation. Yan, being the one in charge, made it her responsibility.

"Alright," she said, feeling less confident than she sounded. "We need to make a plan. I don't think we can put it off for much longer."

"I agree," Iri said, stirring her coffee. "You're in charge."

"I want this to be fair," Yan said. "As fair as it's going to get, anyway." The egalitarian impulse was probably not good for her, but she had it regardless.

"And how are you going to ensure that?" Sylva asked, not hostile, just slightly confused.

"I'm not going to ensure that, but I want to hear everybody's list of priorities, and then from there I can decide what the best way to move forward is."

"That actually doesn't sound democratic at all," Iri said with a smile.

"It's not, but you know, I don't want there to be endless bickering. So everybody getting a chance to speak is going to be as fair as it gets. I think we can all agree that I am the most impartial party."

"It's really incredible," Iri said. "But sure."

"Iri, you tell me what your priorities are first. Do you want to-- I know you have a brother, do you need to get in contact with your family or anything?"

"No," Iri said. "I mean, it sucks that I can't, but there's absolutely no reason for me to go back to Emerri. My brother is an adult, and he can handle himself."

"Okay," Yan said slowly. "So, what do you want?"

"My goal is just to keep you safe. Whatever you want to do, I'm fine with, unless it's something insane."

"This is all already insane," Yan said. "But seriously, Iri, you don't have anything you need to do?"

"I have no big political machinations, and my personal connections on Emerri are not worth considering."

Yan frowned. "Do you have opinions, at least?"

"You should have had me go last," Iri said. "I'll give you my input on what other people say."

This was like getting water from a stone. Yan turned to Sylva. "What about you? Do you need to talk to your family?"

"Hah. No. Definitely not," Sylva said. "They're still mad from last time I vanished."

"Isn't that more of a reason to get in contact with them?" Yan asked.

"No way."

"Fine. So what do you think we should do?"

"I'm with Iri on this one," Sylva said. "I'm just here because I love you."

That both made Yan smile and frustrated her at the same time. "Why can't you have any input?"

"You're in charge," Iri and Sylva said simultaneously, looked at each other, and laughed.

Yan had been hoping that hearing what other people had to say would allow her to form a better picture of the situation. A ship without a destination was as good as a ship that didn't exist.

"Kino?" Yan asked.

Kino looked around the table, clearly considering her words before she spoke. "I would like to contact my sister," she said. "That's one thing."

"Bina, right?"

"Yes."

"On Hanathue?"

"Yes."

"Do you think she's been arrested?"

"I don't know," Kino said. "My last ansible message to her, I included a code phrase that told her to be prepared."

"What do you mean by that?" Yan asked. Prepared could mean almost anything.

"A while ago, I gave her the contact information of people who could get her off planet in a hurry. I hope that she understood that she might need to leave."

"I thought you said she wasn't involved," Iri said.

"She isn't involved. But I wanted to make sure she had a way to get out if people thought she was."

Iri nodded, very slowly.

"Do you think she followed that advice?" Yan asked. That would determine if they were going to be taking the First Star to Hanathue or... somewhere else. Wherever that else was.

"I don't know."

"You don't know how your own sister would act?" Iri asked.

Kino shrugged, an exaggerated gesture. "I haven't seen her in person since I was ten."

"How old is she?" Yan asked, mildly surprised. She had known in an academic sense that Kino didn't have parents on Hanathue, but she hadn't realized that she hadn't had the ability to go back and see her sister over Academy breaks.

"Sixteen," Kino said.

"Imperial standard sixteen, or Hanathue sixteen?" Sylva asked.

"Imperial standard."

"What was her living situation like on Hanathue?" Yan asked, hoping that would shed light on Bina's likely actions.

"She was adopted by a rich family right after we arrived there," Kino said. "They didn't want me, though." This was delivered with the same flat resignation that Kino usually spoke with, but the clear injustice in that statement twisted something in Yan's heart.

Sylva loudly slurped her coffee, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. Yan wasn't sure if she should glare at her our laugh, so she settled for gently poking Sylva in the ribs.

"So should we go to Hanathue? Or should we go to wherever you told her to escape to?"

"You're thinking of just going to an Imperial planet?" Iri asked.

"I'm thinking about a lot of things," Yan said. "We could do it safely."

"She's probably still on the planet," Kino admitted. "I don't know if she would have left."

"If she didn't get out, you have to be ready to face the possibility that she's been arrested," Iri said. "And if she hasn't been arrested, she might be bait to get you to do exactly this. I don't think it's safe."

"But--" Yan began.

"I'll respect your decision," Iri said, holding up a hand, "but let's walk through the possibilities. If she's been arrested, she'll be somewhere secret, because there isn't anything she can be officially charged with, not without causing real news problems, right?"

Yan nodded slowly.

"She might be dead, or reported as dead."

Yan nodded again.

"And you won't have any idea where to look for her. None of us have intimate knowledge of the Hanathue government, and there's no way for us to get that knowledge."

Iri was right that going to Hanathue was probably a bad idea, but Yan had grown somewhat attached to it regardless. Even without the goal of checking in on Kino's sister, Yan wanted to see what was going on in the Empire. She wanted news. She wanted to see what Sandreas was doing.

"What if she hasn't been arrested?" Yan asked.

"Then she is definitely under surveillance, and people will be waiting to see if you go there."

Kino was picking at the bandages on her left hand. "She's right. We shouldn't go."

"And even if you somehow managed to get in contact with her," Iri said, her voice kinder, "what would you do?" I don't want to involve vulnerable sixteen year olds in this."

"What if she is off planet?" Yan asked. "Would we take her aboard?"

"Yes," Kino said.

"No," said Iri. They looked at each other.

"It might be a non-issue," Yan said. "Do we risk going to Hanathue or not? Hands up for yes."

No one raised their hand, not even Kino, which made Yan bite her tongue. If Kino was against trying to get her own sister just out of some kind of sense of obligation to Yan, or because she wanted to be liked and agreeable with the rest of the group... Kino's odd behavior was driving Yan crazy. She couldn't argue with it, not without probably making Iri and Sylva angry. Juggling every one's individual issues would age her early.

"Fine. I guess we're in agreement, then. So, if we're not going to Hanathue, where are we going?"

"If Bina did get off planet, she'd be with Mahmoud," Kino said.

"Who?" Iri asked. Yan had forgotten that she was the only one who had seen the inside of Kino's memories.

"A man I know," Kino said.

"A pirate or something?"

"He's the one Kino was feeding information to," Yan explained, feeling vaguely sick.

Iri maid a noncommittal noise. "And where is he?"

"Redheart," Kino said. "A black station," she added when everyone looked confused.

"When was the last time you were in contact with him?" Iri asked. "I want to know if he's still there."

"Three months ago."

"That's a long time."

"He never moved before," Kino said, a weird and unfamiliar note of panic in her voice.

"First time for everything," Iri said. "But let's assume he is. What then?"

"If we get to him, he can find out what's going on with my sister, even if she isn't there."

"Sure," Iri said. "And I'm sure he can point us in the direction of people who want to destroy the Empire, too."

"Give it a rest, Iri," Yan said. "That's--"

"Yes, he can," Kino said.

Sylva watched this play out, rather amused, and put her head on Yan's shoulder when Yan put her face in her hands.

"Do I really have to say that's our goal?" Yan asked, voice coming out muffled from underneath her palms. "Do you want me to say that out loud?"

"If you've made up your mind," Iri said. "If you're ready to go work with the people who hurt you."

"It's--" Yan stopped and considered. "I can't live with what the Empire is doing anymore," she finally said. She lifted her head up off her hands and looked directly at Kino. "It's more important than just me and what I feel, isn't it?"

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"No, it's not," Sylva said, wrapping her arm protectively around Yan's waist.

"It is," Yan said. She appreciated Sylva's assurance, and to show her that, Yan sent her a return feeling of love through the power. Sylva squeezed her a little harder, so Yan knew she had received the message.

Iri looked at Kino, picking at her bandages. "Was it worth it for you?"

"It will be," Kino said.

"Hm."

"To Redheart, then?" Yan asked.

"You're the captain," Iri said. There were more promising things that she could have said, but at least it wasn't a no.

----------------------------------------

"Here's the thing," Sylva said, cornering Yan on the bridge. Yan had just finished jumping the ship a little closer to Redheart. Kino had been able to give them enough of a description of the star it orbited that Yan could pin down the appropriate starchart and calculate the jumps. They had been hopping easily along, once every six hours like clockwork. This was Yan's second jump of the day, and she was about to head down to the greenhouse, but Sylva came into the bridge right before she was about to stand up from her seat.

"What's the thing?" Yan asked, turning around and watching Sylva as she came in. She hoped that Sylva's issue was just with the greenhouse, or something else completely inconsequential.

"Iri and I have discussed this, and there's absolutely no way we are letting you set foot on Redheart."

Yan had not been expecting that, especially since they were still several jumps away from the station. "What? Why?"

"The number of reasons is to long to list," Sylva said. "But first among them is the fact that you have a bounty on your head."

"But the Bellringer was destroyed. Or disabled, anyway."

"Nobody knows that. Besides, the Empire watches black stations. Don't want you to be caught by them either."

"You're also on whatever watchlist that I'm on."

"You're a way higher priority target."

"So who do you propose is going to Redheart?"

"Iri, Kino, and I."

"Isn't Kino the highest priority target of them all?"

"No bounty," Sylva said. "Also, we need her to get in contact with her guy, and as a power backup. We can disguise her enough that it should be less of an issue."

"I don't like this," Yan said.

"You don't think that while we're out, I'm going to stab Kino in the back, do you?" Sylva was joking, or at least Yan hoped she was joking.

"No, I just don't like the idea of splitting up."

"Worst comes to worst, you just jump away," Sylva said.

"That's not comforting in the least."

"You know I'm right."

"Could you stop me if I insisted on coming?" Yan asked.

"You wouldn't." Sylva put her hands on the back of Yan's chair.

"I might."

Sylva leaned over Yan's shoulder, and Yan leaned back in her seat. "I don't think you would," Sylva said, directly into Yan's ear. "I think you're going to do whatever I tell you to do, Captain."

"And what are you going to tell me to do, crewman?" Yan asked, catching the tone in Sylva's voice and responding in kind.

Sylva reached down and put her hand on Yan's chin, turning her head so that their noses brushed. "I'm going to tell you to kiss me, Captain."

"How scandalous," Yan said, and Sylva kissed her. Clearly, Sylva had succeeded in changing the topic.

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As Sylva understood it, the plan was that Yan was going to jump them in fairly close to the station and keep the ship invisible. Sylva, Iri, and Kino would have six hours to get to the station, get whatever information (or people) they could, and get back to Yan. Then they would jump out.

They could take longer than six hours-- Sylva knew Yan would wait for them for as long as it took-- but she also didn't want to prolong Yan's misery or stay on the station for any longer than was necessary. All three of them were already buckled into the shuttle that they would be taking, and they were just waiting for Yan to give the signal that she had jumped them in. They got the signal; the bay doors opened; Iri flew them out towards the station.

The closer to it they got, the more worried Sylva became. She was tense, and listening to Iri provide their fake identities to the station over the radio made her more nervous.

"Our ship prefers to stay out of range," Iri was saying. "But we would like to land in your bay. Yes, we will pay the docking fee."

They had bleached Kino's hair with peroxide and had cut it short. Her iconic and austere braids were gone, and her hair was remarkably fluffy now that it was cut down to less than ear length. None of them were hairdressers, but they did their best. That, combined with their altered clothing taken from the Iron Dreams, heavy makeup scrounged from one of the First Star's former crew member's cabins, and gloves to cover her missing fingers, made Kino almost unrecognizable. Not completely, but almost. It would have to do.

The First Star, along with its many amenities, had a fair supply of materials that could be used in lieu of charges for payment, possibly in case of complete civilizational collapse. That included enough gold to pay the shuttle's docking fee a hundred thousand times over. Sylva would have called it a disgusting display of wealth, but it wasn't being displayed, and it was probably nothing compared to the concept of having a private starship in the first place. First Sandreas was really quite something, and she was glad that she would never have to interact with him again.

"I really hope that no one from the Warrior II is around," Sylva said. "I don't want to be recognized."

"That doesn't look like their ship," Iri said, examining the ships that were docked at Redheart Station.

"Still. Anybody can travel around."

"You should have bleached your hair if you didn't want to be recognized," Kino said.

"I literally cannot think of something less appealing," Sylva said. "I'll just have to deal with Keep if I run into her." She turned to Iri. "And you, if you run into Sign--"

"I know, I know," Iri said. "It's unfair that you get to have a girlfriend, and I, poor me, poor, poor, pitiful me--"

"Shut it," Sylva said, blushing. "You had your fun."

Iri laughed. "I don't think we have to worry about that too much. I wouldn't mind meeting back up with them again, anyway."

Their conversation died down as Iri talked to the station flight control and negotiated which bay she would be putting her shuttle in. They had managed to take some time to scrub at least the outside markings off of the shuttle, so they could dock it without looking too suspicious. If anyone investigated too closely, it would be clear that it was government issue, but Sylva hoped that no one would ask, and if they did, they could explain it away as surplus, or stolen.

At the very least, it didn't look like a shuttle off of First Sandreas's private starship was settling down in the bay of this illegal station. That was the best they were going to get.

They landed, the bay pressurised, and they exited.

There was someone waiting right outside the bay to take their docking fee, though not their names. The man barely glanced them over, as Sylva had come to expect from these black stations. As she had also come to expect, the surveillance measures by the ruling family were in full force. The place had cameras everywhere, though certainly they were only there to protect the family's interests and not the interests of the "guests" of the station.

The hallways were neat, but the aura of ill intent was everywhere, in the way that the few people they passed sized them up, in the way that the flashing signs were half bounties and half requests for illegal deliveries, in the way that Iri kept her hand solidly on her gun. Kino was armed as well, but Sylva had foregone taking a gun from the First Star's armory, mainly because she was more likely to hurt someone accidentally than protect herself. She wanted to be as little of a liability as possible.

Sylva stuck close to Iri, though Kino seemed unaffected by the hostile atmosphere, and walked several paces ahead of the both of them. It was to the point where Iri got twitchy about how far in front of them Kino was, and hustled to catch up.

Walking through the station towards its bustling marketplace, Sylva was less and less sure of why she had even volunteered to come on this little jaunt. She wasn't the menacing presence that Iri could be, and she completely lacked Kino's agility with the power. Granted, she had never seen Kino use the power, but she had to assume that Kino was far better at it than she was, considering the way she had managed to fool First Sandreas for so long. Sylva wasn't providing anything here. She would have been better off staying with Yan. But it was too late, she was here now.

The marketplace was just as bad as Sylva remembered on the other station. There were stalls selling everything from drugs to people, and it was as disturbing as ever to see what the price was for a pound of flesh. It didn't make sense, Kino's little friends or whatever. They claimed to be against the Empire's war, yet here they were, working with pirates who did... this. Sylva averted her eyes.

Kino, though she certainly didn't know where she was going, at least acted like it as she trawled around the station. Sylva didn't have any better ideas than to follow her. They examined each of the stalls, apparently not seeing anyone that Kino recognized, then passed out of the market area and into the place where people actually lived. Sylva could not imagine living in this place.

These hallways were less well kept than the main visiting hallways, perhaps because the people here were responsible for their own upkeep. Kino examined each of the doors closely. Some had name tags, some did not.

One particular stretch of wall fascinated Kino-- a long trail of green marker, or crayon, started in a squiggle down at floor level and travelled up to about hip height, stopping about three feet away from an unmarked door.

Sylva could not imagine raising children in this place.

Kino knocked on the door.

There wasn't any response.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sylva whispered, glancing up and down the hallway, hoping that no one would walk by. They weren't doing anything illegal, but they certainly weren't doing anything normal, either.

"I can feel him in there," Kino said.

Oh, so that explained it. At least Sylva had the excuse of never having met this man, she wouldn't know what he felt like in the power if he came up and kicked her in it.

Kino knocked again, harder this time.

"Is your sister in there?"

"I don't know," Kino said. So Kino hadn't learned to feel people in the power before she came to the Academy, or at least not enough to remember what her sister felt like, ten years later. That was kinda sad. Sylva wasn't about to start feeling pity for Kino, though.

At last, there was the sound of footsteps inside the apartment. The door rattled as someone leaned against it to look out through the peephole.

"Mahmoud," Kino said. "Open the door."

The door swung open and Sylva got her first glimpse of Mahmoud. He was a man of average height and build, with a shock of curly brown hair that caught the light at the edges. His nose was crooked, and his lip looked like it had been sliced open and badly stitched together at one point.

"Kino?"

Kino nodded, he held the door open and ushered the three of them inside. His apartment was small and neat, though there were clear signs of a small child having been around recently: toys scattered along the edges of the room, a discarded bowl of cracker snacks on the table. Sylva had to wonder where the child was.

"I told you not to contact me," Mahmoud said, voice cracking a little as he closed the door. "What are you doing here?"

Without saying anything, Kino took a seat at the table. Iri and Sylva glanced at each other, then followed suit. Mahmoud, clearly discomfited, took a seat as well. Very deliberately, Kino rested her elbows on the table, and peeled off the glove, first of her right hand, then of her left.

Sylva had changed the bandages to much thinner ones, now that Kino was healing nicely. It had the added benefit of allowing the gloves to fit on her hands, and it clearly revealed the extent of the damage to Kino's hand. She laid the gloves on the table, then folded her hands over them, left hand on top. She stared steadily out at Mahmoud, whose face was quite pale.

"I got caught," Kino said simply.

"Ah. Fuck." Mahmoud reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a rolled cigarette and lighter with shaky hands. He lit it, and a vaguely familiar herbal smell filled the room. He took a long drag. Kino held out her hand, and he handed it to her. She took a drag as well, then passed it back to him. Sylva had the sense that this was a ritual they had completed many times in the past.

"Have you heard from my sister?" Kino asked.

"I-- no."

Kino looked down at the table. Mahmoud handed her the cigarette again.

"Was I supposed to hear from her?"

"She's on Hanathue," Kino said, as though that explained everything.

Mahmoud ran a hand through his hair. "I can only help people who come to me," he said. "If she didn't get off planet, I don't know."

"Okay." Kino's right hand also shook as they passed the cigarette back and forth. Sylva wished she was privy to the past between these people, that she knew what exactly was going on. She didn't, though, and so she and Iri just had to sit there awkwardly as Kino and Mahmoud didn't say anything.

"Are you going to introduce me to these people?" Mahmoud asked.

"Iri and Sylva," Kino said, pointing them out in turn.

"Business associates?" Mahmoud asked.

Sylva remembered the letter that Kino had sent to Yan. "Friends," Sylva said, before Kino could say anything. That certainly was not strictly true, but there wasn't any reason to overcomplicate things. Unfortunately, it was probably the wrong move, because the look that Kino gave her was so full of hope and surprise that Sylva was taken aback. She was used to seeing Kino as a kind of flat thing, a rock, or a painting. She hadn't quite realized that Kino would feel some type of way about the things that she said.

"Excellent. Pleasure to meet you," Mahmoud said. "I obviously wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"I think the circumstances are as good as they're going to get," Iri said. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Very true, very true." He took another drag from the cigarette. "Was your sister the only thing you came to ask about?"

"Did you get back into the good graces of... your employers?"

"That depends on what you mean by good graces," Mahmoud said. "I was never exactly cast out. Why do you ask?"

"I know I'll be far less useful than I was," Kino said. "If I was useful at all, but I would still like to help in any capacity I can. As would my friends."

"What capacity would that be?" Mahmoud asked.

"I don't know," Kino said. "I would like to talk to your employer."

"Cutting out your middle man? How unkind of you."

"I no longer need to be handled," Kino said.

The line made Sylva laugh, despite herself. "Sorry," she said. "But yes you do."

"Who handles you now?" Mahmoud asked, clearly curious. "Do you?" He looked between Sylva and Iri.

"No," Sylva said, shaking her head, "not I." Kino didn't seem intent on mentioning Yan or the ship they had rode in on, so Sylva wasn't going to bring it up herself.

"Look, Kino," Mahmoud said. "I don't know what you think my employers will be able to give you to do."

"I have the power. I have--" Kino paused and considered for a moment. "A starship."

That made Mahmoud raise his eyebrows. "A starship?"

"Yes," Kino said. "I'm willing to use it."

"And where did you get this starship?"

"I stole it."

"You stole it." Mahmoud blew out a cloud of smoke to the ceiling. "I see."

Kino stared at him unblinking. Her right hand methodically curled and uncurled around the discarded gloves on the table.

"And you want to get in contact with my employers."

"Yes."

"Kino, I'm going to be honest with you," Mahmoud said.

"Okay."

"This looks bad."

"How?"

"You don't see it?" He passed Kino the cigarette and she mimicked his action of blowing smoke to the ceiling. She shook her head. "We-- not I, but my employer, was worried about you being a double agent. You fed us wrong information."

"It was a mistake," Kino said. "You have to believe me."

"Yeah, approximately the biggest fuck-up of all time," Sylva muttered under her breath. Mahmoud looked at her.

"Regardless of how it actually came about," he said, "the issue is how it appeared. You, in Imperial employ, gave us wrong information, which led to the compromise of a whole planet."

"That wasn't my fault," Kino said, though the choked sound she made indicated that she didn't quite believe that herself. "I didn't ever want any of that."

"Now you're coming here, with two strangers, and you claim to have been caught by the Empire, but you somehow escaped with your life after betraying them? It doesn't look good, Kino. This looks like a setup."

"If you were being set up--" Kino began, then stopped. She looked down at her hand. She looked up at Mahmoud. "I swear I'm not."

"I want to trust you," he said. "But my employers certainly won't. And I'm also going to personally take the step of getting the fuck off this station before Imperials show up."

"They definitely already know about this place," Iri said. "Pirates are not as slick as they like to think they are."

"That may be so. But if Kino's been compromised, then so have I." He pursed his lips. "You've been a good friend to me for many years, Kino. But I'm also a very practical man."

"Is there anything I can do?" Kino asked. "What do I have to do to prove myself?"

"I don't know," Mahmoud said. "That's not my decision to make."

To Sylva, both sides of the situation were quite clear. Kino had gotten herself into a position where no one, absolutely no one, could trust her. She had accomplished less than nothing, and she had paid a high price. Possibly higher than any of them knew, if her sister's life was at stake.

"Is there anything you can do?" Sylva asked, unsure of why she was trying to help this situation, but going for it anyway. "I understand why you can't trust us, but is there any way we could meet with your superiors, on neutral ground, and talk?"

Mahmoud considered for a moment. "I'll be right back."

He vanished into the back of his apartment, down a short hallway. The three women stared at each other in silence for an awkward two minutes. Sylva drummed her fingers on the table, Kino repeatedly bunched up the fabric of her gloves.

Mahmoud returned, bearing a data stick.

"This is a star map," he said, handing it to Kino. "I'll tell my employers that you want to meet there in... let's say half a month. You be there, I'll try to get them to send someone to talk."

"And if they don't come?" Iri asked.

"Then that sucks, and I won't be able to help you," Mahmoud said. "This is the best I can do."

"Are you really going to leave here?" Kino asked.

"If I can arrange it, yes."

"I won't be able to contact you," she said, sounding slightly distraught.

"Is there a way for me to get in touch with you?" Mahmoud asked.

Kino bit her lip.

Iri spoke up. "There's a man on Turco station, Franke Blacran. If you get a message to him, tell him it's for Evie Winer, it'll probably get to us eventually."

"Alright. I'll keep an ear out about your sister," he said. "Sorry I couldn't be of more immediate help."

"I understand," Kino said, though she still sounded fairly crushed. She clutched the data stick with the starmap in her hand, as though it was her one tether to the rest of the universe.

"Now," Mahmoud said, "you should probably get out of here before my family comes home. They don't like me bringing work back to the apartment."

That was as clear of a dismissal as they were going to get.