“I need to pick Alusept’s brain,” I told Flinpen after catching up with her in the halls, using the map to steer us clear of any observers. “I need his third-tier secrets.”

The commotion over the wraith attack seemed to be dying down, with people departing the tower here and there to return to their usual activities. A smaller group remained behind.

I’d repeated the jumpsuit test a dozen or more times, varying the questions to account for edge cases with a decisive result each time. The outcome left me equal parts determined and terrified, but certain there could be no mistake. There had to be a better way to do this. But for now it was a start.

“First, he’s in quarantine. They probably haven't told him much yet. Second, he wouldn’t say anything even if they had. He knows the rules. Third, we don’t even know how to get to him. Fourth, I’m still feeling queasy. I think I overdid it on the white light.”

“That one’s easy,” I said, waving it off. “I can fix that in private.”

“What the hell, Lamutri?”

I grinned. “Oh, didn’t I mention? I’m an expert on lightcraft now.”

“I left you alone for less than an hour.”

“Which is double the amount of time it took to figure it out.” Although there were still some parts of my body I wasn’t sure about, like the voids in my forearms I suspected were cupholders. “Listen, this is important.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s to do with my core.”

“We’re in the middle of a mission.”

“Yes, and I’m about to tell you everything I know. Which is a lot, and includes the fact I have a map of the entire multiverse and Garrison logistical intelligence in my head.”

Flinpen narrowed her eyes.

“I promise I’m being serious,” I said. “I don’t think these people are much of a threat, and I’m not going anywhere. I just think Alusept might have answers, and I don’t trust Nysept.”

“That’s because you know she won’t break the rules for you.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “Can you at least try?”

My handler sighed. “I’m not much use here, I suppose. But I can already tell you it won't work. You know I’ll be in trouble if I get caught.”

“I’ll Near Miss you,” I offered.

“That never works.”

“This one will. And you’ll get to find out about Jadal Cai.”

I spent the next while delivering my report while Flinpen’s eyes grew progressively wider.

“In Fate's name,” she swore at last. “You think we should negotiate to combine Houses?”

“Yes, but it’s not up to me.”

“Actually... it kind of is. You’re second-tier. You have a say in decision-making. Although…” She trailed off.

I knew what she was likely thinking. “Even if the pay for this job is spectacular, it still won’t be enough to settle my debts. I can’t make it to Quad, so it’s not official.”

“You know I already Halved them for you, right?”

I blinked. “The Chapel let you? Regardless, that must still be the equivalent of a full augment suite.”

“True.” She frowned. “Still. Single-handedly locating and infiltrating the enemy should be worth at least a voice.”

Except it hadn’t been my doing, ignoring the nudge from Near Miss. As always, the locator had been the Machine.

“We don’t know they’re our enemy,” I said for the fifth time, mildly annoyed. “Everyone’s been nice to me so far.”

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“Did you forget the part about being seen as abominations?” Flinpen wagged a finger at me. “How many racist universes do you have to visit before that part sinks in? Still, we have the position of strength for bargaining power, and it’s reasonable to assume the Garrison will want to avoid war. I think we’ll have the support. But we still have to complete the mission and find out their connection to the Reins. It could change things.”

“Working on it,” I promised with a casual salute. “By the way – is it normal to sense versal magic at second-tier?”

“Not that I know of. Sounds like a quirk.”

“Hmm. Could be part of the Garrison’s system. Or a Defect symptom. And someone’s been following us for the last minute, so you should probably take your leave.”

“Good heads-up.” Her face blurred into a stranger’s. “Until next report.”

Our path had led us towards the outer rim of the town where the forest could clearly be seen in the distance from ground level. The road ahead continued in cover, with twigs and branches poking in untrimmed through the windows next to one or two infrequently-maintained sets of rooftop lenses.

No glass ever sat in the windows in this city, it occurred to me. Nor any mirrors. Everything was reserved for lightcraft.

Near Miss triggered as Flinpen blipped out of my awareness, which was troubling, but I continued heading for the outer road, stopping short of leaving the city.

My stalker turned out to be Er Jid. Her profile in the database revealed her home universe and that she’d been part of the Garrison for about twelve years. It felt a little odd having access to all that information, but everyone would be reading the same data about me.

“Ti Du!” she waved, catching up at a leisurely pace. I could feel the versal magic attached to her. Three parts of it, like a Tri, sitting at the front of her chest. “Glad to see you’re better.”

“Not as much as I am,” I agreed wholeheartedly. I nodded towards the outer road. “Is the whole thing undercover?”

She nodded. “Eventually it falls into disrepair. We have crews try to maintain the closer reaches every few years, but there isn’t much incentive to explore. It’s easier to acquire supplies from other dimensions and bring them here.”

That would explain the lack of activity and labels, and the depreciating age of the entries. “I suppose not,” I mused. Adventure competing with adventure. I wondered what it would be like to dedicate myself to a single universe for more than a few moments. I’d barely even explored the Chapel world I lived on.

Part of me felt like walking down the end of the road in front of me here and now.

“I’m sorry I had to leave,” said Er Jid. “There was a minor incident I had to check up on.”

“The wraiths? What are they?”

“Nothing you need to be afraid of. Wraiths are native to the Vein; they don’t venture beyond it. Even if you did encounter one in the wild, they can’t hurt you. Don’t let them put you off.”

I'd never seen or heard of any creatures in the Interstice; it must have been another key difference. “Then why is everyone so concerned?”

“Well, two reasons. Walk with me.”

Somewhat reluctantly, I turned my back to the outer highway and its promises of ancient treasure.

“Physically,” Er began, “wraiths are harmless to you and I. They can’t interact with us. Most of the time they don’t even know we’re there. They look deadly and frightening, but it’s all show.”

I frowned, but Er wasn’t looking.

“That said, they are trouble. Wraiths may not bite, but they rearrange the lay of the Vein. Any routes you’ve relied on or memorised, they’ll consume in front of them. They’ll leave you stranded anywhere in the multiverse at a moment’s notice. If you aren’t experienced with Function, it can take a while to find your way back.”

My breath stalled as the suspicion developing in my mind evolved legs and crawled out of its primordial goop. Thankfully, my companion kept going: “Seeing them so far in is unusual, let alone in such numbers.”

Not numbers, I thought. Just multiple trips. Surreptitiously, I brought up the construct interface and skimmed for new notifications. As if summoned by my interest, one immediately pinged into being. It explained the Near Miss activation.

“It’s not typical behaviour, and that has some people worried.” Er glanced across at me. “If they’ve suddenly taken an interest in the Garrison, no one knows what that might mean. It also means we’re at a much higher risk of being flung across the Vein. That’s the first reason. The second isn’t concern so much as opportunity.”

“Oh?” I asked, doing my best to stay neutral.

“For certain people, it's what they want.”

I didn’t have to fake my subsequent confusion.

“There are some places we can’t go,” Er Jid explained, seeing it. “Not that there’s a shortage of others, but some routes simply… resist. Generally these are further out from the centre. And while we refer to the Garrison as the centre of the multiverse for all practical purposes, the prevalent theory actually submits it’s a pole with an equal, opposing number. Just as all paths lead to the Garrison, they push away from its counterpart. It’s why the ‘dark’ half is difficult to access and chart.”

I badly wanted to weigh in. Chances were it was the Chapel. We were the opposing universe, and travel wasn’t an issue because the Interstice was efficient. We might not have had a database to refer to, but memory and instinct did the job well enough.

“By being caught in a wraith’s wake, it’s possible to end up in previously unchartable areas,” Er continued, oblivious to my internal struggles. “So repeated wraith sightings, when a single event is already so rare, represent a boon.”

“That makes sense,” I commented. My head ran through how easy it would be to run back and forth through the Interstice a few dozen times to fix a civilisation’s unsolvable problem. Or better yet, introduce them to the solution directly.

“There are also the hunting parties,” Er finished up with, sending my thoughts snapping back to immediate and alarmed full attention. “It’s a golden opportunity to kill them.”