‘It doesn’t matter. But I’d sent them messages, and they were picked up, and so that’s that. They saw me coming, they cleared out. I think they were planning to clear out anyway. Things are in flux.’

‘Where does it leave you?’

Zidarov shrugged. ‘Where I was before. It’s still all shit, only now I can see a way into something that isn’t.’ He looked into Brecht’s bloodshot eyes. They were in focus, at least. ‘Did you know that Udmil Terashova isn’t Adeard’s mother?’

‘Fuck. Is that right?’

‘From what I’m told. So this all looks stranger than ever. Why did she come to us? She hates him. It never felt right. But I did uncover some things. First, Adeard’s link to the Vidora was real. He was itching to do something with them. My guess is cell-draining, which we know they were doing, right up till they got shunted out of it. It must have seemed exciting to him – plenty of slate, lots of danger. He managed to get in touch with a First Circle member working out in the suborbitals, who was involved in a running war for control of the import sites. I guess he thought that she was his ticket to the big time. Only she’s dead now, and whoever killed her likely killed him. Or took him hostage. Whatever.’

‘You don’t sound overly concerned.’

‘No one is. Except his father, maybe. But I do care about hooking bleeders up to machines and selling what comes out of them. Everyone tells me the same thing – imports are difficult, prices are rising, something’s wrong in the void. That’s a chance, for some people. You can make some slate by hawking stem-cultures in Varangantua. You could make a fortune by getting it off-world.’

Gyorgu looked unconvinced. ‘So what did the Vidora want with this boy, then?’

‘I don’t know.’ Zidarov leaned back in his chair, and scratched the back of his neck. ‘Contacts, maybe? He had legions of them hanging off his every word. Young, stupid, stuffed with topaz. Maybe he delivered them. Maybe that was why they wanted him.’

Gyorgu continued to look unconvinced. ‘Then who took out Borodina?’

‘They want us to think it’s the Vidora. I don’t buy it. The same crew that took out Borodina are behind this thing with the Terashovas. They’re the new force in the suborbital trade, the ones making Yuti shit himself, the ones the rejuve traders want to deal with. I need to find an off-worlder. An off-worlder with access to shredder-weapons, who’s taking orders from someone powerful enough to corner the trade in stem-cultures, who’s driving the cartels we know about into more honest work.’

‘That’s all you’ve got, then. An off-worlder.’

‘It’s a start. There aren’t that many of them.’

Brecht chuckled. ‘So what’s next?’