“I’ve been wandering around watching a lot of serials.” I waited. Pin-Lee had always been the tough one, and it took her time to let down her guard. Like all the others, I had hundreds of hours of stored audio and video of her. I didn’t need to review it to know her nerves were stretched thin from fear for Mensah, from the responsibility for the others’ lives.

She said finally, “So you came to help us. Why should I trust you? You obviously don’t trust us.”

If I could answer that, I’d probably be a lot better off. I didn’t trust them, not with some things. I had no idea why they should trust me. “I pulled a status report from the company gunship. They aren’t going to help you unless the station lifts the docking prohibition. You’re on your own. Or you’re on your own with Ratthi and Gurathin, which may be worse.”

She grimaced. “I forgot what an asshole you are.”

Well, yeah. I said, “I need intel to make a plan.”

She looked at the view, and winced a little at the flashing ad display circling the spire we were passing. “They took her off Port FreeCommerce, after a meeting with DeltFall representatives. Some of the families of the victims had traveled in to personally collect the remains, there were a lot of people there, it was emotional. She stepped away for a minute afterward, and she was gone. The security cams showed the moment when they grabbed her, but by that time they had already taken her off the station. With some help from our diplomatic corps on Preservation, I convinced the company that this was their problem, that they had fucked up so badly with our survey bond that they owed us. Then GrayCris sent a demand that Preservation drop our suit against them and make a public announcement to that effect. We’ve done that, and now we’re here to negotiate a ransom.” Her expression tightened. “We’ve got people on Preservation working to free up assets, but right now we don’t have nearly as much as they want.”

So I was right, and GrayCris did need money. “But no company contract support?”

“Not after TRH refused to let them dock. They did give us a key for the fail-safe interface implant Mensah bought in case of emergency, but Gurathin said it’s blocked because she’s being held somewhere in the torus above us, behind the main station security barrier, and it’s dampening the signal.”

“Do you have it with you?” I asked. It might be blocked for Gurathin, but not for me.