“How do you feel?” Kim asks, peering at him, holding a hand to his forehead, checking his pulse.

“A bit weird. I have a headache, feel queasy. Does that pass?”

“Probably not, but if that’s all you’re feeling that’s a good sign. It’s taken, and your brain’s reacting as well as it can to the extra stimuli. Try not to record for more than five minutes at once. Otherwise side effects might worsen.”

He nods, his brow creasing.

“OK, so I’ll jabber a bit so you can see how this works when we play it back. Walk around the room and look at things a little.”

Nazarin does so, peering at the lab instruments. He looks at Kim and she does a little twirl, and then he comes and peers at me. I feel strangely vulnerable, knowing that soon I’ll see myself through his eyes.

“So, just do this to stop it?” He presses the hollow of his throat three times again.

“Yep, that’s all done.”

The crease between his brows eases. “I feel better now.”

“Good. Come on, let’s get out of the lab. Better wallscreen in the lounge.”

I’m not sad to leave that lab behind. I’m fairly sure it’s going to give me nightmares. We settle onto the sofas in the living room. I take my shoes off and tuck my feet up on the sofa, wrapping my arms around my legs. It’s a childish sort of body language, but I got into the habit after the surgery and it makes me feel more grounded, feeling something pressed against my chest. I’m so tired. I want to go to sleep for at least twelve hours.

Kim passes us glasses of water and we sip as she brings up her interface.

“It’ll still send even if we’re somewhere all signals are blocked?” I ask

“They won’t be completely blocked, of course. The Ratel can communicate with each other on their own frequency, but they’re well protected against any sort of outside tampering. I can use a subfrequency they won’t suspect. There might be a bit of a delay, but it should get through to me soon enough. I’ve had Sudice send to one of my secure drives just now. Nobody can get into it but me, so whatever you find will be safe.”

Perhaps too safe. I like Kim and I’ve had no reason to distrust her, but she suddenly has a lot of power over us. She could turn us in, pretend we forced her to neurohack us. She could take whatever we record and hold it to ransom, or delete it.

Nazarin sees my hesitation. He doesn’t say anything, but reaches over and takes my hand and squeezes it. Don’t worry, he seems to say. I wish I could feel as confident.