Welga tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. “There must be a connection between the station and the Machinehood. Look at the evidence we have now.” She ticked off her fingers with each item. “Rare DNA segments that match this kid’s. His mother, who’s now a monk spouting philosophy similar to the manifesto. Smart-metal manufactured on a space station.”

“That’s the bones, but we’re missing the connective tissue. What’s the motive? What holds those pieces together?”

“If Josephine Lee is Ao Tara, she might have been in on the whole thing. She’s canny enough that she gave nothing away in her journal, but she hinted at doing unethical things she didn’t write down. What if she traded her son’s DNA for biotech from the al-Muwahhidun, using his doctors as her connection? She was desperate to save his life. A portion of that DNA then ends up in a Machinehood operative.”

Olafson shrugged. “It’s a good story, but we need proof.”

“We’re about to get some.”

They had another hour before reaching Dr. Mitchell Smith’s house. Welga took a quick scan of her friends and family. Luis and Papa had begun to repair the house. Her brother looked grim. Watching her father’s painstaking motions made her heart hurt. He should’ve hired a bot to do the work or at least to help. Nithya was putting away birthday party decorations… from Carma’s party. Damn. I forgot to send her a gift.

“Por Qué,” Welga subvocalized, “put two hundred coin in Carma’s tip jar and send her a well-rated birthday card that’s appropriate for an eight-year-old. Sign it ‘Love, Aunt Welga.’ ”

“Would you like to transfer the coin from your tip jar or your bank account?”

“My jar.”

A quick glance at her balance showed little movement since the incident at the refinery. No surprise, considering she’d been inside a secured facility since then. Government work didn’t earn much from the public. News reporters liked to follow people like her and Olafson, but they couldn’t ethically tip government employees.

“The transfer will be held until the exchange opens,” Por Qué said. “All coin is currently backlogged due to the market freezes.”

A glance at the top-rated news feed items confirmed this. The attacks by the Machinehood had spawned a vicious cycle between funding and production. Distribution problems had quickly followed, and specialty locations like hospitals reported a shortage of customized pills and drugs.

“Damn, have you seen the headlines?” she said.

Olafson nodded. “Stock markets don’t like uncertainty, and nobody knows what to expect right now.”

“People are overreacting. Dumbasses are doing the Machinehood’s work for them!”

“Isn’t that the caliph’s way? You should know that better than most, Ramírez.”