“Before I do that, what do they say regarding data privacy for pill funders?”

“They have fifteen documents relating to that topic. Would you like to read them?”

Nithya groaned. “Not now. I need to get back to my project work. In the meantime, run a background search with any major funder of zips. Use the same query keywords as I did for Synaxel with Welga’s case. If you run into any blocks, send the result to the kitchen for a hard copy.”

She called up her juver project and checked the results from Zeli’s update. Nithya hoped the girl and her family were safely on their way to the refugee camp. If the al-Muwahhidun had destroyed any of the primary nodes—places where network signals became wired—it could take weeks to restore communications.

At this rate, it was a coin toss as to which of them would cause Synaxel to cancel their contract first.

WELGA

8. The Biotech Age has saved humanity up to now, allowing us to maintain our worth (to ourselves and the oligarchy) and, therefore, to survive the gig lifestyle. Mech-suits integrated with human bodies let us carry or run or endure like a machine. Pills let us outthink them. But the cost of these so-called enhancements is twofold. One, they destroy our biological bodies (no matter how safe the oligarchy says they are). And two, they propel the machine designers to build even faster, stronger, smarter machines. We are trapped in a vicious cycle of self-destructive progress.

—The Machinehood Manifesto, March 20, 2095

A deeply pissed-off pill funder named Jane Santiago volunteered to bait the Machinehood. She had retained Platinum’s shield services for over a decade and had no problems with Welga, Connor, and Ammanuel joining her three-person security team, which included one ex-army officer and two former police officers, all male. Ammanuel chose to emphasize the feminine for this assignment, a sentiment that Welga fully approved, considering the optics they’d present otherwise.

A fat bonus landed in their bank accounts to make sure everyone could afford the latest styles. They had their first briefing on the seventeenth. Santiago insisted on reviewing everyone’s clothing designs.

“I don’t intend to die,” she had said, “but I sure as hell plan to look good if it happens.”

Hassan ran the meeting and introduced Welga as their liaison with the JIA. Ammanuel cocked an eyebrow, but no one made a comment.

“We won’t be able to stop the swarms,” Hassan warned.

Santiago shrugged it off. “I welcome the publicity. Let’s make a show of my support to lure these cowards into the open. I’ll announce a tour of the supply plants, and you can be damn sure I’ll tell them why.”