“I knew there was something fishy about your whole deal,” Istara said. “Legislator’s nephew gets synced—are you still synced?” They pulled themself out of the channel they were working in and knelt on the tiles at the side. Rusty water ran off their waders. The look they darted at Tennal while they were getting to their feet was too sharp for comfort.

“Why, did you come up with a cure for syncing?” Tennal said. “Your friend Basavi is doing sums in the accounting department. I checked. For some reason Archer thought she came across as more reliable than you. Listen, Archer’s given me command of a city district. Su—Lieutenant Yeni says he needs your help.”

That gave Istara pause. Tennal did understand why people liked Surit more than him. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to manipulate it for his own purposes. “So why are you here?” Istara asked.

“It’s my transfer request,” Tennal said. “I’m the officer. It goes through quicker if you volunteer.”

Istara peeled the waders off their legs, giving Tennal an incredulous look as they did it. “So you’re here to … what, convince me?”

Tennal had notably failed to convince Istara of almost anything in their working relationship so far. “On behalf of Lieutenant Yeni.”

“You’re a captain now,” Istara said. “However you did that—no, don’t tell me, it was something to do with your family, wasn’t it? So glad you don’t have to be a ranker anymore. It must have been killing you not to hang around with your posh friends. You can just give the order, Captain.”

Tennal took a deep breath—something he regretted in a sanitation plant—and said, not without difficulty, “You and Basavi taught me the basics of piloting. I’m not ungrateful.” Basavi and Istara had been casually, acerbically kind when they didn’t have to be, and Tennal found that hard to forget. “I’d rather not move either of you around like sacks of rice. It’s been happening to me a lot, and I know how it feels, and I don’t love it.” He didn’t say, Is that enough of an explanation? It felt like begging. He told himself he didn’t actually need Istara. Surit could handle things without more staff.

“I’m in,” Istara said. “Can’t wait to watch you fuck this up from close quarters.”

Tennal took a moment to register this as Istara saying yes. The world shifted onto a fractionally better axis. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell them he was only here until he escaped, but—no. He’d brought Surit into his plans because he absolutely had to. He couldn’t trust more people. “You’re welcome. Enjoy the show.”

“Take me with you to Basavi’s office,” Istara said. “I’ll tell her to volunteer.”