It wasn’t an architect command—though the legislator was powerful, she famously didn’t use her abilities to govern—but it was still an order. For a moment Tennal contemplated disobeying. He knew she could make him, though, and the thought of being written any more today made everything in him revolt. He slowly unfolded himself from the chair.

The legislator looked him up and down. “The shaking’s from the withdrawal shots, is it?”

“I’m trembling in reverence,” Tennal said. “New to the big city, you see. Never thought I’d meet the legislator in person. Should I bow?”

Before he’d left, he would have gotten a don’t fucking push it and a gesture to sit. This time she just turned away, activating the holofield in a frame on the back wall. The lack of reaction left Tennal more unsettled than if she’d shouted.

Tennal sat again slowly, trying to control the shivers. He made his voice light and unconcerned. “Did you see Zin’s commencement? I wanted to catch the last bit, but your people wouldn’t let me out of Medical.”

The legislator didn’t even look at him. “Your ability to give me complete horseshit while looking like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth never ceases to amaze.” The holofield turned milky white as it retrieved a file. “I can see you wanted to go to Zinyary’s commencement. You wanted it so much, you lost yourself on the other side of the fucking planet and had to be dragged out by an armed retrieval team.”

The holofield now showed a map: a projection of a familiar coastline slowly zooming in on the urban sprawl around Sanura. Other files started appearing around it.

They were projections of people’s faces. Tennal had drifted with various party crowds; they were all here. Gamblers, fixers, people who hung around for the thrill of association—in the eight hours since the first ping of Tennal’s locator, someone on the legislator’s payroll had thrown together a comprehensive file on what Tennal had been doing for the past eight months.

“Recognize any of these?” the legislator asked.

Tennal shrugged noncommittally. She obviously knew a lot already, but that didn’t mean he had to give her anyone’s identity. “Vaguely.”

The legislator waved a hand. A red glow highlighted about half the faces. “These ones are wanted by local regulator forces. Did you know that?” Tennal swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and didn’t say anything. The faces all faded except six, which enlarged and started to rotate, floating against a white background. “They’re small fry, though. These six are wanted by global agencies for crimes against the Orshan state. High up in the internal structure of some of our worst criminal rings. We’ve seized four of them on the back of this report.”