A third staffer said acerbically, “Because the last Orshan audit found so much, did it?” There was a silence after that one had spoken, and from the tiny twitches of heads on the screens, Tennal got the feeling that a second, more animated argument was going on somewhere their audience couldn’t hear.

A cane tapped as the legislator made her way onto the platform. “There has been a misunderstanding,” she said, with all the pleasantness of a boxer starting a fight. “Orshan will be pleased to help clear it up. We came to an agreement twenty years ago. We can come to another agreement this time.”

“How many times, Orshan?” one of the Resolution staffers said. “Is this really in the spirit of the treaty?”

The legislator gave a grim, crooked smile. “You’ve done it elsewhere,” she said, “and I know we’re not your most noncompliant planet. Would you like to talk about the High Chain? Or not, because half of you originate from there?”

The inaudible argument this time was more animated.

“A gesture of goodwill would help. We’d like the neuromod”—a slight pause—“the ‘architect’ at the center of this. It would be useful if Surit Yeni could come to Resolution space for examination.”

“What does that mean?” Zin said.

“He will not be harmed and will be free to return when the examination is finished.”

“Wait,” Tennal said instinctively. Surit had gone still. Tennal didn’t need to be in his mind to know that leaving his home sector to be poked and prodded about the neuromod powers he’d always hated was the last thing Surit wanted. “He’s not even an architect anymore.”

“We will determine that.”

Every eye in the room was on the legislator. Tennal couldn’t parse her hesitation. She’d been okay with planning Surit’s death. Where were her lines? Tennal was starting to suspect if you cracked open the moral center of her brain, you’d find a mesh of wires in five dimensions.

She’d put a halt to the brainwashing program when she became legislator. She hadn’t investigated what it had done. She hadn’t exonerated Marit Yeni’s memory—but she hadn’t continued the research.

The legislator said, “No.”

Surit sagged in relief. But none of the Resolution screens seemed pleased. “If Orshan intends to be obstructionist—”

“There’s an easy answer,” Tennal said, loud enough to stop both them and his aunt’s snapped reply. “I’ll go.”