“I’ll be wanting the whole Merz Boat posse in on this. You kiqs have special friends, special powers. We might need it all. Be outside the ExaExa labs by eight a.m. latest.”

Bim Brown broke the connection and Thuy was alone in the Merz Boat’s common room. She used the orphidnet to peer into the dark bedrooms, looking for Jil. Bixie and Momotaro were asleep in their rooms, and Jil herself was sitting on the bed alone in the master bedroom, her head down over her lap. Crying—or doing sudocoke?

Feeling guilty for prying, Thuy switched to watching Craigor and Jayjay, who were readying a combine device made of a four-foot lump of piezoplastic atop three ten-meter lengths of black pipe. The lump was beige, with a hatched surface that made it look vaguely like an internal organ. Arms protruded from its middle, with hands grasping a black metal cane. The lump had eyes and a toothy mouth at its top end, which was crowned by a black top hat bearing white lettering: “Mr. Peanut.” One of Craigor’s gaga Dada jokes. Art for art’s sake. You had to hand it to the guy, obnoxious though he was. Meanwhile, the attack shoons were fifteen minutes away.

Jil bounced out from the bedrooms, carrying a towel, jeans, and a sweater. Her eyes were bright and watchful. Thuy changed into the dry clothes, almost expecting Jil to put a sexual move on her, so charged was the atmosphere. But Jil just made two cups of tea and seated herself at the round table across from Thuy.

“You think the men can handle the attackers?” said Thuy, wanting to talk.

“I bet they can,” said Jil. She reached into her pants pocket and set a little silver box on the table beside her teacup. “You want a hit?”

“You’re, um, using again?” said Thuy. “Not to judge you, of course. I used to watch Founders, so I know your backstory. You were in recovery, weren’t you?”

“Until last week,” said Jil, using a silver straw to blast two snorts from her stash box. “But Craigor’s still cheating on me. It’s like all of a sudden he’s scared his life is slipping away and he has to score all these different women. I wish I could just accept having an open marriage. But I can’t. And now he’s seeing Lureen Morales. And even that would be okay if only Jayjay—” Jil had been talking faster and faster, but now her voice trailed off. She stared off into space, riding her rush.

The way she’d said Jayjay’s name set off alarm bells in Thuy’s head. “You’re still in love with him?” blurted Thuy. “Even after breaking up?”