I held up my false hand. ‘Does this look like playing to you, Drozna? Or the glowy in me?’

His eyes narrowed under the geometric tattoo on his forehead. ‘How’d you come by the glowy?’

I swallowed, glanced away for a moment before meeting his eyes again. ‘Ship I was on got jumped. I hid while the jumping was going on. Would’ve died, except I ate lightvine. Ain’t proud of that, ’specially not the hiding. But I lived, and I’ve got the glowy as a reminder.’

‘First straight words that have come out of your gob since you came aboard.’ But something in him softened, and he moved his hand to pat me once. ‘Ain’t a one of us doesn’t have something we’d sooner have happened a different way. If that’s what spurs us, so be it. When did this happen?’

‘A long time back.’

‘Then that glowy’s been in you a while. Takes some spuds, keeping it the way you have.’

‘They wanted to flush it out of me. I said I wasn’t forgettin’ what happened. And if the itch and crawl of it made me remember, I’d take that and be grateful. I know it’s got into my grey by now. Makes me angry, sometimes, and I start seeing connections between things that I know aren’t always there. But it don’t stop me reading the bones. You won’t tell anyone, will you?’

‘About something that happened years ago?’ Drozna smiled. He had big jowly flaps on either side of his face, but it was still a kind face for a big man. ‘But that arm of yours isn’t as old as you’d like us to think, is it? I’ve seen how you favour the other one. I bet you could barely tie your laces with those tin fingers. You don’t want anyone asking how long you’ve had that replacement grafted on.’

‘I was sold a dud,’ I said. ‘Told it would bind to my nervous system, only it never did.’

‘It doesn’t look like a dud. Looks like quality work to me.’

‘Then fix it, you’re such an expert.’

He gave me a slow, knowing nod. ‘You’re a knotty puzzle, Fura. But I ain’t the one to judge. Truth is, Grestad never did us much good. If you can improve on that, you’ll soon have friends.’

‘I don’t need ’em,’ I said.

We cut out on ions. Soon Mazarile was small and Drozna ran out the sails. I watched it happen. They were a bit more raggedy than on the Monetta, but the photons still bounced off them and gave us thrust. The captain already had a bauble in mind, so that was where we were headed. Three weeks would bring us within launching distance, and the auguries said that the bauble would crack open handsomely just as we arrived.