‘Drozna’s not wrong,’ Surt said, drawing in her cheeks like they were made of something so thin you could jab your finger through it. ‘The chaff I’ve heard, and not just about baubles either. The way some coves talk, you’d think they’d all been jumped by the Nightjammer one time or another.’ She folded her arms. ‘Me, I ain’t even sure Bosa Sennen exists. Maybe once, a long time ago. But now she’s just a name people pin on bad luck and accidents. Sometimes ships don’t come back from the Empty, it’s true. But there’s a million reasons for that, which don’t need to involve Bosa Sennen.’

‘You think she’s a myth?’ I asked.

Prozor shot me a warning glance.

‘Until I’ve got evidence to the contrary, why should I believe anything different?’ Surt asked. ‘I ain’t seen her, and I don’t aim on seeing her.’

‘I hope you get your wish,’ I said.

‘One thing we know,’ Drozna said. ‘One thing everyone’s agreed on. The Nightjammer’s picky about who she jumps. A bauble like this, nice and close to the Congregation . . . and – meaning no disrespect to the Cap’n – one that ain’t likely to make our fortunes or anyone else’s . . . it just ain’t the kind of prize that’s worth Bosa’s time.’ He stroked a palm across the side of the table, for reassurance. ‘We’re not the kind of fish she goes after, and I like it that way.’ He smiled phlegmatically. ‘Anyway, what’s the point of fortunes? You can make all the knotty plans you like, and then something like Black Shatterday comes along . . .’

‘Did it hurt you?’ I asked.

‘Not me. What I banked wasn’t worth the cost of lungstuff before the crash, never mind afterwards. But I hear it hurt some coves bad.’

‘They were fools, then,’ Prozor said.

Trusko’s crew came back from the bauble on schedule. They docked and brought the loot back into the galley, laying it out in magnetic boxes so we could all paw through it and see how brave they’d been. All I could do was stand back and go along with the general mood, not caring to give away how little I actually knew about baubles and loot.

Of course I knew about history, and Occupations, and I knew my share of worlds and names and dates. But none of that was practical knowledge, the kind of lore an Assessor or an Integrator carried under their skin like a different kind of glowy. But if I’d been on as many ships as I claimed, more than a bit of that lore would have rubbed off on me by now.

‘This’ll do handsomely,’ Trusko said, holding up an ornate gold gauntlet with six fingers and a thumb. ‘Bring a nice little quoin, this will.’