Perry clutched the rim of his bench, as if clinging to a more stable past. “You planned this. You’re trying to tear the Cousins down!”

Is that a smile on Andō’s face? “Whatever the cause, the Cousins failing would mean one point seven billion Members seeking a new Hive. You said yourself Cousins and Masons are opposites. Ex-Cousins are unlikely to become Masons, and they’re certainly not going to turn Utopian. A lot may linger as Whitelaws for a while at least, but Hivelessness is only so appealing. That leaves Gordian or us, and one point seven billion people are not about to convert to Brillism overnight.”

Perry sprang to his feet; a kiss from sparkling Danaë could not turn a man so red. “You expect ex-Cousins to join us after O.S. is exposed? Or had that by-product not crossed your minds when you dispatched your little thief?”

“Thief?” Andō repeated. “You misunderstand. We had nothing to do with the theft of the list, we would never jeopardize O.S. like that.”

Ganymede nodded confirmation. “Never.”

“The three of us,” Andō continued, “you included, Perry, agreed at our last meeting that we had to silence Sugiyama’s Seven-Ten list article about François Quesnay, or there would be a disastrous anti-Mitsubishi backlash. So long as my Toshi was writing the substitute list, it seemed a good opportunity to bring the world’s attention to the corruption in the CFB. I suggested that Toshi consider putting CFB Chief Darcy Sok on their list, just to weaken the Hive a bit, no more. This theft, which has turned a slight nudge into an earthquake, that was someone else.”

Perry made fists. “This violates the spirit of O.S., Andō. You took advantage of a hit we all agreed on to advance an agenda we never talked about.”

Andō scowled. “I don’t recall the terms of O.S. requiring me to give you equal access to my adopted children, as well as to my assassins.”

“They’re not your assassins,” Perry spat, “they’re our assassins.”

Ganymede’s gilt brows narrowed. “In fact they are my assassins.”

“Regardless,” Perry plunged on, “the terms of O.S. clearly require the three of us to share with the others any agenda which might affect Hive balance. Dissolving the Cousins more than qualifies!” The Prime Minister’s breath grew fast, the ferocious enthusiasm of a speaker accustomed to being heeded only when he made it seem the sky was falling. “You set a bomb without telling us, and it’s gone off at the worst possible moment. Thanks to this theft, the whole world’s read Sugiyama’s article about François Quesnay and the so-called failure of the Mitsubishi land-focused philosophy. Mitsubishi stocks are already showing the impact, and worse, Sugiyama’s list put the spotlight back on Ziven Racer too, which has shredded what little confidence Europe was starting to have in me, not to mention Sniper being on their list instead of Ganymede. Polar opposites or not, if the Cousins go down right now the Masons are going to seem a lot more appealing than Mitsubishi whose philosophy is doomed, Europeans with a leader no one wanted, and Humanists whose President only stays in office at the whim of a living doll with no attention span.” His hot fist slammed the inlaid cabinet behind him. “I’m calling a hit. I called the O.S. set-sets earlier to have them look for a way to deflect the press from Darcy Sok and the CFB.”