She dismissed the idea of wearing a patch from the start, and now I see that she has toughened the pinkish-brown mass of scar tissue with alcohol. Her other eye is bright, her ochre-brown skin clear, the dull undertone gone. Her scalp is shaved clean, and she wears her usual mockingly customised military jacket, dyed bright blue and yellow, and iridescent paint on her lips.

‘So,’ she asks, spooning a cherry into her glass. ‘Are you going to talk?’

I help myself to the fruit first. When the sweetness bursts on my tongue, it’s all I can do not to close my eyes with pleasure. I chase the berry down with a drink. So much has happened that I can’t easily explain. The General, their presence, the fact the Seekers let us go… I drink again. Simple words, I tell myself, simple thoughts. Best to forget.

‘I was out in the Barrens, north of Redcrop,’ I say, my head turning warm and sparkly from the benzene and the extra oxygen. ‘Minding my own business when—’

‘You discovered a wreck.’

‘I saw it,’ I admit. ‘Or what was left.’

Falco spins her glass. ‘Word is it was an Accord State ship, carrying a General, who died in the wreck like everyone else. You can bet the brass aren’t pleased about it.’

I stop, the cup halfway to my mouth. ‘What do you mean, died?’

Falco raises an eyebrow. ‘It was in the bulletin. A scouting party found her body before the Seekers got to it. It’s being shipped back as we speak for a state funeral.’

I stare at her. The benzene is no longer welcome in my head, it is too hot, curdling with the ice that chases down my spine. Forget it, I tell myself viciously, forget it and drink.

‘Where’s the wire bulletin?’ I ask instead.

Falco signals one of the other G’hals to bring it over, before staring at me, intent. ‘What’s wrong? You’ve gone the colour of dry cheese.’

‘Just… let me read it.’

She says no more, just places a much-handled bulletin board in front of me. I jab at the surface until it wakes up, the ink flashing into life. I flick through the latest issue, past news of trials and factory openings and settlement elections, until I see it:

General of the western forces killed in wreck