Maybe he was just being paranoid.

They turned another corner into the hallway of a cheap motel, all floral patterns and peeling wallpaper. Sonia’s UniPet nuzzled his ankles.

“Friendly little guy,” he said.

“Girl. And someday soon, we could all be like her.”

“Girls?”

“No. Existing solely within Unison.”

On the other side of Sonia, Takashi struggled to hold back a proud grin. His Mood-shadow flared brightly. He’d taken Ambrose to the right Friend, and he knew it.

“You mean, like … permanent insertion?” Ambrose asked.

She glanced at Takashi, who shrugged.

“I’ve heard of it,” Ambrose said quickly. “Everybody talks about it.”

“Uh-huh,” she said. “Listen, Adam, why are you here?”

“Takashi didn’t … I guess I’m just curious, and Takashi figured you’d be able to help me out.”

“But what I’m asking is, why did you create an Account in the first place?”

“We just got the money. My dad got a new job, and so for my birthday—”

“That’s how you’re here. I’m asking why.”

Ambrose was momentarily speechless. He hadn’t expected her to interrogate him. Now he was sure that Sonia was a mask for an older user. Finally he said, “Because everybody else is already here. I felt like the last person in Eastern Seaboard City without a login, you know?”

He could tell by the coldness that crept into her Thoughtstream—a tangible chill that scraped behind his eyes—that she was disappointed with his answer. He would have to be more specific if he hoped to learn anything useful. Playing detective from the bottom rung of Unison—no Admin Deck, no access, no network of Friends—was as foreign to Ambrose as the topside world would be to Mistletoe. He felt at odds with his useless furniture and apple-loving ID, and fought the urge to shimmer out.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ve just never thought about it before. What I mean is, Unison seemed like…” He followed Sonia and Takashi through a door that led them out into the upper deck of an ancient Roman stadium. The hard granite benches overlooked an oval playing field of tightly packed dirt. The whole place was deserted. They sat. She looked at him expectantly.

He continued. “It seemed like something important was passing me by, and if I waited too much longer to join, it would be different … like, so far beyond me that I’d never be able to catch up. I mean, I heard they’ve already had one pretty serious upgrade, right?”

He congratulated himself on this conversational bait. Freelancers like Sonia were plugged into the Unison rumor mill. If his father had been operating outside the boundaries of UniCorp, hiding his personal project from Ambrose and the other Associates, Sonia might have picked up a stray piece of relevant cross-chatter. He watched as she slipped her right foot free of its boot and drew a line in the dirt with her big toe. A lion appeared at the edge of the field below and strolled lazily out to the middle, where it collapsed onto its haunches and rested its massive head on its front paws.