“My suits are better.” She paused. I glanced at her, but she had drawn back, her features obscured. The effect, her rich voice—so familiar to me already—juxtaposed with her alien suit was disconcerting. “And I’m wearing gloves,” she added.

I was angry with her. Angry that she’d come into my apartment, uninvited, as if she owned the place. Angry that she’d seen me so weak. But most of all, furious that she’d taken such a wild risk. For someone she barely even knew. “You shouldn’t have come,” I said, my words hard and clipped. “Even if you do own the best suits on the market.”

“I’m fine. We have a decon pod at home anyway. It kills everything.”

I let out a half-crazed laugh, despite myself. She was so secure in her wealth. I bet no one she cared about had ever died. Hell, even her grandparents were still alive.

“What?” she asked. Her tone was sharp.

“Like a specimen kept in a jar,” I said. “Is this how we’re supposed to live?”

She didn’t reply. I suddenly realized I was naked beneath the thin sheet, so I couldn’t even get up if I wanted to.

Finally, she said, “Why did you do it? Try to save that man?”

“What. And just do nothing instead?” I felt disgusted that she would even ask. It must have shown on my face, as she rose and walked away from me, standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows. I wanted her fishbowl off. I didn’t want to talk to her like this, faceless. It put me at a disadvantage.

“But everyone does. Turn their eyes away. On a daily basis.” She pivoted back to me. “It’s why I urged my father to create a more affordable suit. So not only the rich can benefit from it.” Daiyu paced the foot of my bed. “But my father . . .” She crossed her arms, shoulders tensing. “My father is always a businessman first. And before I knew it, he had doubled the price of the suit, made a deal with Prosperity Bank . . . and the raffle. That ridiculous raffle!” Daiyu’s frustration was palpable.

I should have placated her, said her intentions were good. Which was the opposite of what her father was doing to the meis. He’d see us all in graves just to make a yuan. But I felt weak, vulnerable, and angry. And I wasn’t certain in my still-hazy mind if Daiyu’s intentions had been good.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t know—that your father would make a profit on the broken backs of meis. Happily. You’re his daughter, after all.”

She spoke so low I barely caught her words. “You would think the worst of me?”

I closed my eyes, head swimming. “I don’t know, Daiyu. I don’t know you.” I winced, my swollen throat aching. “I don’t know how much you see.”