“Okay. Just to warn you, I think they’re pretty careful about what they let me have, though, given how I’m a tinker. They measure out all the materials I get and what goes into Ashey’s hands.”

“Okay. Books should be okay, right? And you’re online, so we can message you?”

“Yeah, but they look at everything we send, so… secret identities, and be aware our enemies could be getting the same info.”

“I’ll message you, we’ll catch you up,” Capricorn said.

“Cool,” Rain said. “Just keep me in the loop, and I think I can do this. Maybe. It’s the boredom that’s making me second-guess what I felt before, that I can ride out this entire sentence, whatever it winds up being.”

“I’m patient,” Ashley said. “We’ll entertain ourselves with our side of the investigation. I won over Llorona, I think.”

“The Queen of the basketball court?” Sveta asked.

“Yes. Everyone meets with her, if they’re here for a couple of weeks without incidents. She keeps the peace and smooths out wrinkles, so they let her.”

“I would have thought you’d have to play a good game of basketball to win her over,” Capricorn said, pausing while Ashley nodded. He added, “And your hands aren’t working.”

“Yes. That’s one way. And I’ve never played basketball. I’d lose if it came down to it.”

“Then how did you pull that off?” Capricorn asked.

Ashley smiled. “When she acted like she was better than me because I wouldn’t play, I tore my left hand off in front of her.”

“Awesome!” Lookout reacted to the self-dismemberment with awe and glee, because of course she did.

“That’d do it,” Cryptid, by contrast, was almost smug, even though he hadn’t had anything to do with it.

“I think she likes me now.”

“You do realize staff are watching you, and they report these kinds of things, right?” Sveta asked.

“Yes. I told them I needed maintenance, no sweat.”

“It was such a mess,” Rain was almost despondent in tone, contrasted with Lookout’s excitement and Cryptid’s satisfaction. “I’m the maintenance, you know. And there’s blood with forced removals like that. Like, hurry, hurry, get dressed, shoes on, and run, because she might not live if it’s not plugged in right.”

“Spooky,” Sveta said.

“Messy!” Rain exclaimed, to Sveta. To Ashley, he said, very seriously, “Messy.”

“Letting the Queen place me at the bottom of the totem pole would have been worse,” Ashley said. “It helps Rain, too.”

“Helps?” Rain asked.

A buzzer sounded across the complex.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Rain said.

“Time’s up?” I asked.

I saw their nods.

“Aww, what? No. We just sat down,” Lookout said.

“Another time,” Ashley said.

“Keep an eye out for the care package,” Lookout said.