“Essentially,” Sagara answered, sounding somewhat irritated—or bored. “It was after my service in the Outer System Wars. They honored me. Gave me medals. And cleared my debts as repayment.”

She had never, ever, ever heard of such a thing, not in all the years the ISF had been in control. But Sagara’s body language said it all: he was telling the truth. The truth as he knew it, anyway. “Then—why are you here? Why are you still working for them, if they’ve released you from service?”

Sagara laughed, and the sound of it startled Park; her stomach leaped uncomfortably. It was the first time she’d ever heard him laugh. “What else was I going to do? Who else can you work for, if you’re not on Earth?”

“The private sector—”

“It’s still all controlled by ISF. Indirectly, but why bother with the middleman at all?”

“But if your debts are cleared, do you even need to work?”

He paused, cocking his head as if it had never occurred to him. “I am not a man suited to leisure,” he said after a moment, in concluding tones.

They were silent for a little, shuffling along together. Finally Park said: “So you know about the Fold, then? You’ve seen it? Or—” Or have they kept it from you, too, now that they don’t have any assurance they can trust you? No insurance policy against you?

Sagara’s reply was full of scorn. “Of course I know about the Fold.”

“Even without being conscripted?”

“Yes. I am the ship’s security officer. I needed to know that information to do my job. You didn’t.”

“That’s debatable.”

He ignored her. “ISF knows it can trust me. I served in their wars. I’m the head of security on Corvus. I’ve proven my loyalty.”

She sensed his pride, despite the usual matter-of-factness in his tone; she felt the unnatural desire to puncture it. “So you have seen it, then. And seen the data they’re keeping down in the utility rooms?”

Another pause. “Yes,” Sagara said finally—almost petulantly, she thought. “Not that it matters much. I don’t need to examine it closely. My role is to protect it, not understand it.”

She nearly laughed. “And here I thought you were supposed to protect us.”

“That, too,” he said, “so long as none of you conspire to work against me.”

Park rolled her eyes. Back to this again. His paranoia was dogged. She said, “You’re so quick to assume the worst of everyone else. But why don’t you extend that same suspicion to the ISF itself?”

Now he did turn his head to look at her. “Why would I?”

“Look at how they operate,” Park said, indignant. “Secrets, half-truths, outright lies—they sent me here without telling me it was a planet with a fucking gravity well!”