The rayhunter’s skipper came down the gangway with a couple of ship’s officers I knew well enough to nod at in corridors. Koi seemed to know them all—they traded gruff arm’s-length grippings of shoulders and a skein of rapid Stripjap before the skipper grunted and moved off towards the harbour master’s tower with the others in tow. Koi turned back to face us.

“They’ll stay docked long enough to file for grav system repairs. There’s another raychaser in on the port side, they’re old friends of his. They’ll buy some fresh kill to haul into Newpest tomorrow, just for appearances.

Meantime, we’re out of here at dawn with one of Segesvar’s contraband skimmers. It’s the closest thing to a disappearing act we could arrange.”

I avoided looking at Brasil’s face. My gaze ranged instead over the cityscape superstructure of the urbraft. Mostly, I was awash with a selfish relief that Virginia Vidaura figured in the list of survivors, but some small Envoy part of me noted the evening flow of crowds, the possible vantage points for observers or sniperfire.

“Can we trust these people?”

Koi nodded. He seemed relieved to bury himself in details. “The very large majority, yes. Pictures is Drava-built, most of the onboard shareholders are descendants of the original co-operative owners. The culture’s broadly Quellist-inclined, which means a tendency to look out for each other but mind their own business if no one’s needing help.”

“Yeah? Sounds a little Utopian to me. What about casual crew?”

Koi’s look sharpened to a stare. “Casual crew and newcomers know what they’re signing on for. Pictures has a reputation, like the rest of the rafts. The ones who don’t like it don’t stay. The culture filters down.”

Brasil cleared his throat. “How many of them know what’s going on?”

“Know that we’re here? About a dozen. Know why we’re here? Two, both ex-Black Brigade.” Koi looked up at the rayhunter, searchingly.

“They’ll both want to be there for Ascertainment. We’ve got a safe house set up in the stern lowers where we can do it.”

“Koi,” I slotted myself into his field of vision. “We need to talk first. There are a couple of things you should know.”

He regarded me for a long moment, lined face unreadable. But there was a hunger in his eyes that I knew I wasn’t going to get past.

“It’ll have to wait,” he told me. “Our primary concern here is to confirm her identity. I’d appreciate it if none of you call me by name until that’s done.”

“Ascertain,” I said sharply. The audible capitalisation of her was starting to piss me off. “You mean ascertain, right Koi?”

His gaze skipped off my shoulder and back to the rayhunter’s side.

“Yes, that’s what I mean,” he said.