“Am I?” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s just the southern outlook. You’re from Millsport, Tod, maybe you’re just standing too close to see it.”

He chuckled. “Okay. So what’s the view like from down here?”

“Same as it’s always been. The yakuza handing out their ancient-tradition-of-honour line to anyone who’ll listen, and meantime doing what? Working the same crabshit criminality as everybody else, but cosied up with the First Families into the bargain.”

“Not so much any more, looks like.”

“Ah, come on Tod. You know better than that. These guys have been in bed with Harlan and the rest of them since we fucking got here. Tanaseda might have to pay for this Qualgrist fuck-up he’s perpetrated, but the others will just make the right polite noises of regret and slide out from under. Back to the same illicit goods and genteel extortion line they’ve always trawled. And the First Families will welcome it with open arms because it’s one more thread in the net they’ve thrown over us all.”

“You know.” The laughter was still in his voice. “You’re beginning to sound like her.”

I looked round at him.

“Like who?”

“Like Quell, man. You sound like Quellcrist fucking Falconer.”

That sat between us for a couple of seconds. I turned away and stared out into the darkness over the Expanse. Perhaps recognising the unresolved tensions in the air between myself and Murakami, Jad had opted to leave us alone on the dock while the yakuza were still preparing to depart. The last I saw of her, she was boarding the Impaler with Vlad and the honour guard. Something about getting whisky coffee.

“Alright, then, Tod,” I said evenly. “How about you answer me this? Why did Tanaseda come running to you to put his life right?”

He pulled a face.

“You said it yourself, I’m Millsport born and bred. And the yak like to be plugged in at high level. They’ve been all over me since I came home on my first Corps furlough a hundred and whatever years ago. They think we’re old friends.”

“And are you?”

I felt the stare. Ignored it.

“I’m an Envoy, Tak,” he said finally. “You want to remember that.”

“Yeah.”

“And I’m your friend.”

“I’m already sold, Tod. You don’t need to run this routine on me. I’ll take you in Segesvar’s back door on condition you help me fuck him up. Now what’s your end?”

He shrugged. “Aiura has to go down for breach of Protectorate directives. Double-sleeving an Envoy—”

“Ex-Envoy.”

“Speak for yourself. He’s never been officially discharged, even if you have. And even for keeping the copy in the first place, someone in the Harlan hierarchy has to pay. That’s erasure mandatory.”

There was an oddly ragged edge on his voice now. I looked more closely at him. The obvious truth hit home.