Move 21 Recap

On station: Crowned-With-Eyes, Sulen, and Virmad meet with Administrator Paerani Shan, Kel Teo, and Remi

Sulen asks Administrator Paerani Shan for assistance in locating Remi and retrieving the mothlings. Shan reports that Remi is in the middle of a fight with his assistant, Vana, who is shouting at and possibly hitting him, and station security is on their way. She instructs security to hold Remi for the Rahal to retrieve, and asks whether Vana is also implicated in heresy. The mothling Crowned-With-Eyes wakes up and begins making noise. Virmad says that Vana is not currently implicated, but he is making "an informal recommendation" to keep an eye on her.

The Rahal make their farewells to Shan and head to detention to retrieve Remi. A nervous security officer brings them to Kel Teo, who bows and says formally, watching Virmad, "I understand I am to facilitate the transfer of a...prisoner?" Virmad says, "I wish we were here under better circumstances, but the situation calls for haste," with a slight grimace. Teo instructs two more security officers to bring out Remi. He has a black eye, which does not detract from his strikingly handsome appearance, and is smiling sardonically. Sulen inquires about the bruise, after refusing a security escort to the Wasp. Teo explains that the bruise occurred during an altercation with Vana, who has been taken to an office to calm down, and that Vana thought Remi was "sabotaging her opportunities to do real research." Virmad says, "I wish—" then cuts himself off, thanks Teo, and bows in farewell. Teo also bows more deeply than expected.

Gerae's room: Alaric, Fluffy, and Gerae

Alaric tells Gerae, "Where I come from I am a scholar of some renown," adding that his primary duty, like most of the ship's crew, is to act as entourage and assist faction members. He wishes he could tell Gerae about moth communication. Gerae says that entourage is probably the right word, adding, "The Liozh are theoretically supposed to look out for common citizens, but it doesn't always work as well as the system claims. It's the kind of thing we wolves do discuss from time to time, in the hopes of cleaning things up." He asks about Alaric's research specialty. Alaric says, "I should probably say something like 'sociology' or 'calendrical mathematics', which would technically be true, but I've had a long day so I'm just going to call it 'comparative heresies' since that's probably the most accurate description around here." Gerae looks impressed and asks, "And you're out here without any kind of supervising Doctrine officer, to make sure you don't fall prey to one of those heresies yourself? It must be very different where you come from." Meanwhile, Fluffy starts looking for snacks.

Alaric says that people would certainly be upset if he tried to institute hexarchate doctrines. He adds, "I've been increasingly suspicious that the people in charge of this visiting scholar-slash-explorer program don't think many people will come back alive. The Heptarchate isn't unique in being a bit hostile to outsiders. I, of course, will be an exception." Alaric and Gerae discuss the similarities in cutthroat debate between Alaric's fellow scholars and the Rahal. Gerae concludes, "It's a little perturbing how well you understand us, but then if you're a renowned scholar I suppose that only follows." He offers to take Fluffy's cage from Alaric. Alaric demurs, but asks whether Fluffy could roam freely once the ship is underway. Gerae explains that she can disturb others by imitating noises such as coffeemakers, but a larger habitat would be a good idea. Alaric says, "I can definitely find something useful for her to imitate." He asks whether pseudodragons can learn words, and Gerae explains that they can, if sufficiently motivated. Alaric tells Gerae, "She was playing with a mothling when I took custody of her from one of my more dubious shipmates - it's a very long story and makes no sense, so probably best not to waste time explaining - and they seemed to be getting along quite well for creatures from entirely different biospheres." He then offers to "track down someone who can actually tell you when you'll be getting out of here." He leaves, remembering at the last minute to take Fluffy's cage with him. He programs the matter printer to start making habitat pieces for Fluffy.

Common Room: Crowned-With-Eyes, Remi, Sulen, and Virmad, with Alaric and humming from the moth

Sulen and Virmad return to the Wasp, where they learn Teo has forwarded a package containing a book of poetry for Virmad. Sulen messages Sasha and Ashari, then asks Remi to take the mothling to his room while they check on the mothling habitat. As they head off, the Wasp's moth can be heard humming at the mothling, who responds enthusiastically but less tunefully. Sulen tells Virmad, "I am going to check in with Ashari and Sasha on the Avrayen situation, and have Sasha check what progress the station's made in detaching the moth environment. You could come with me, or check on Gerae. I promised him he would get a chance to return to the station if he wished." Virmad says he will talk to Gerae, "although I can't imagine he'd want to leave us." Alaric appears and asks whether the "lonely stray magistrate" belongs to Virmad. Virmad says he was just about to check on Gerae. Alaric suggests that snacks for Fluffy might be appreciated.

Sasha's room: Iawa, Mikodez, and Sasha, joined by Ashari and Sulen

Iawa and Sasha enter the room where Mikodez is being held; the door disappears behind them. Mikodez wakes up and asks, "Are we finally off the station?" Sasha replies, "Not yet. Ashari's monitoring the situation. I get to explain the ways you have fucked up." She lists seven crimes. The sixth is "Imsayed met you, and explained that he's your little brother. You panicked and attacked him"; the seventh is that he failed to report that Imsayed had a potentially deadly concussion. Sasha asks, "Either you are criminally negligent, or you meant to kill him. Which one is it?" Mikodez says he wouldn't attack his younger siblings, and asks, "What can I fix? I won't let the mothling go back for experiments." He adds that Remi's journals didn't use the high calendar: "That's not something that anyone should have in their possession, ever." Sasha is unimpressed, and tells the grid to begin making furniture in the room disappear. She asks again, "Why did you hide the fact that Imsayed was hurt?" Mikodez ignores the question, asking, "Did everyone's first missions include complimentary implausible clone twins, or am I just special?" Sasha answers, "I got an entire fucking ship full of people who think I'm lawful property. At least Strashik's friendly. Or did you think he was going to steal your identity, somehow? Is that why you tried to kill him?" Mikodez tries out several different responses, while watching Iawa for a reaction, including "I'm okay with him stealing my identity so long as I get to watch" and "What kind of connotation does 'Strashik' have, anyway? How did he have the time to arrange for a tryst already?" Sasha replies coldly, "I'm not sleeping with your brother, Mishka. I'll thank you not to use that language again." She has now removed all of the room's features except for the desk and chair she is using. She warns, "You still haven't explained why you didn't report that your brother was injured. You've got a finite number of chances. Ashari won't be as patient, and you'll find waiting for them very boring." She then suggests that she should do something about Mikodez' implant.

Iawa is concerned that Sasha is about to attempt amateur brain surgery, and asks what exactly she plans to do. Sasha explains that "if you don't have ideological objections to feeding the augment fake times" you can circumvent an augment's firewall, adding, "The last team I was on, there was a finance analyst who kept stealing people's lunches. We made his augment play 'Andan in the Bathtub,' on a loop." Iawa asks what Sasha intends to do once she has control of Mikodez' augment. Sasha says, "I'm going to make a backup and then revert to factory standard. If I know Shuos wannabes, the storage is going to be more or less bulging with games." Iawa says, "That sounds fair," and Sasha sets to work.

After a little while, Sasha gains control of the augment. She takes a second stimulant, then begins the process of copying files from Mikodez' augment to a suitably firewalled part of the grid. She notices that the augment has a large number of encrypted files of a standard Shuos type, and concludes that Mikodez is spying on the rebellion for the Shuos. Sasha messages Ashari, "avrayens running shuos code, come asap, you have entrance privs." She then attacks Mikodez, hoping to restrain him with the cable ties in her pocket. They fight.

Iawa, who is confused and disturbed by the sudden attack, removes two sedative patches from the first-aid kit and debates whether to flee with Mikodez or appeal to Ashari. Since there is no clear way to escape the room without Sasha's assistance, Iawa decides to sedate both Mikodez and Sasha. As Sasha slips into unconsciousness, she instructs the grid to trigger the room's sprinkler system. Iawa sedates Mikodez next, while he's trying unsuccessfully to shut down his augment. Meanwhile, Sasha briefly regains consciousness and signals the grid to turn the sprinklers off again. Iawa calls Ashari, informing them that "interrogation got way out of hand" and Mikodez and Sasha will be sedated for the next five minutes. Iawa rips up a bandage and ties the hands of Mikodez and Sasha, rather sloppily.

Sasha wakes up, still disoriented due to the influence of the sedative. She is soaking wet and shivering. She asks, "Iawa, are you Shuos too?" and then realizes that if Iawa really is a Shuos agent this question is dangerous. Iawa is confused, but eventually asks, "Wait, you mean Avrayen's a Shuos?" Iawa then notices Sasha is shaking, exclaims, "Barb, you're freezing" (using a Vidona curse), and gives Sasha a heated blanket from the first-aid kit. While wrapping the blanket around Sasha, Iawa observes that the sedative patch on Sasha's arm partially overlaps her shirtsleeve; this explains why Sasha is already awake. Iawa informs Sasha that Ashari has been called. Sasha is reassured by the blanket and the fact that Iawa hasn't assaulted her, and asks Iawa to restrain Mikodez more effectively using the cable ties in her pocket.

Before Iawa can react, Ashari enters the room. They are cleaning their nails with their dagger, and there's a faint blue spark in their eyes. They say, "This is not how a well-conducted investigation goes. Please tell me we've learned something useful about the puppy?" Iawa looks Ashari in the eyes and replies, "Thank you for coming so quickly." Sasha sits up. She tells Ashari, "I regret my failure and will pay what penalty you require of me." She then reports that Mikodez' augment is full of Shuos files: "My guess is they're recordings. So that's at least two spies, the kid and whoever prevented our side from checking his augment." She adds that Mikodez was looking for a gene scanner while on station, and may just have learned his precise relationship to Istradez. From behind Sasha, Mikodez says, "And...? Keep going. I don't know everything on my augment either." Sasha ignores his instruction. She frees her hands and asks Ashari's permission to wipe Mikodez' augment. Ashari agrees, saying, "Whatever's hidden there might give us some interesting leverage for the future." Ashari tells Mikodez, "You are remarkably calm for someone in a world of trouble," and asks Iawa why the floor is wet. Sasha admits, "The water is my fault. Automatic security measure." She enters the command to wipe the augment. Ashari tells her, with a less than reassuring grin, "Considering the trouble a certain fox kit has caused us all, I don't blame you for erring on the side of paranoia." They thank Iawa for calling them in "before things got even more out of hand." Sasha is annoyed that Ashari isn't giving her credit for messaging them first, but reflects that she should be thankful Ashari isn't blaming her for involving Iawa.

Sasha and Ashari receive Sulen's message, which reports they have "a delivery" and asks where the two are. Sasha confirms Remi's presence on the ship, and replies, "in my room w/ ashari, iawa, & the fucking baby fox. R's suitcases r in the room at end of other hall." Ashari messages Sulen, "I could use the threat of scrying on this fox-child." They instruct Sasha to let Sulen into the room without giving Mikodez an opportunity to escape, and tell Iawa to sedate him again "if he twitches wrong." They gaze in Mikodez' general direction, eyes turning almost entirely blue.

Sulen travels through Alaric's room and the adjacent bathrooms, using doors that Sasha creates and removes. They notice Alaric's souvenir photos, and are unnerved by briefly finding themselves in a bathroom without a door. When they enter Sasha's room, their eyes are bronze; scrying shows them that everyone is stressed and that Sasha's signifier has shifted (back) to Voidmoth on Patrol. Ashari is quietly relieved at Sulen's arrival.

Recruitment and Commitment

Sulen and Virmad have worked together effectively in confronting the station administrator and retrieving Remi; thus far, Remi seems favorably disposed to the mission. The next question is whether retrieving the mothlings, which are necessary for cooperation from both Remi and the Wasp's moth, will go as smoothly. Meanwhile, Gerae seems disposed to be friendly toward Alaric, rather than unnerved by his foreignness. Virmad is torn between Teo and the mission, but willing to be distracted by Gerae.

Sasha destroys her tentative half-understanding with Mikodez by ineffective aggression. However, her discovery of the files on Mikodez' augment is significant for the team's ongoing security. Moreover, because Sasha respects competence, her awareness of her own error is likely to cement her solidarity with other team members, who are comparatively more effective in confronting Mikodez. Iawa has temporarily chosen to respect the chain of command, rather than abandoning the rebellion; Sasha, who might be resentful of Iawa's intervention, is in fact inclined to protect them from Ashari, an instinct which may have odd repercussions.