Move 20 Recap

Outside Medical

Alaric, Crowned-With-Eyes, Fluffy, Iawa, Istradez, Mikodez, and Sulen; messages with Ashari and Sasha

Around 05:80, Sulen decides that the mothling and the gun Mikodez printed would be useful for intimidating the station administrator. They message Ashari and suggest confronting the station administrator in person. Ashari answers, "I trust you to read the situation. We'll do it your way." Sulen responds, "I appreciate the trust." They send Sasha an oblique message, instructing her to give the doctored evidence of heresy to Virmad.

Mikodez notices that Crowned-With-Eyes is making more noise; he asks Alaric why this might be. Alaric points out that moths seem surprisingly social, and probably have ways to communicate that don't involve sound as well. Mikodez then says to Istradez, "Look, Cousin Imsayed, I found the Vraselian pseudo-dragon!" Istradez' eyes are unfocused, and he's slurring his words. He says, "Zehun stopped you from adopting birds already, Miki. I really don't think they're going to approve a dragon." Mikodez wonders whether the "birds" referred to a private Kel detachment. Istradez appears to fall asleep again.

On the Wasp

Galley: Ashari and Virmad

Meanwhile, Ashari asks Virmad whether he learned anything useful from Teo. Virmad says he "would describe Teo as scrupulous in terms of his immediate duties but perhaps doctrinally lax." Ashari observes this could be useful, then tells Virmad about Sulen's plan, adding, "Take Sasha and Ankat with you on the way out, safety in numbers, you know how it goes."

In the Visitors' Quarters

Alaric, Ankat, Crowned-With-Eyes, Fluffy, Iawa, Istradez, Mikodez, Sasha, Sulen, and Virmad

Ankat, Sasha, and Virmad meet their fellow team members outside Medical. Sasha leads the way to the visitors' quarters, humming to the mothling, who responds cheerfully. Sasha clears the visitors' quarters of surveillance and traps the bug on Istradez' lokwor. Ankat stands by the door, keeping an eye out for station personnel.

Sasha prints an air pistol for Sulen and affixes a sticker that will tell the station's recycling program to crush the object. When she offers the pistol to Sulen, they respond, "Wonderful. Now we have two." They set the bag holding the mothling and Mikodez' gun on a table; the mothling flutters out. Sasha asks Alaric to look after the mothling, and examines the weapon Mikodez printed, noting the lack of ammunition. Alaric shepherds the mothling away, observing, "It seems like we're past the point of where guns would be useful." Sasha, who argued this point with Sulen earlier, snaps, "There's a reason we've stopped fucking around with ammunition delivery." She tells Sulen that she is about to destroy Mikodez' gun, and they should take the air pistol. Sulen, who seems highly stressed, answers, "Yes, good, fine. Just get that boy back to the Wasp and then, I strongly advise you, lock him up." Sasha worries about what Ashari will do to Mikodez. Meanwhile, Alaric whistles at the mothling and speculates about constructing a melodic pidgin.

Mikodez asks Alaric, "So when are we going to make Crowned-with---Noodles deliriously happy by reuniting it with its kin? Do we know if this station has full-grown moths of its own?" In response to an irritated comment from Ankat, he then starts packing the materials for Ashari's exhibit. He eventually falls asleep on a stack of supplies; his eyes appear open due to a temporary nictitating-membrane mod.

The Rahal remain on the station, while the rest of the team members return to the Wasp.

Back on the Wasp

Airlock: Alaric, Ankat, Ashari, Crowned-With-Eyes, Fluffy, Gerae, Iawa, Istradez, Mikodez, and Sasha

Sasha asks the grid to inform Ashari that Avrayen (Mikodez) and Imsayed (Istradez) have been retrieved. She checks the airlock scan and finds that multiple lockpicks are concealed in Fluffy's cage. Alaric observes, "I honestly can't decide if we're not very good at this, or if we're actually really good at it since we're basically on schedule despite all these distractions we keep getting involved with. I'm leaning towards 'really good' though." Sasha, who worries this is a bad omen, asks, "Could you save the assessment till we're actually finished?" She asks Alaric to deliver Fluffy to Gerae.

Gerae's Room: Alaric, Fluffy, and Gerae

Fluffy greets Gerae with joyful trilling. Gerae thanks Alaric for taking care of her, then asks, "Will I be in here for much longer?" Alaric introduces himself and demurs, "To be honest, we're all kind of terrible at communicating with anyone except the mothlings." Gerae asks whether Alaric is from outside the heptarchate, and notes there aren't many visitors. Alaric points out, "It's not exactly a terribly tourism-friendly government. There's plenty of very friendly people at the individual level, but the systematic torture, murder, and torturous murder is a bit off-putting. No offense intended." Gerae says that although he is not personally a model of behavior and some things are "fatally not pleasant", the heptarchate tries to do its best by its citizens. Alaric says, "You've just got far too many decent people around to keep the system in equilibrium, leaving it vulnerable to action-reactions spirals of suppression and revolt. Your social structure's not nearly oppressive enough, either. I mean, families? Oldest source of emotional compromises on the books." He notices he is about to reveal information about the fate of the Liozh, and decides to be quiet for a moment and sit down, rather than looming over Gerae.

Ashari's Office: Ankat, Ashari, Mikodez, and Sasha

Sasha has received a message from Ashari saying, "Please bring the child back to me. I need to give him a spanking." She and Ankat bring Mikodez to Ashari's office; Ashari instructs Sasha to discipline Mikodez while they monitor the Rahal's conversation with the station administrator, adding, "That vicious streak of yours ought to serve you well in dealing with him, but don't break him, he's important." Sasha looks Ashari in the eyes and answers, "I will speak to Avrayen. But you're the one who's standing in for his parents." Ashari says, almost gently, that the goal is to "put a good scare into him", but nothing further. Sasha asks Ankat to bring Mikodez to her room; he refrains from comment on the overall weirdness of the situation.

Sasha's Bedroom: Mikodez and Sasha

While Mikodez rests on her bed, Sasha stuffs her belongings into her dufflebag and backpack and begins investigating Mikodez' activities on the station. She finds notes from the security guard who talked to him outside Remi's lab, and another from a security guard who talked to Remi's assistant Vana. Mikodez wakes up and discovers his gold-striped eye mod is stuck. He asks, "Tech Bayan! Are we hiding from something?" Sasha starts recording the conversation; she sends Ashari a link to a version of the file that uses "Avrayen" instead of "Mishka". She tells Mikodez, "We're back on the fucking ship, Mishka. If you plan to start apologizing, now would be the time." Mikodez asks, "How did I get here? Did I go after everything you expected me to find? Was I supposed to believe Imsayed, just because he said so?" When Sasha pushes for an apology, Mikodez babbles about Gerae and slime mold racing. Sasha gives Mikodez a bottle of water and a ration bar, hoping that hydration will resolve the obvious problem with his eye implant. She asks, "What do you imagine is going to happen?" While answering, Mikodez looks at Sasha from under his eyelashes, reminding her of her younger brother Mirek, from whom she is estranged.