Move 21 Recap

On the 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.

On the Wasp

Sasha's bedroom: 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."