Eureka: <incoming cars. not our cars, emergency system, police.>
Ockham: <¿Reinforcements?>
Sniper: <¿Whose?>
Eureka: <checking.>
Thisbe: <¿Where are these stray twelve, Cato? Give me a location, I’ll flush them out.>
Ockham: <Not yet, Thisbe. I want to watch them. Cato, ¿show me?>
Cato: < Sānlíng.>
Eureka: <¿what?>
Cato: <They’re all Sānlíng. The stray twelve. It’s our Sānlíng Special Guard.> He means Chinese Mitsubishi, reader. Cato and Eureka use their Chinese parents’ name for Mitsubishi. Of course, in one sense, Sānlíng is the Hive’s real name, since a majority—slim but constant—of its Members are Chinese, but the remainder of the Earth finds ‘Mitsubishi’ less intimidating to pronounce than pitch-strict Chinese vowels.
Eureka: <i trust our sanling guard better than the regulars.>
Cato: <Maybe.>
Lesley: <¿What about our Humanist Special Guard? ¿Are they moving?>
Cato: <No, they’re in place. ¿Do you want to let them know there’s a problem?>
Ockham: <Get me a contact list for them, but no word yet. If our Mitsubishi Special Guard can’t be trusted, we don’t know about them, either.>
Sniper: <¿Should I call Director Andō? ¿Or the President?>
Eureka: <reinforcements landing.>
Cato: <¿Sānlíng reinforcements?>
Eureka: <no. city police and humanists, plus looks like the local alliance officer.>
Lesley: <¿Herrera?>
Sniper: <Someone’s calling me. Yes, it’s Herrera. Ockham, ¿you want to take it? ¿Or keep pretending you’re off duty?>
Ockham: <Lesley, call Director Andō. Cardie, put me through to Herrera, then call the President.>
Sniper: <Done.>
Lesley: <On it.>
Cato: <¿Should someone call Director Huang?>
Thisbe: <No. Cato, ¿where are these stray Mitsubishi twelve? ¿What level?>
Cato: <B117.>
Eureka: <reinforcements all landed. they’re heading down the trench.>
Lesley: <On hold, waiting on Andō.>
Cato: <¿Thisbe? ¿What are you doing? ¿Why are you going toward B-block? Ockham hasn’t ordered you to move.>
Ockham: <All right, Herrera confirms the drill was unplanned, ordered after the Canner Device went off. Thisbe, Herrera’s forces are going to enter through your door, get ready to guide them straight to B-block.>
Cato: <I can take these twelve down myself.>
Thisbe: <Ditto.>
Eureka: <¿why are we trusting this alliance person more than our sanling special guard?>
Ockham: <I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t talk to me first. Cato, ¿you’re sure the block where the stray twelve are isn’t sensitive at all?>
Cato: <¡I know my job, Ockham!>
Ockham: <Good. Thisbe, ¿ready to let Herrera’s forces through?>
Thisbe: <¿Why my room? It’s not a good time with Carlyle here. I don’t see why we can’t just handle this ourselves.>
Ockham: <I want to see how the two forces react to each other. We see the confrontation, see what each side does or tries, then if there’s any trouble, Thisbe, Ockham, take them all down.>
Thisbe: <With pleasure.>
Ockham: <¿How are things elsewhere? ¿Drill going smoothly?>
Cato: <We’re not going to break our record.>
Ockham: <¿But do all the forces think everything’s normal?>
Cato: <Looks like.>
Sniper: <I’m down to H-level, everything’s running like clockwork.>
Eureka: <there’s another car coming. utopian system, not ours.>
Cato: <¿Really?>
Thisbe: <¿Working for Romanova?>
Sniper: <I’m through to the President. On a scale of one to pissed I’d rate them pissed.>
Cato: <¿At us?>
Sniper: <No. They’re calling Andō. They think we can trust our Humanist Special Guard, even if the Mitsubishi ones are being weird.>
Ockham: <Good. I’ll alert our Special Guard.>
Lesley: <Still waiting on Andō.>
Thisbe: <I’m in place. Ockham, ¿should I let Herrera’s forces in now?>
Ockham: <Yes. In. Now.>
Thisbe: <Done. Herrera doesn’t want Carlyle down here in our way. ¿Where should I send them?>
Ockham: <Up to the Mukta hall. Cato & guards can watch them there.>
Thisbe: <Right. Cato, incoming sensayer. ¿Are you going to freak out?>
Cato: <¡I’M FINE!>
Eureka: <new car’s landed. ¿can anyone see them? i don’t know utopian ids.>
Cato: <Can’t see from here. But the sensayer’s here now and I’m totally fine. ¿See?>
Thisbe: <Bravo.>
Ockham: <Herrera confirms Utopians are helping Romanova track the device.>
Cato: <Thisbe and Herrera’s force will reach the twelve Sānlíng in 50 seconds.>
Thisbe: <¡These guys can really book it! ¡This is fun!>
Cato: <¿Was that the doorbell?>
Lesley: <The Utopians.>
Cato: <¡Oh! ¿Should I get the door?>
Thisbe: <You need to be ready to help me at B117.>
Cato: <I’m ready, flick of a finger. Ockham, ¿may I get the door? I’m the only bash’member up here.>
Ockham: <Wait for me to come down.>
Cato: <If they’re tracking the Canner Device it could be urgent.>
Ockham: <Coming. Hold on.>
Cato: <¿What’s taking you so long?>
Lesley: <We’re not decent up here.>
Thisbe: <Oh, you poor things. ¡Timing!>
Cato: <They’ve rung the bell again. The guards up here are getting antsy. We shouldn’t keep them waiting, not if they’re with Romanova. ¿What if they have urgent news?>
Ockham: <Fine, let them in.>
With an eagerness which must have baffled the drill troops in the living room, Cato Weeksbooth rushed to the front door and opened it to find a dark figure. Cato froze. He did not run this time. The sensayer’s scarf around Dominic’s shoulders had given him something concrete to run from, but this Stranger wore nothing so clear. His clothes were all black, as antique as Dominic’s: tight britches buttoned just below the knee, stockings, leather shoes, a swallow-tailed coat over a short waistcoat, a fine cravat. It was not the luxurious costume of Ganymede’s Eighteenth Century but simpler, a cut from the century’s end, when the Revolution’s austerity had stripped fashions of their ornament. The embroidery was gone, frills, lace, trim, brocade, gone, leaving the elegance of the style naked, if one can call clothing naked. Only the cloth itself and the long tails of the coat remained luxuriant, falling behind the figure like folded wings. In our age of peace, we easily forget the Revolution’s grim equality, whose Terror prescribed the same uniform to peasant, to noble, and to the citizen who handed death to both. When Robespierre—