The singularity was bigger, closer. The green tangles of the Bramble Nebula were being sucked into the flashing dust cloud, and it was growing, the size of a watch-face if you held your arm all the way away from your face. The flashes were growing brighter, highlighting the folded dimensions of the cloud like a terrestrial lightning storm.


    The crowd around me was unhappy. I let their grizzling wash over me, their fears, their half-baked plans to move off the station, their nagging expectation that someone should be doing something about this - but not them, of course, never them.


    Let it take us all.


    I was empty anyway.


    I put my hands in my pockets and shuffled back to my office.


    It had been something like twelve hours since my world had come crashing down around my ears. My true identity still remained a mystery to me. My Gran - if indeed she was my Gran at all - was still in custody. Xen was back in my rooms again, in the wrong skin. I still had no idea if I should trust Xen. Everything Xen had to do with me proved I could trust Xen. But the story Korr had told me still weighed on my mind.


    I didn''t notice Frod until I saw his feet beside my office door. "Ah, Detective. I wanted to speak to you."


    "Constable, how can I help you?"


    "A couple of questions. Would you?" He waved his hand at my office door. At least he was asking this time. I walked ahead of him, the door slid open, and I sat at my desk, gesturing for him to sit across from me.


    He opted to stay standing, his arms behind his back.


    "First, Detective, I have been granted permission to access your official record back on Gerondia, now that your identity is in question. I now know you were summarily dismissed for stealing equipment and using your work time to pursue a personal vendetta. A vendetta which, might I add, will get you killed on this station, should you proceed any further."


    I sat up straight, my spine electrified into attention for the first time all day. This was new. And whatever it meant, he was giving a lot away by saying it. He was... scared, perhaps? "Sorry, you''re telling me that if I look into Lisia Astrantia Helianthe, I''m going to get killed? By whom?"


    He stalked forward, put his hands on my desk, and leaned towards me. The light was behind his fat face, and all I could see was his oversized teeth and the shine of his beady eyes. "There are some very powerful people on this station who would rather see you dead than see Lisia brought to justice. So be careful what you do next, Mar... Detective."


    Oh. OH! Interesting. He meant the Wilt. He wasn''t threatening me at all; he was warning me that the Wilt had something to do with Lisia and would have it out for me if I played my hand too soon. Of course! It all made sense now. They were all around back when she was here as M. A. Excelsa. She must have befriended them, and then once her business failed, she...


    That''s where my trail ran cold. Would her friends in the WIlt have helped her to start anew? Here, or somewhere else? But clearly, from what Frod was saying, I needed to treat the Wilt as part of my investigation, rather than a secondary interest.


    I managed to keep my mouth from gaping open in front of him just in time as another realisation hit me. Holy flowerbeds, I felt so stupid! That had to be why Black Rose was helping me! Because Lisia was part of the Wilt, ergo Lisia was her enemy, ergo she wanted me to succeed in bringing Lisia to justice, thus weakening the Wilt, possibly even exposing such a weakness that she might be able to end them forever.


    I smiled quite genuinely, which earned a confused frown from Frod. "Thanks for the warning, Constable. What else is there?"


    He harumphed, and straightened up again. "The second thing I had to say was that I need that synthetic of your grandmother''s to return to stat sec."


    "Oh?"


    "She''s here illegally. Her papers were found to be forged also. A bit worrying, Detective, how surrounded you are by false papers. The only reason I haven''t dragged you into jail is because I have been assured by your old boss in the Keepers that you must have laboured under this false name your entire life. So you''re a victim, not a perp in this specific case."


    His eyes bored into me, but I beamed back. How sweet of Astera to cover for me… not. "Well, that''s... reassuring. Thanks, Constable."


    He cleared his throat. "Detective, the synthetic?"


    "Oh. I don''t know where she went, sorry."


    "What do you mean you don''t know?"


    "I mean I don''t know. She must just be hanging around somewhere in the station. Why don''t you put up some posters? With blue hair and pink skin, she''s sure to be easy to find."


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    Frod narrowed his eyes, and we stared at each other for a long moment. Then he said, "If you see this... Lumii... you will report her to me."


    "Sure, Frod. No problem. Is that all?"


    "... Yes. Take care, Detective. I would hate to see something happen to you."


    "Same to you, Constable."


    "Oh, and one last thing. Teg Korr is back on the station."


    I swallowed my grimace. He walked to the door and let himself out, with one last look back at me. When the door slid shut, Xen emerged from the back rooms.


    Xen looked odd, with Lumii''s pink skin, but Xen''s usual short purple and brown hair back on. The colour of the synthaskin couldn''t be helped; it was all we had left in the rooms at the moment, with Xen''s last beige skin too old and desiccated to use again.


    "He definitely suspects," Xen said.


    "Oh, absolutely," I replied, and fell back into a slump in my chair.


    Xen sat across from me, and clasped Xen''s hands on the desk. "Let''s talk."


    "What about?"


    "About everything. Let me help you sort your thoughts. I can tell you need someone to talk things over with."


    Yes, but did it have to be Xen? A few days ago, I would have loved nothing more than to be invited to talk with Xen. A few days before, I hung off Xen''s every word and movement.


    And damn it, I needed to keep up that ruse for now, until I knew for certain.


    Xen started the conversation when my reticence took us past a minute''s silence. "So. Your identity."


    "What about it?"


    "What''s your earliest childhood memory?"


    I sighed and cupped my forehead. "I''ve lost everything before age ten."


    "Lost? You make it sound like this didn''t happen naturally."


    "It didn''t. I lost my earliest memories the more I used the memory mod. The one you''ve seen in my hand. The linkage goes straight to my brain. Unfortunately it overwrites old memories to store the information I pilfer with it."


    Xen''s projected face wore the expression of a statue caught in perfect, sculpted misery. "Oh, Marys. That''s awful."


    "I only have myself to blame," I shrugged. "The nice part is, I don''t even remember what it is I''ve forgotten. So, as far as I know, my name has always been Amaryllis Aracea Sophora. I have no idea if I was raised from birth on that lie, or if I had to learn it to protect myself... from what, I can''t imagine."


    "Have you any avenues available to you to seek out your true identity?"


    I sighed, dropping my head into my hands. "Yeah... yeah, I can follow up a few leads there." Except it was going to cost me. If not in credit, definitely in dignity.


    "All right, so onto the next big mystery. How''s your hunt for Lisia going?"


    "Just now, talking to Frod, I started to think, what if Lisia is a member of the Wilt? It makes all the pieces fit together so nicely. Lisia comes here, makes friends, those friends start up a turf war against Black Rose, and they''re all working to protect each other. Black Rose knows I''m here to hunt Lisia, so she and Nadir pay me a little extra special attention to help me succeed. Frod too, he''s on Black Rose''s side, so he feeds me clues about the Wilt. Well, except what is Gran''s connection? I don''t know how to make that fit nicely."


    "You''ve come such a long way. If you can think of any way I could help you from in here, please, let me. You''ve done so much for me. I could do research, for one…"


    Here it was. The moment of truth. I decided that there was one too many things going unspoken between us to let this big one lie. I flicked my digipad to life and looked up the picture I''d taken, of the screen in the cafe. "Xen, who is this?"


    Xen took the digipad and looked at the picture. Xen tilted Xen''s head, then smiled. "That''s Mona. Wow, it must have been two decades or so since I last saw her. How do you have this?"


    "It was on a memorial slideshow in the cafe. There''s a whole heap of pictures of you at various celebrations over the years. I didn''t realise you''d been on the station for so long. You were here twenty-five years ago, Xen."


    "I was. Why are you asking it like that, all serious like?"


    I tapped the back of the digipad in Xen''s hands. "Xen. What was Mona''s full name?"


    "I just knew her as Mona - OH!" Xen nearly dropped the digipad, then laid it down flat on the desk. Xen raised Xen''s hands to the sides of Xen''s face, and stared at the floor. "Marys. Marys, are you telling me Mona was Monarda Aracea Excelsa - oh wow, I hear it now. Mona, Monarda. Oh. Marys, I''m sorry. I hope you didn''t think I was hiding things from you when you saw this."


    I said nothing, and Xen smiled nervously at me.


    "Tell me about her."


    "Mona was a regular. She tipped well, and was always ready with a smile and a joke. She was just some business owner on the Atrium. I don''t think I ever went to her shop though. And then one day she just stopped showing up. I never heard what happened, and I felt sad for a little white - Oh Marys, I''m so sorry. I''m talking about your world''s greatest killer like she was some lovely friendly person... which she was, to me. But it was all a front."


    "It''s all right, Xen. A front wouldn''t be a front if it wasn''t convincing." And you should know all about that, I thought of Xen.


    Xen nodded, still tilting Xen''s head. Xen watched me for a long moment, smiling eyes narrowing. "What is it, Marys?"


    Damn, Xen was pretty. Was it all a front? I desperately wanted Xen to be the person Xen presented Xen''s self as, the person I wanted to believe in. Then it wouldn''t be so bad that we''d slept together. It wouldn''t be so bad that I really wanted to do it again at some future time convenient to Xen.


    I could always ask. Xen, did you kidnap Beatrice Korr? Did you twist the child in your care into someone she never should have been?


    Did I want the answer?


    As my silence extended again, Xen asked, "Is there something you''re not telling me, Marys?"


    The gall.


    I tilted my head back at Xen. "Is there something you''re not telling me, Xen?"


    Xen laughed, and got up, walking towards the back rooms. "I''ll take that as a no."


    You do that, Xen. You do that.