Yana

Strong goon aura coming off this one as well. She's in on the Luzian scheme, whatever it is.

Strong goon aura coming off this one as well. She's in on the Luzian scheme, whatever it is.

"I won't have it, menina. She may run the bootleg bazaar, but she doesn't run her doña Carmuna!"

The card's face shows a system of tubes, alembics, liquid bubbling over a delicate flame. As mad and intricate as vines creeping over the forest floor.

The imprinting device... but something else too, something behind the device...

HOLD ON, OPERANT. This is the phone Yana mentioned. The one even you now know is tapped.

ALL IS NOT LOST! A COURAGEOUS ACT OF DEFIANCE AGAINST THE TRAM BOSSES. LONG LIVE THE VICES OF THE PROLETARIAT.

"Back again, CASCADE? Might want to, you know, get the fuck on with it."

"Yo yo, YO-YO. How's the school trip going?"

This 'MIHO' entity is waiting for you at the dark end of the silo.

'INTERIOR LIFE'? SO-CALLED 'PSYCHIC TRAUMA'? THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS. JUST GET HER DOING WHAT YOU NEED HER TO DO, RIGHT NOW.

A theory often dismissed as rumour, but taken more seriously on the top levels of the Operant Bureau: the Luzian political ministry are all identical psychic grafts of the same ancient philosopher.

AGAIN! CONCENTRATED, CONSISTENT, ACCURATE SALVOS!

Here you go. A hyper-tier cryptonym, and it's right on the tip of your tongue:

Nothing, just the sound of breeze through a broken window.

Okay, okay. Here it is. Tempo's message to you and only you... The desperate signal flare... It's all slotting into place now. Only one question makes sense:

On further reflection, names are hard. Basically impossible. Following the example of Dositeo Fernandez, this problem requires a multidisciplinary conceptual framework.

Still nothing. In fact, it feels further out of reach than before.

THIS IS NO 'ADVANCED YOUTH', MERELY ONE WHOSE MIND HAS CAPITULATED TO TERMINAL REACTION. WHY IS SHE CREATING DISASTERS FOR YOU?

The mists evaporate as if in fast-forward. Tempo was trying to achieve maximum Tempo. In other words:

"Fine with me."

"Guess I'll be seeing you around, Hersh. Maybe in another five years, knowing how you fucking operate."

"Hersh. Shouldn't you be hanging 'round a doorway or haunting a consulate?"

"How you been, Hersh?" Mismatched eyes find yours.

"I was wondering... what do you reckon he would have thought of Marco?"

"I'll be taking zero questions from a deformed baby."

"It's still on."

"Keep your powder dry, Hershel."

"Lot of toing and fucking froing, Hersh."

"Nah. I think I get him now. The outline of him, at least."

"No... I think I'm good. Let sleeping cunts lie."

"Oh that Mega Violator. Yeah, sure, I've got it."

"Still waiting, CASCADE. Slab's getting cold."

"This is weird, but... what do you think he'd think... of me?"

"Thought you wanted to sell her across the sea?"

"Well..." She stretches the word out. "I'm pretty sure it's about that imprinting device. The Mega Violator."

"What did he think of the Crew?"

"Yeah, I do. Slabbing this Cultural Minister. You told us earlier, in V's room."

"Yeah. What did he think about L-Pop?"

"Yo yo."

"Yo, Hersh. You check in with Marco yet?"

Does he remind you of her? Another victim of techno-fascist wizardry, not here of his own volition.

The boy who shouldn't be, looking at the girl you sold.

"Still nothing. But I have a feeling it'll be soon..."

It's possible that Yana's intelligence was faulty, and that the old Luzian guy's disappearance had nothing to do with the 'hyper incriminating shit' he said into the payphone.

You imagine the scene -- Tempo's associate, clutching this very receiver to his face and whispering something that included the keywords you are about to say, connected in ways you do not yet understand, and you hear yourself mark a number...

You know at least one thing about the people on the other end of the line -- they snatched Tempo's liason.

"Operant."

"KALEIDOSCOPE."

"YO-YO."