ASSETS

More than any of your other assets, Karolina dreamed of becoming an operant. She was too young back then, but not anymore. Take her seriously. Show her you need her help.

Luz's interrogators have broken assets far more experienced than KINDRED. She gave up what she could to protect what she must.

Probably for the best. Children don't typically make good assets, they're far too demanding.

"You are reckless, undependable, disorderly..." A hiccup, more laughter. "You once told me you recruit assets based on 'feel'. You are terrible."

"Okay, but would you say these wolves are her 'assets'?"

Parallel placement. You recruit assets, he evaluates network stability.

She made the cardinal error of our kind -- she mistook her assets for friends. In the end, the contradictions caught up with her.

"I have loads of friends. This whole tram is full of my assets."

"Assets, squad, whatever you call them... all distorted reflections of their gatherer."

Many old assets cry 'urgent' -- especially when they're looking for a handout or a favour.

"Assets are tools. Tools break sometimes."

The language is different but the tone is familiar. It's like how operants assess and cultivate assets.

A fatal case of sentimentality. Leading cause of death among old assets and spies.

ENTER CASCADE. DELVER OF SECRETS, DISMANTLER OF CLERICAL ASSETS.

Could all your assets have been so adaptable?

Something about unreturned phone calls, abandoning your assets, record lows in cowardice... that kind of thing.

The mandated language was reviewed after Operant VELVET's 'angel network' of teenage female 'assets' came under investigation and was discovered to be, to quote the report, 'bereft of justification'.

"I don't know. I don't have friends, I have assets."

Really. Though officially, assets are 'cultivated' these days, and not 'groomed'.

In theory, it exists -- but many assume it to be an empty office behind a locked door. The Operant Bureau also does not dictate age restrictions for potential assets.

CASCADE: 'Are you sure it's okay to just... leave them behind, M?' CONTROLLER: 'They're assets, CASCADE.'

"Assets, who gives a fuck about them -- am I right, Hersh?"

PORTOFIRO 91: Network DISSOLVED. 5 Assets and 1 Operant LOST. CASCADE: EXTRACTED. Competency rating: INDETERMINATE. Loyalty rating: INDETERMINATE.

"Reno's eyes have swivelled towards lunar assets... He wants to send rockets to the moon. And his old friend Metamoto will ignite the thrusters!"

None of these 'life-assets' know who she really is.

"We were supposed to meet with one of our old assets. Tempo del Sur."

Previous Assignment: Portofiro, 88-91. Network: 'Whole Sick Crew' Operants: CASCADE, ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ Assets: ▒▒▒▒▒▒, ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒, ▒▒▒▒▒▒, ▒▒▒▒▒▒, ▒▒▒▒▒

Can't trust anyone. Least of all my own assets.

You need to know. One of your assets being dead has a million implications.

Assets aren't supposed to contact each other without an operant present...

Zero Out Lich is the primary objective. Survival and extraction of lead Operant, secondary. Survival of local assets, tertiary.

"Fuck numbers, just... How many big political assassinations do you know where the assets survived?"

"My assets' pain is my pain, so I basically got a quintuple dose."

Of all your assets, none knows better than KINDRED. Wilful ignorance is another matter.

And in each eye, a tear. A hundred assets. A hundred vanishings.

Nearly everyone in-theatre learns the cigarette trick eventually. You've taught it to half a dozen assets yourself.

Somewhere down the line is a makeshift switchboard with six phones manned by six bored assets. One of those assets is listening in on this call.

"Constanz, the Luzian ginkyo is just one of many, many assets I've cultivated on this assignment."

Your old haunt. Where you met with your former assets, once upon an assignment.

"RADIAN and KINDRED are experienced assets who trust you implicitly, despite what happened five years ago. Though that comes with its own emotional weight, I would imagine."

"The message. 'ALL WILL BE FORGIVEN'. It can only be one of my old assets."

"But it wasn't. You passed many evenings with your assets there. Places like that tend to be thick with associations." Sound of a chair creaking.

'... assets left to fend for themselves.'

You were born to name assets. This shit practically rolls off the assembly line.

"It's where they put washed-up assets."

Assets are tools. They are owed nothing.

"They're your assets, CASCADE -- I'm just here to hold up my end of the deal. Though out of professional pride, I can accept nothing less than a second-in-command position."

You try to picture any of your old assets saying those words -- and come up blank.

"I need smaller assets, that sounds fun."

You could attempt this with precisely none of your assets. They're all too big.