THE WEEPING EYE

"Vespar's dead. The Weeping Eye tossed him to the Azzurris."

"It's not just the Weeping Eye that you have to factor in. The police will get involved, either on time or too late. If there are civilians around, hostages are on the board..."

"Vespar's wanged. The Weeping Eye tossed him to the Azzurris."

At least it would give the Weeping Eye an excuse to crack skulls for an audience.

"If I must rank them: The Weeping Eye who persecute me, followed by my jailers with their tedious questions and bogus offers, and somewhere below them your old friend Tempo del Sur, without whom I wouldn't be here."

A broad-set man surveys his cards through double-lensed spectacles, whispering to himself as he draws. Agents of the Weeping Eye sit heads bowed around him, waiting for the word of god.

"What good is my freedom if I'm trapped in Portofiro, easy prey for the Weeping Eye or anyone else who holds an old man's choices against him?"

"What good is my freedom if I'm trapped in Portofiro, easy prey for the Weeping Eye or anyone else who holds Poor Dante's choices against him?"

"The Weeping Eye? If you think I'm being held by my own techno comrades, then you've stumbled into something far beyond your reckoning -- colour me impressed and appalled."

"No, that would be Tesoro Buendia, head of the Weeping Eye..."

A wariness in his voice. Even now he thinks the Weeping Eye may have ears as well.

Tesoro Buendia. To the Operant Bureau he is the Hundred-Eyed Golem. To La Luz he is the Chief of the Weeping Eye.

"Like the Weeping Eye, you mean?"

"Why are the Weeping Eye persecuting you?"

"Who's holding you here, the Weeping Eye?"

"You mean Tesoro Buendia, the head of the Weeping Eye."

"My name is Tesoro Buendia. To my techno countrymen I'm the Director-General of the Weeping Eye. But I suspect you know me by a different name."

"And now you're in the care of the Weeping Eye."

"Not possible, I'm afraid. You're in the care of the Weeping Eye now."

"You're with the Weeping Eye. That's all I've got."

"No amateur theatrics, please. You're in the care of the Weeping Eye now."

Once seen, it is obvious -- he's not just an asset. He's a high-level operant for the Weeping Eye.

"That was Tesoro Buendia, chief of the Weeping Eye."

It has to be the Weeping Eye, they've been on me since I got here.

The Weeping Eye's interrogator class.

"The Weeping Eye came for me."

"Yeah. Plus I figure I owe the Weeping Eye a little payback." He cracks his neck, his head moving left to right.

"Why do you think the Weeping Eye expunged you?"

Was it with the Weeping Eye all along?

"And yet! Somehow this prototype finds its way into the hands not of the Weeping Eye, but a high-level EMTERR operant! You think this is a coincidence?" He gestures furiously between two sticky notes connected by a blue thread.

"The Opera, EMTERR, the Weeping Eye... all sitting cross-legged in the same circle jerk."

"EMTERR, the Opera, the Weeping Eye... aren't they enemies?"

"You refer to your sadly mute double, restored to action with Luzian demoncraft." He shakes his head. "And we're meant to believe the Opera and the Weeping Eye are on opposite sides."

"You refer to your maladjusted double, restored to action with Luzian demoncraft." He shakes his head. "And we're meant to believe the Opera and the Weeping Eye are on opposite sides."

"You refer to your sad, confused double, restored to action with Luzian demoncraft." He shakes his head. "And we're meant to believe the Opera and the Weeping Eye are on opposite sides."

"On paper at least it appears things went according to plan: The Opera made a strategic partnership with one rival in order to neuter another. The Weeping Eye appear to be undone, for now. In theory we come out ahead."

"I messed up, Mel. The Weeping Eye were waiting for us. It was my fault."

"He delivered crucial information about the Hundred Eyed Golem and was zeroed out by the Weeping Eye. He deserves an unmarked star."

"Aero-trams exploding, a running gunfight with the Weeping Eye. Multiple civilian casualties. It seems they're still picking bits of the Hundred Eyed Golem out of the luggage racks -- what is going on?"

"A running gunfight on a public aero-tram between the Opera and the Weeping Eye... to some kind of electro-pop soundtrack. It seems they're still hosing Golem blood off the seats -- what is going on?"

"A running gunfight on a public aero-tram between members of the Opera and the Weeping Eye... to some kind of plague metal soundtrack. I hear they're still hosing Golem blood off the seats -- what is going on?"

"A running gunfight on a public aero-tram between members of the Opera and the Weeping Eye... to some kind of avant garde ambient soundtrack. I hear they're still hosing Golem blood off the seats -- what is going on?"

"A running gunfight on a public aero-tram between the Opera and the Weeping Eye... to some kind of musical soundtrack. It seems they're still hosing Golem blood off the seats -- what is going on?"

"On paper at least it appears things went according to plan: The Opera made a strategic partnership with one rival in order to neuter another. The Weeping Eye appear to be undone, for now. In theory we come out ahead."

"I suppose zeroing out the head of the Weeping Eye counts for something, but I have to say, it kind of looks like we just rearranged the pieces on the board -- I guess some would call that an acceptable outcome."

"By that same token, Portofiro was a Luzian penal colony for a long while. Some people think the Weeping Eye are lurking around every corner."

"Mmm. Poor thing. The Weeping Eye'll hunt her all her days." He takes a drag.

Tempo was laying low from the Weeping Eye, not EMTERR. It would be very bad news if both the Operant Bureau's ancient enemies were mixed up in this.

A senior aide with a mistress he's committed to an asylum for her own protection. A secretary who's been indiscreet with certain carbon copies. An old torturer for the Weeping Eye who was photographed taking an envelope from someone he shouldn't have.

Director-General of the Weeping Eye.