Renao, Mid Evening

“Sorry, Carlton, all I know is on those little slips of paper, God’s honest.” She reaches delicately into the breast pocket of his shirt, and removes a folded stack of credits. “I don’t need to count this, do I?” Her smile is sweet enough as she drops a few bills on the table, enough to cover the food she ordered, thumb through a quick count, and turn to go. “Oh, and nice shirt, Caesar. If Headley doesn’t have what you need, there’s the tourist shop near the hunting resort two islands over. Take a water taxi. Becky knows the one I’m talking about. Used to get into all manner of trouble over there, they say.” She winks and saunters toward the water.

Shu District, Ariel, Early Morning

The soldiers start toward MacHale until he is joined by the other doctors, quickly losing interest and focusing on deployment into the nearby parking garage. The soldiers are heading up a stairwell in the garage. MacHale sees them running up the stairwell as he enters the hotel. Ewing and Harrell begin to head into the ballroom, waving farewell to their new colleague. The hotel interior is a bustle of activity for this early in the morning. Women in hats half as tall as they are are gathering towards a smaller conference room ahead, and even the tavern is alive with an early morning breakfast buffet. As he takes another pull on his cigarette, he notes a stream of Greenbow security personnel down the hallway heading towards the elevators

Early Morning, Shu District, Ariel City, Ariel

A roiling plume rises from the burning wreckage of the upended hovercar, a new QMX roadster convertible valued at a few hundred thousand credits, freshly stolen and hopefully insured. The thick billows obscure your pursuers; at last estimate twenty-strong, but the klaxons from Piermont Manor and the neighboring streets suggest that more arriving shortly. Bystanders in their city finery huddle behind squat round bollards, whimpering or peering around them in silent awe as the horror unfolds.