8

The team flies toward orbit, with Riviera testing boundaries through subliminal tricks until Molly shuts him down. Case endures shuttle-induced SAS as they transfer to JAL’s terminal, then unexpectedly divert to the Rastafarian Zion cluster, where smoking and dub culture pervade the habitat.

In Zion, Molly and Case rig a curtained workspace while Armitage declares an eighty-hour stay for zero-g acclimatization and practice. Case jacks into cyberspace with the Dixie construct, who asks to be erased after the job. Case samples Zion culture and shares his deck briefly with Aerol, who describes what he sees as “Babylon.”

Riviera isolates himself, performing vivid bio-illusions and injecting drugs through a subdermal membrane, flaunting his pain-seeking theatrics. Armitage projects a holographic briefing of Freeside: a spindle habitat of casinos, shops, and lakes, but with critical focus on the sealed, zero-g Villa Straylight. He tasks Riviera with securing an invitation inside and then enabling Molly’s entry.

Awakened by movement, Case follows Molly to a clandestine meeting with Zion’s two surviving Founders. In a resin-scented dome, the elders say a voice—“Winter Mute”—spoke to them thirty hours before the crew arrived, instructing them to aid Molly and Case as tools of Final Days.

Accepting the message cautiously, the Founders commit Maelcum in his tug Garvey to ferry the team to Freeside, adding Aerol in Babylon Rocker to watch over the tug. Molly and Case return, realizing Wintermute is maneuvering them independently of Armitage’s plans.