Eight

Snow settles on the cleft city as Zakalwe, operating as Mr Staberinde, updates Sma: his spendthrift media blitz is meant to seed the private “Staberinde” signal for Beychae. He heads to the university plans but is diverted on a turnpike, sent over a ramp into an icy storm drain. The car disintegrates; the driver flees and dies. Zakalwe wrestles control, bails with a tool, self-arrests down the slope, and emerges battered, breaking his nose.

Back at the hotel, he confirms the diversion was deliberate and finds the fake markings removed. While Sma sounds distracted, he proposes a new ploy: fabricate a backdated upheaval at Vanguard and pivot it into an aggressive, unethical predator to align with Governance ideology and lure access to Beychae. The ship agrees to manipulate records and markets. He detects a laser eavesdropper, relocates rooms, arranges companionship, and retrieves his protective suit from a desert capsule.

An anonymous invitation leads him to a riverside mansion. Guided by the mute driver Mollen, he descends to a macabre “Injured Party,” where guests flaunt painless, reversible mutilations by a traveling doctor. Zakalwe refuses an injury and is ushered into a side room by the Governance woman and her partner for probing.

They test him about Vanguard and his aims. Zakalwe doubles down on an anti-machine, profit-first posture, implying he has seized control from ethical automation. Satisfied, they hint at help and ultimately offer to arrange a meeting with Tsoldrin Beychae. Zakalwe departs through the revelry, reflecting on decadence versus real brutality, and rides back into the quiet, snowy city.