Three

Sma arrives on the very fast picket Xenophobe, greeted by a crew in the midst of a fad of induced colds and by the ship’s Mind using a cute furry remote called Xeny. Wary of the crew’s antics and the ship’s playfulness, Sma settles into her cabin while Skaffen-Amtiskaw tries to avoid revealing mission complications.

Noticing the ship describing their destination as “fuzzily specified,” Sma presses Skaffen-Amtiskaw, who evasively names Crastalier. The ship arranges a fancy-dress party to distract discussion. At the party, Sma—dressed as Xeny—stops the ship’s escalating theatrical distractions and forces Jetart Hrine to finish her question, exposing the core issue: Crastalier is an Open Cluster, meaning their target is undefined within an enormous volume.

Sma confronts Skaffen-Amtiskaw in private. The drone admits it deceived her and reveals Zakalwe escaped after their last job, having lured and destroyed a late-model knife missile by trapping it inside an NMR scanner and cutting it with a hidden military laser. Control initially admired the ploy, delaying an intensive search, and only recently escalated efforts; at best they’ve narrowed Zakalwe to 10–12 systems within Crastalier.

Recognizing the difficulty, Sma provides profiling guidance: prioritize Standard-type worlds, deserts, temperate zones, forests (not jungles), avoid cities and habitats, and flag interesting limited wars. The ship relays her criteria to the search fleet. Sma, still glanding calm, returns to the party, signaling a pragmatic reset while the hunt for Zakalwe continues.