Hadrian visits Gila's salvage yard on the edge of Borosevo with Switch, pretending to be a higher-status buyer while actually gathering information about ships that might enable escape. Gila does not recognize Hadrian from his first days on Emesh, when her people salvaged the Eurynasir and threw him out. She shows Hadrian and Switch an old Andunian Blowfish-class freighter, a durable but ugly cargo vessel.

Switch questions Gila about the ship's capacity and fugue crèches, using knowledge gained from life aboard starships. Hadrian reflects that he cannot simply wait in the Colosso now that he has a plan; fear of the Inquisition and concern for his mother still press him toward action. He also thinks of a “secret weapon” that may help him escape.

While touring the freighter, Hadrian notices another vessel being brought out of a hangar: a red Uhran lighter, far sleeker and more beautiful than the Andunian ship. Hadrian is immediately drawn to it, but Gila explains that it is not a simple cargo hauler. When Hadrian asks the price, he learns it costs 3.2 million Imperial marks, far beyond anything Hadrian, Switch, Pallino, and Elara could pay with their myrmidon earnings.

Hadrian tries to maintain a noble buyer's composure and asks about loans, payment arrangements, and then trade. He reveals his palatine ring and claims to hold title to twenty-six thousand hectares on Delos under proper seals, land supposedly worth more than either ship. Gila is startled, then deferential, realizing Hadrian is palatine; she admits she is not authorized to make such a transaction herself and that a higher official would need to handle it.

Hadrian asks Gila to hold the Uhran lighter while repairs continue, acting as though the matter is settled. Privately, he knows his father may have frozen or reclaimed the assets, but the ring still carries the legal authority of House Marlowe. Hadrian intends to use that authority to bind the house, leave Emesh before the fraud is discovered, and take revenge on the salvage workers who once robbed and abandoned him. The narrator closes by noting that the scheme would have been perfect if it had ever happened.