34. Margate Road

Kumiko, cold and lost in Brixton, is invited into a Korean noodle-seller’s stall. He feeds her and, using a paper map, sketches directions to Margate Road. As she walks, Kumiko drifts through memories of her mother’s European-styled madness and suicide, framing her current isolation.

On Margate Road, Kumiko is greeted by Tick (Terrence), who leads her to his top-floor flat in a gutted house. He reveals he expected her, having monitored Swain’s communications. Tick says Sally has already seized Angela Mitchell and badly hurt Swain’s man in the Sprawl, meaning powerful forces will now be after Sally.

Inside Tick’s meticulously tidy, gear-crammed room, Kumiko shows him her cracked Maas–Neotek guide unit. Tick explains the biosoft has separated from the housing and can’t be accessed by hand, but he can try through a deck. Over tea, Kumiko recounts Sally’s visit to the shrine and the names Straylight, Case, and the enemy woman.

Tick confirms the woman is Lady 3Jane of Tessier-Ashpool and that Swain is trading 3Jane’s vast blackmail archive to multiple buyers. He mentions rumors 3Jane may be dead and notes he was investigating when a dramatic change hit cyberspace.

Tick displays a holo of the matrix: a colossal, featureless white column has appeared at the heart of the Sprawl sector, dwarfing corporate constructs. No deck jockey knows what it is or who owns it. He proposes attempting deck access to Colin for Kumiko, but warns Special Branch may trace her, so they wait cautiously for Sally to check in.