42. Factory Floor

Gunfire echoes below as Mona calms Cherry with a derm, then notices Angie sitting by the dead man’s stretcher, bleeding from her ear. Gentry and Slick reconnect power, dimming the lights; Molly fires down into the darkness. Mona reaches Angie and realizes Angie’s eyes are gone, the vidscreen feed fading.

Numb, Mona watches a bladed spider-drone wind down. Cherry rouses enough to speak, revealing the derm was a muscle relaxant. Gentry removes the gray box from above the stretcher and decides to stay behind with his books.

A large helicopter approaches. Molly chooses to flee, sending the gray box down a knotted rope, then escaping with Slick and the drugged Cherry in the hover. She advises Mona to remain and let Sense/Net sort things out. Gentry refuses to leave.

Alone, Mona climbs down the rope. On the factory floor, a tall, bald black man with agate-flecked eyes finds her, notes her age, and hushes her mention of Angie. He leads her past a dead mercenary and calls to “Swift,” a suited man approaching from the open doors and snow.

Mona insists she isn’t Angie. The black man replies that “it grows on you,” implying her resemblance is enough. As the hover departs and the corporate sweep advances, Mona is effectively collected by the black man and Swift while Gentry remains upstairs.