Buster didn't seem surprised when V told him about Ayako. "So she's a 'Saka, huh?" said the borg, cleaning a set of drill-bits, probably the same ones he'd used to punch holes into her occipital and spine. He snorted. "Shit, Yorinobu's been around. Rockerboy to crime-boss, all the way up to corpo-boss." Shaking his head, Buster put the drill-bits inside a sterile drawer, then picked up his tablet, scrolling. "Not surprising he picked up some tail somewhere between all that."

"So the fact she's what they were tryin' to make you don't bother you at all?"

"Why would it?" asked Buster, regarding her blandly with his CRT oculars. "Ain't like I'm in some kind of competition with the deckhead." He swiveled around in his reinforced work-chair, scratching his chin with his oiled claw. V caught a glint around Buster's neck: a silver cross.

"Never took ya for the religious type," commented V.

Buster glanced at the cross, then glanced at her. "Sure. Was raised Christian. Still am. Need faith in something, kid." He shrugged.

"Just strange seein' it, I guess."

"Why? Faith's all around us, kiddo. Only problem is it's been misplaced. In things, in money, in power. But all that stuff is immaterial; God, kiddo, is eternal." Buster stood up, adding, "But I ain't trying to convert or lecture you, promise. Just talking."

The door to the clinic opened, and Ayako stepped inside. "How're you feelin', Val?"

"Anodyne patch is doin' its job," she said, brushing her thumb over the patch stuck to her neck.

"I mean, yeah, that. But everythin' else?"

"About you being a 'Saka?" asked Buster.

Ayako stared at him. "She already told ya?" She paused, beetling her eyebrows. "Damn. That was quick."

"I mean, Buster seems kinda chill with it?" said Judy, who was sitting in a plastic chair, the kind you always saw in ripperdoc clinics, leafing through the tech section of a Phoenix screamsheet.

Ayako took a seat beside her. V wheeled herself over, careful not to move her torso around too much; her spine still felt brittle, like it was made out of popsicle sticks and kid's glue. "Can't wait to be outta this goddamn wheelchair," she said, grimacing. "My ass is fuckin' numb, and my legs keep crampin'."

"You'll be walking by tomorrow, you big crybaby," Buster told her.

V laughed. She looked at Ayako, studying her for a moment. "So," she began, awkwardly, "you're an Arasaka."

"Yeah," said Ayako, and paused. "Well, don't consider myself one of 'em. Not like the family ever made me feel welcome. Not even sure they know 'bout me. Saboru did, I think." She hesitated for a beat, like she was really thinking hard about whatever she was going to say next. Then, "Val, there's somethin' else you gotta know." Ayako's laser dots fixed on her. "Remember that stuff I said 'bout makin' mistakes on the biochip. Rushed it. Yadda, yadda?"

V nodded. "Sure," she said, staring at her. "What 'bout it?"

"They weren't mistakes, not all of it anyway," said Ayako. "Me and Johnny Silverhand cut a deal, back in Mikoshi. We both wanted the same thing: bring 'Saka down. Thought 'bout ways of doin' it. Finally came up with somethin'. Sabotage the biochip, kill that old fuck Saboru, let Johnny overwrite him and rip 'Saka apart from the inside-out. He just needed someone with some serious programmin' skills. Know-how." She gestured at herself. "Enter your girl, Ayako."

"No fuckin' way," said Judy. "That whole Johnny thing, I thought it was a mistake? Somethin' Yoshinobu did. He put Silverhand's engram on that thing."

"Yoshinobu was in on it," said Ayako. "Initially, anyway. Changed his mind once Gotoda handed him the Relic."

"Gotoda gave him the Relic?" said V.

"Yeah," said Ayako. "Gotoda was workin' on Relic, too. 'Saka was so impressed with the Onryō shit, they put him and a dozen other netrunners—myself included, obviously—on the project. But Gotoda, he ain't been the same since we did that dive into Uncle Sam's old subnet, the one we trashed with a virus. He got hit with some Black ICE, but somehow, the little guy survived. Got weird afterward, though. Real weird. Started listenin' to really loud, annoying idoru music. And that was the mundane shit."

"He ain't listened to that shit before?" asked V.

Ayako shook his head. "No, he liked western music. Heavy metal, specifically. Goin' from that to US Cracks? Weird, choom." She paused, folding her arms over her breasts. "Anyway, Johnny was just my means at gettin' back at Arasaka. It was an easy partnership. Both of us wanted the same thing: revenge. He wanted revenge for Alt, I wanted revenge for all the things 'Saka took from me. My autonomy, my personhood, my certainties. Dunno how much of me is even me. 'Saka could've tweaked my engram, like they did for the onryō engrams." She frowned, sagging in her seat like the weight of everything was settling its bulk on her. Then, "It was easier when it was just me bein' pissed off at Yorinobu for leavin' me and my mom to rot in Chiba-11, throwin' us crumbs like that would make up for bein' a deadbeat. That kinda anger is an easy anger. But when everythin' else came to light? 'Bout what I am? That anger became existential rage, and that's somethin' I dunno how to even describe."

V shook her head. "No," she said, "I get what y'mean. Went through it, too. When Johnny was in my head. Was always wonderin' how much of me was me, and how much was Johnny."

"Maybe that's why I gravitated toward you," said Ayako, smiling. "We're kindred spirits." She paused, dug around in the zippered pockets of her pozer-jacket, coming up with a thin slab of gray plastic, a fiber-optic filament carefully wound around it. It reminded V of those old-school USB phone-chargers she'd seen pictures of. Ayako pushed it into her hand, then said, "Don't lose this. It's a SPK, synaptic password key. You'll need it to access the rip-clinic aboard the Crystal Palace, the one that'll cure you. Already gotta proxy lined up who can execute the program."

V stared at it, then looked at Ayako, furrowing her brow. She felt her guts knot up, a hard lump of tension accreting in her throat. "Why're you handin' me this?" she asked, trying not to sound so shaky.

"'Cause I'm dyin', Val," said Ayako. Seeing the look on her face, she said, "Remember Fabrika? How I jacked into its subnet?"

V nodded, saying nothing. Her eyes burned with a thin, caustic film of tears.

"Got spored," said Ayako, with an almost apologetic smile. "Like Juan. Only reason I ain't dead yet is 'cause of Mochi. But the sporeware's real aggressive; it's gettin' harder and harder for her maneki-neko soft to slow it down." She glanced at the SPK in V's hand, then said, "I ain't gonna hold you to this job. If you wanna, once we get that shuttle and take the fuckin' spaceport back, you can go up there and cure yourself, go start your life. Spoke with Lucy Kushinada. She owes me a couple favors. Can get you steady work, a nice place in Tycho. Couple hydroponic acres with an artificial lake."

"Ayako…"

Buster spoke up. "You're a good egg, deckhead. Nothing like your daddy and granddaddy."

V shook her head, stuffing the SPK into the pocket of her bomber-jacket. "No," she said, feeling a sudden, deep sense of resolve, "I made a deal. I'm seein' this shit through, Ayako, cured or not. I ain't someone who leaves my chooms hangin'." She hugged Ayako, no longer giving a shit about the ache in her spine, and Ayako, after a moment of surprise, hugged her back like someone who'd never gotten a real hug in her life but was grateful for getting one now. "I gotcha, okay," said V, tightening the hug until Ayako's implants were digging into her skin. "Whenever y'need me, I gotcha."

Judy got Ayako from behind, arms locked around her shoulders in a tight hug. "We got your back, y'gonk," she said, and smiled. "And we're gonna find a way t'fix you, too. Ain't dead yet."

Even Buster cracked a smile. "All right, enough sappy shit. You're going to make me puke." The borg chuckled, then added, "And I don't need Val's implants popping like a banana out of its peel 'cause you squeezed too damn tight."