[color=fff79a]"It used to be a river,"[/color] said Ayem, swishing a speck of dust off her coat and leading them out into the night lights. [color=fff79a]"People still call it that."[/color]

That was, it seemed, all she had to say.

[center]* * *[/center]

If Ayem's arms had been strong enough to pick up Mary and carry her along in her sweeping stride, their walk would have been faster; but children are, of course, always heavier than they look. Ayem didn't feel like wearing her hollow arms out this early in the night, and she'd just been through the laundromat, besides.

Even so it didn't take long. The primary bridge was being repaired under a mound of bright yellow danger tape, for whatever reason, so they approached from the back. There all they could see was the ruin of the bio factory, still steaming in its piles of goop.

A crash site normally swarmed with police. Now, not so much. They were all airborne, or operating high-alert patrols elsewhere, where the frigate's cargo had been dropped or taken. Where crime had flared with the loss of the drones. It only took ten seconds.

Things slipped through the net on Frixion Prime. Anything that failed to keep up with the flashing lights and crowds, anything that stopped, even for a minute, stayed. The hand of the law had passed over this place and it would not come back. [i][color=fff79a]Maybe it won't even be repaired. Maybe it stays a ruin of industry until the next corp comes to erase it.[/color][/i] Ayem could already see the urban ghosts dripping their way across the floor.

And the city moved on. Pedestrians already acknowledged the fresh wreck with nothing more than a glance. She could see window shoppers. She could see cheap fashion peddled on mannequins, the exact same company that had just clothed Mary. And the same traffic.

[color=fff79a]"Start looking for bodies, if you can,"[/color] said Ayem, low, to Grazia. [color=fff79a]"Cartels. Before that there was a private security skirmish. They might have claimed their dead. Or, they might have cut losses."[/color] It was obvious which choice the officer found most likely. Which one she'd have made herself. [color=fff79a]"They probably sent Mary. Definitely after whoever ended up with the ship. If you identify the company by their implants, we can contact them on our own terms. That'll be a strong lead."[/color] And Ayem knew how to deal with her own kind.

To Mary, she said, [color=fff79a]"Hey. Wanna go explore the dingy death factory?"[/color]

[@Patches][@SIGINT]