"Alignment," said White.

The lights went off. Singh was lowered to the floor, the net unravelled. There were a sequence of small popping sounds, and then a hazy fog began to fill the room. There were the sounds of eight matches striking and eight candles being lit; they revealed eight girls wearing concealing robes and masks. In the centre of their circle stood Black, at last having removed her sensory deprivation headset. She stands tall and proud, illuminated in flickering candle-light.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned," said Black. "And I intend to do so again. Lust, envy, greed, wroth and pride and more are are mine, but it is not for they I ask for absolution."

She offers a hand to help him up. "I have undone cryptographic mining operations, co-opted lawyers and judges, and fought in the pits. I have destroyed the inheritance of Mangolia Everest and bankrupted her daughters. I have died, and like Christ I have risen. But I can carry these sins of mine. What I cannot bear are the sins that have been thrust upon me. [i]Behold[/i]."

All around the room, hidden projector grills fire, covering every wall with screens, light catching against the smoke and mist. Upon it are the police documents - every inch of the room filled with photographs and endless, rolling text detailing all the elaborate crimes committed by law enforcement.

"These documents detail every crime, every brutality, every coverup that has ever been written on acts committed by officers of the law," said Black, turning Singh around with one palm as she circled around him. "Decades of abuses. Connections with the drug trade and intelligence agencies. [i]Murders[/i]. All the sins of so very many sinners, given to me alone to carry. I would have done with this; I would give every sin back to their sinner and bind them together in cords of justice. Father, will you help me cleanse myself and this station I built of these unwanted sins?"

She stopped and faced him. "And will you be eating that target acquisition line with salt or with pepper?"