“Well—first, I’ll say that I am happy you survived this morning, and even happier that you survived the attack in the sub-level.” As Emily leaned forward over the table separating them and pinched the bridge of her nose, Jiayi braced herself. She’d caught her up to date with everything that had happened, starting—at Emily’s insistence—with what had happened at work the night before, and had been about to launch into a deeper explanation of what she thought was happening with the circuits—which would have consisted of telling Emily everything she’d ruled out about them rather than any solid theories on what was causing the malfunctions—but Emily’s tone put a halt in the explanation.

“You’re saying that you went down there with the military, alone, and without a contract?”

Jiayi resisted the urge to glance off to the right, where Tuomin had been relegated. The soldier had attempted to insert himself into her explanation once or twice, but had stopped after a few swift, unsubtle rebuttals from Emily.

“There was no one else, Emily,” she said. “They said it was an emergency—and it was. They lost people down there. And I still don’t know what’s wrong with the lights.”

And besides, they technically did have a contract. Just not one where the military could waltz up and march an employee down under such circumstances.

“I know, I know, I’m not blaming you. I just…” Emily puffed out a small breath and closed her eyes. “I need to figure out what protocols we can break and which ones we need to insist on keeping during this emergency.”

“I hear you, and I definitely agree. All I did was check the main terminal, then check the output of the filaments—all of which are one-person jobs—but I don’t think anyone should be going out alone. Even if we’re scraping for staff, no one should be going alone.”

“We’ll need to have a meeting,” Emily said. “Whoever’s left in the guild. I’ll call around and see if I can arrange it.” She took a moment to straighten up and roll her head back into a stretch, then opened her eyes again. Her gaze dropped back to the table, finding the two exposed bulbs Jiayi had put next to her. “You said you got four of them?”

“The other two are in the bag. Outer pocket.”

Tuomin reached it before Emily did, unzipping and extracting the two intact bulbs. Emily took one in her hands and turned it over, squinting at its base. Then she lifted her head to skim the lights around them, giving a nod toward the counter. “There. That one’ll do.”

Jiayi rose to her feet. “Need a glove?”

“Nah. Help me clear the desk?”

A few minutes later, the desk was clear, a set of lights had been turned off, and Emily was on her back, fiddling with the panel to the counter’s underlighting. She passed it to Jiayi, took the Harbin bulb she’d had earlier, and switched it in.

“Okay, Switchmaster. Flip it.”

Tuomin, who’d been once again been relegated a few meters away, reached behind the main netlink and pressed a touchpad. Light flooded the counters—this time in silence, without the clunk of the main lighting.

Emily squinted up. “Well, it’s working.”

“Then it’s a fault confined to Harbin level,” Jiayi said.

“Or something to do with the Shadow-things.” With a lady-like grunt, Emily pulled herself out from under the counter’s overlap and heaved herself back upright, holding the former under-counter bulb in her hands. “You said they were turning off lights in the sublevel, right?”

“They were definitely turning off lights in the sublevel. Even in the elevator.”

Emily squinted again, and chewed her tongue—an action Jiayi only recognized because of the angry, angular expression it put on Emily’s face. The tip of her thumb tapped into the ribbed metal base of the small bulb.

“All right,” she said after a few moments. “I’ll call up the people at Dianniao, see what toys of theirs we can test the bulbs with.” Dianniao was three levels up, and more of a research firm than directly connected to station maintenance—but it didn’t surprise her that Emily had connections there. “And I’ll keep organizing our people—but you…”

Emily trailed off. The bulb she was fiddling with dropped to her lap as she gave Jiayi an advanced scrutiny.

“Go home. You look like the underworld manifestation of Clio’s wife.” She switched her gaze to the side. “And you, soldier boy, you go with her. Jiayi, you got a place to stay where you won’t be alone?”

“Yeah, my uncle’s.”

“Good. Go there. Get some sleep. Don’t die. Oh—” Emily leaned to the side and picked up her netlink. “—and give me your final project. I’ll see if I can fit it into the system and approve your job offer. Yamaguchi usually has these things organized pretty well. If not, I’ll assign you a temporary role.”