“It’s all there is, Geis.”

“Well, if you need any help finding the other people in the team…”

“Last I heard, Miz was being entrepreneurial in the Log-Jam, the Francks were raising sarflet litters in Regioner, and Cenuij had gone to ground somewhere in Caltasp Minor; Udeste, maybe. I’ll find him.”

Geis took a deep breath. “Well, according to my sources, yes, Cenuij Mu is in Caltasp, but it’s a bit further north than Udeste.”

Sharrow cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Mmhmm?”

Geis smiled sadly. “Looks like Lip City, cuz.”

Sharrow nodded, gritting her teeth as she walked onwards. She looked out to sea, where the last glow of the sun was vanishing fast on the bare curve of the horizon. “Oh, great,” she said.

Geis studied the back of his hands. “I have a security concern with contracts for certain corporate clients’ installations in Lip; it wouldn’t be impossible for Mu to… travel inadvertently to somewhere beyond the city limits…”

“No, Geis,” she told him. “That won’t work; kidnapping would just antagonise him. I’ll find Cenuij. Maybe I can persuade my darling half-sister to help; I think they’re still in touch.”

“Breyguhn?” Geis looked dubious. “She may not want to talk to you.”

“It’s worth a try.” Sharrow looked thoughtful. “She might even have some idea about where the Universal Principles is.”

Geis glanced at Sharrow. “That was what she was looking for in the Sea House, wasn’t it?”

Sharrow nodded. “She sent me a letter last year with some garbled nonsense about finding out how to get to the book.”

Geis looked surprised. “She did?” he said.

Sharrow hoisted one eyebrow. “Yes, and claimed to have discovered the meaning of life as well, if I remember rightly.”

“Ali,” Geis said.

They stopped, not far from the dark bulk of the old beachcomber machine. She breathed deeply, looking around at the faint curve of beach; it was dark enough for the phosphorescence in the waves to show as ghostly green lines rippling on the shore. “So, Geis, any more good news for me, or is that it?”