Ali woke me up by loudly uncapping her fresh root beer against the exposed frame of her seat. Sucking the foam out of her bottle`s tip, she threw the hazardous pull-tab into the ice tray where Willie`s wired head had started its slow decay. "Found a tracker up his throat. The chainsaw cut it in half&" she explained. Sipping, she showed me what was left of the gore-stained spying device.

　　"How`s the hacking doing?" I yawned, glancing at the main polychrome monitor. Fighting the ICE consumed a lot of power. The fans flooded the cockpit with hot, dusty air mixing with the smell of rubbish that still enveloped my fur and Ali`s pink jacket.

　　"The computer`s been diligent since we left Ijiraq`s orbit. The cracking`s over and it`s presently sending the drive`s content over the web, straight to Bismuth Ball—using the Guild`s underground satellites network."

　　"Good."

　　Speaking of the devil, the radio sizzled and Manc閜halius`s ominous synthetic voice echoed on a secured channel: "Greetings, Children of the Genome. Let`s be brief. As you know, radio contact can betray my position. I just started receiving William Stephenson`s data."

　　"You`ll have what`s left very soon," my partner replied. "It was taxing. But we managed to bring back the head."

　　"The head?" the IA reacted after a five seconds delay. "What did you foment this time?"

　　"Simple anatomical-electronic detail," I interjected while glaring angrily at my brainless Neanderthal. "Did you find anything interesting so far?"If you come across this story on Amazon, it`s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

　　My voice echoed through the static until the broker`s genderless tone could be heard again: "Recorded conversations, surveillance cameras` feed or even DNA samples—as explained before, the sensor readings of ships or stations will lead us to Nora, your sister, by comparison games. They`re crumbs already converging into a knot& rather fascinating."

　　"Like what?" Ali asked. While listening to Manc閜halius, my associate nervously passed her hand through her long blonde hair.

　　"There are some curious similarities between Nora`s movements and other unsavory individuals," the data broker explained. Meanwhile, a beep warned us of the upload completion.

　　"Don`t you think the results got slightly mixed up inside Willie`s hard drive—or while traveling through the web? Wasn`t it better to send you diskettes?"

　　"The data is corrupted by numerous reboots—it`s not your fault, it was highly encrypted. For what I can discern, the ultimate piece of your puzzle could be retrieved from a friend of mine as much of Willie`s shattered intel comes from her. Her name is Carole Selena."

　　"Friend?" Ali intervened as Manc閜halius`s voice faded.

　　"Partner—competitor& client, according to& laws of the market. Data Brokers don`t have friends or enemies& Just colliding interests," completed the AI. We could barely hear him through the interference. "She owes me& favor. I`ll let her know& give you her Jovian coordinates. Godspeed, Children& the Genome."

　　As the radio canal crackled, my sapiens turned to me to ask my opinion on the King of the Fairies`s last words. I convinced her to trust him.

　　"So far, he`s been very helpful," she reckoned before sliding from her inclined chair to dive towards the hold.

　　"Indeed. But, Ali?" I inquired. "Aren`t you forgetting something?"

　　I heard her grumble when she came back to grab the swelling head, and all her way to the airlock to trash it. Meanwhile, Manc閜halius had just sent us Carole Selena`s known coordinates. It was time to leave the Rings for Jupiter.