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Hookah rigs connected to biochemical infusers.

The walls projected rainforest scenes, sloths hanging from trees, birds flitting through misty jungles.

The aroma ofkokowas overpowering, rich, floral, and narcotic.

Sprawled shirtless on a violet divan, threadbare satin underwear dangling on his hips, clashing slippers on his feet, one fuzzy, one sequined, lay a man.

Grinning up at them, pupils blown and dilated, glitter clinging to his matted hair.

Savvine blinked in disbelief. ‘Is that who I think it is?’

‘Yup,’ said Santi, arms folded. ‘The real Eugene. All raw, no chrome, or mimic code. Tis the genuine idiot himself.’

Savvine’s jaw twitched. ‘Fokk.’

Eugene waved his cigar in a lazy circle, smoke curling into a vapor ring above his head. ‘Savvvinnnnee! My almost-wife. Did you bring snacks?Nada? Damn. I ran out of my stash, and that’s probably why the raccoons haven’t come back.’

Miral tilted her head. ‘He’s fried.’

‘High as a void kite,’ Kaal confirmed. ‘Living like a fokkboy shaman back here.’

Savvine strode in, her disgust mounting. ‘Eugene.’

He blinked at her, then sat up with exaggerated elegance and smiled. ‘Ah, my heart’s lost meteor. I’ve missed you so much.’

She stared. ‘I haven’t thought of you in the least other than nurturing an almost unbearable desire to vaporize you.’

He sighed, flopping back with a dreamy smile. ‘Can’t imagine why, but you might have to wait if you insist. I’m kind of in the middle of an enlightenment. Did you know time is flavored like mango crossed with caviar? The Beluga variety.’

Savvine shook her head as she gazed around the space. ‘What the hell is this?’

Santi huffed. ‘It’s akokolounge. We’ve found a complete narcotics production assembly line and warehouse behind it, too, along with 2000 tons of illegal drugs and 500 tons of precursor chemicals worth billions.’

‘My goodness. All of this on theEterna, under my nose.’

Kaal strode through the place, searching and tossing it. ‘Don’t blame yourself. Only Helena, it seems, had access, which overrides yours. The airlock on this deck leads to a light vessel that was being used for drug trafficking through the flotilla. It can transport as much as 30 tons ofkokoat a time. Also, get this. It’s the brainchild of Helena. She stashed the real Eugene here, according to the indentured workers we’ve found in the back. We’ve also found an elevator from this hellhole leading directly to her private suite.’

Savvine turned to her team, arms folded, voice steel. ‘That conniving witch. I gather she’s not here.’

‘Nada, she and her ship lifted off theEternadays ago, which triggered the door and access codes on the deck to release.’

Savvine cursed under her breath. ‘So she abandoned her son. Mother of the year, ay? We need to find her. In the meantime, secure him. Purge thekoko. Burn this whole den if you have to.’

‘Copy that,’ Kaal muttered, already moving.

As they hauled Eugene up, half-coherent, still giggling, he crooned, ‘I’ve got ideas, you know. Big ones. Quantum bed sheets.Kokoedibles. Peace treaties written in glitter.’

Savvine exited without another word, because vengeance didn’t always end in blood.

Sometimes, it ended with a man in sequinned slippers being dragged off to detox by his enemies, with sparkles tangled in his hair and not a single piece of power remaining in his grasp.

Savvine walked the length of Deck 39 with her heart caught in her throat.

Her boots echoed against the steel floor of the corridor,hushed after days of conflict.

She strode past her people, who gathered in quiet clusters, blankets clutched around shoulders, children curled on their parents’ laps, older people resting with haunted eyes.

Waiting to be called back to their residences as the Signet crew cleared each deck.