They had been walking for eight minutes. The walking was purposeful — they were moving between the second and third nodes, the approach route calibrated to avoid the observation points Ablation had staged in the university precinct — but the walking had acquired a quality beyond its purpose.
Two people moving through a significant night at a pace that allowed for awareness rather than just transit.
"The countdown message," Alistair said. "Three nodes offline."
"Yes."
"Cain was thorough."
"of course it wasn't going to be that easy," Tav said. "That's been true throughout. He's consistent." He studied the street ahead. "The consistency is what makes him legible. He makes the same decisions with the same logic.
You can predict him once you understand the logic."
"The logic being: when in doubt, suppress."
"Yes." "The doubt arises when something threatens visibility. The response is always to reduce visibility." He fixed on the street. "The archive is the opposite strategy. Maximum visibility.
Everything public. No single point of suppression available."
They walked.
The university precinct ahead. The academic buildings at three in the morning: dark, institutional, present in their indifferent way.
"When it's over," Alistair said.
"Yes?"
"The testimony, the inquiry, all of it—" "What do you want to do?"
Tav watched the street.
"Something that doesn't require a cover identity," he said.
Alistair glanced at him.
"Something where the name I'm using is my name," Tav said. "And the work is work I've decided to do." "I haven't had that in a long time." "What was your name?" Alistair said. "Before."
Tav held his gaze.
"Octavious Prescott," he said. "That part was true."
Alistair absorbed this.
"It suits you," he said.
"The cover identity or the name?"
"The name." He held the look. "Tav."
"Yes."
"What do you want to do? Specifically."
Tav thought about this.
"Phase Two," Alistair said.
"Possibly." He studied the street. "If Phase Two is what I think it is, and if the terms are what I'd want them to be."
