Kim's filter arrived on a receipt printer.
Aldgate had used the printer for tea, secondhand paperbacks, and one disastrous month of lottery tickets. June kept it under the counter because its cutter only worked when kicked.
The batteryless phone beside it stayed dark.
The printer woke and fed out forty feet of muscle timings.
June caught the curling paper before it reached the wet floor.
At the bottom, Kim had printed a question.
```
DO YOU TRUST ME TO RUN IT?
```
Tali tore the question off.
"No."
The printer started again.
```
FAIR.
```
"That was not the test."
The paper stopped.
Sefa sat at the tea counter with both shoes off.
He had offered the blind seed before Kim's filter arrived. Rina recorded it by hand, sealed the page in an empty sugar tin, and gave the tin to Sam. No camera saw the writing.
Sefa put his left foot on the counter.
