"It wasn't me," Aya said. As the new face of extraterrestrial humanity, Udzir's fame was top one hundred. Everyone joked that he was the only Extra who wasn't, strictly speaking, an extra at all.
"One way or another, Aya, my presence here is thanks to your story." He performed a little midair bow. "You have helped our cause immensely."
"I'm just glad things got cleared up before Tally-sama toasted your whole fleet."
"As are we," he said. "Though as it turns out, the drama of our rescue has proved more valuable than the ships we lost. A strange thing, fame."
"That's for sure. Getting many recruits?"
"Indeed." He glanced over Aya's shoulder. "Even a few tonight."
"Hey, Nosey."
Aya turned, and her mouth fell open. "Lai? How did you ?"
"Get in here?" Lai asked, then smiled. "Same as you: with an invitation."
Aya blinked. She hadn't thought to check the Sly Girls' face ranks lately, but of course with a whole new version of the story kicking "Nine hundred and fifty-seven," Lai supplied. "Since you were about to ask."
"Oh. You must be hating that."
Lai shrugged. "It won't matter much in orbit." She glanced up at Udzir, who had turned to talk to someone else. "I just hope Mr. Big Face Alien realizes that there's no time for fame on the new frontier."
Aya laughed, then pictured Lai with four hands and fish eyes. She shuddered, banishing the image from her mind. "I'm still sorry about sneaking all those shots of you."
"And I'm sorry for shooting you out of a mass driver." Lai paused. "Wait a minuteno, I'm not.
That was fun."
Aya laughed again. "I guess it was. So how are the Sly Girls?"
"Probably all watching this party on their wallscreens."
Aya frowned. "Really? But the Thousand Faces doesn't exactly seem like a Sly Girl kind of thing."
Lai shrugged, then glanced up at Moggle and leaned in closer. "So, you want a lead on a story?"
"A story?" Aya asked. She hadn't thought much about what to kick next. After the end of the world and the birth of a new frontier, everything seemed anticlimactic. She still wondered sometimes about becoming a Ranger. "I guess."
"Okay, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone before they cut the cake."
Aya raised an eyebrow. One of the traditions of the Thousand Faces Party was Nana Love serving a huge pink cake at the stroke of midnight. All the big faces gathered around it when she did, sharing their slices of fame.
"Um, okay."
Lai waved away a few glittercams, then pressed her lips almost against Aya's ear, her voice dropping to the barest whisper. "I injected the cake with this smart matter that Eden cooked up. It's spreading as we speak, making the sugar kind of unstable."
"Unstable?"
"Shh!" Lai giggled. "When Nana cuts it, it'll sort of explode. Not in a lethal way just in a cake-spreading way."
Aya's jaw dropped as she tried to imagine the city's illustrious faces covered with pink frosting.
"But that's " "Pure genius? I agree," Lai said, turning away with a smile. "Just remember that you promised, Nosey. You owe me one kept secret."
Aya pinged for Frizz's location, then went to find him on the upstairs balcony. He was alone, looking out over the darkened privacy gardens.
"I have an ethical question for you, Frizz."
He turned to her, his manga eyes glittering with the safety fireworks overhead. "An ethical dilemma? At this party?"
She looked around: no glittercams sparkled in the air, and Moggle was the only hovercam in sight. Nana Love's garden was off-limits to cams tonight, which was probably why the balcony was empty.
"What if you were a kicker, Frizz, and you knew something was going to happen at, say, a party? And it might be host-shamingdefinitely shamingbut you'd promised not to tell anyone?"
"Hmm," he said. "It's only embarrassment we're talking about, right?"
"Yeah, but quite a lot."
He shrugged. "Probably I'd keep my promise."
She sighed, staring across the city at the windows flickering with feed lighteveryone watching the Thousand Faces on their wallscreens. "Sometimes I wish I could tell you secrets."
"Maybe you can soon."
Aya frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I've been thinking about what Tally said, how I'm a wimp for not telling the truth on my own."
He pointed as his temple. "Maybe Radical Honesty is getting a little old."
"But the cliques bigger than ever now!" she said.
"Exactly. They don't need me anymore."
Aya blinked, trying to imagine Frizz without his mortifying outbursts. "I don't know, Frizz-chan. I kind of need you around to keep me honest."
His arm wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her closer. "Don't worry. I'll still be here. And I'm not giving up on honesty, just Radical Honesty."
She leaned her weight against him. "But if you're not compelled to tell the truth, how will I know you still like my big nose? I'm not fixing it, you know. Tally-wa made me promise."
"Yeah, she told me about that. But don't worry, a little brain surge won't change my mind. Not about you."
They stayed there on the balcony for a long time, listening to the ebb and flow of laughter and music inside.
It was strange, hovering at the edges of the party. As long as she could remember, Aya had watched the Thousand Faces unfolding on the feeds, imagining herself as one of the anointed few. But now that she was really here, all she wanted was to be alone with Frizz, staring at the city over the empty expanse of Nana Love's cam-missing gardens, immensely happy that no one else wanted privacy tonight.