"Someone who clearly earned a great amount of disdain or with the poor luck to be in a wrong line of code," Niska assesses as she pages through the list from one to six, finding nothing in here that puts her family at risk. It should bring relief to Niska, but given that she had been led on a quest to where she'd passed out, she can't be sure this isn't another step to it.

If that's the case, she needs to be on her guard. When he talks about making things, Niska finally draws herself away from her unblinking study, blinking to resettle her eyes before she turns to look at the man, gesturing for him to take over and look at the iterations she's just gone through.

It's not like David's code or Hobb, it doesn't bear George's marks on it. "The lists get smaller," she says, even though she's given him the chance to discover that himself. "Whittled down, but names consistently repeating. What sort of pattern are they trying to show?"