The sling still wears Vanguard red. They did not cut it. A strap color is not a deed, but the lab treats it as one.

Hyperion is eight tons of heat that will not move. Gold iris half-lidded under the lamp. Not painted. Not green. The portrait set was a different animal.

A needle finds the seam between two dorsal plates the way a thief finds a hinge. No speech. A cassette comes out the color of wet bone. Across the bay the printer is already laying wing membrane in wet sheets. First viable copy leaves the body before the body has agreed it is a body.

A tech writes on the crate, not the animal: TEMPLATE / HPN-01 / MASS 8.0 t / DO NOT SEDATE TWICE. They barcode the scale core while it is still attached.