The Peripheral

Flynne meets with Netherton via the Wheelie Boy. She tells him about “party time,” and though she despises Luke 4:5, she is entirely against using the agent on them. She makes an ultimatum, saying that if Lowbeer doesn’t back off from using the chemical, Flynne will not assist in identifying Aelita’s killer.

Griff informs Flynne that they will not be using “party time.” Griff also explains to Flynne that Lowbeer likely knew what her conversation with Netherton was about. Griff also explains Lowbeer’s motives for being a continua enthusiast; Lowbeer’s ultimate goal is to prevent the assassination of Flynne’s president in her next term. Lowbeer sees this assassination as the beginning of the jackpot. By altering this climactic event, she hopes to avert the disaster that follows.

Netherton tries to get an alcoholic beverage, but the bar has programmed to deny him. Lowbeer arrives, and Netherton asks if she knows of Flynne’s demand, which she does. Lowbeer says that “party time” was a test to see if Flynne lives by a moral code or not. When asked why Lowbeer would conduct the test, she says that she has a “further role in mind” for Flynne should all go well at Daedra’s party. Netherton then asks Lowbeer if she knows who killed Aelita, and Lowbeer says she does, but the way she found this out would not be permissible in court, further illustrating the need for Flynne’s identification. Lowbeer also suggests that Netherton is developing feelings for Flynne.

Flynne is visited once again by Netherton in the Wheelie Boy peripheral. Netherton explains what Flynne already knows–that Lowbeer will not encourage the use of “party time” on Luke 4:5. Netherton tells Flynne about the neoprimitives and how in the future, ailments like colds no longer exist unless one is a neoprimitive and believes that catching a cold is an authentic experience.

Flynne halts the conversation with Netherton to phone her mother. Netherton sees Connor’s peripheral playing and wrestling with the thylacines. Lowbeer is on hand and speculates that the motive for Aelita’s death is likely garden-variety and not extraordinary. She explains to Netherton that her conclusion is based on what the algorithms reveal.

Flynne receives a full security detail as she is escorted from the headquarters to her mother’s house. A woman named Tacoma Raeburn is introduced. Flynne has noticed her before around headquarters doing odd jobs. Tacoma is Clovis Raeburn’s sister and is primarily in charge of escorting Flynne to her mother’s and keeping a strict watch over her. Tacoma drives Flynne in a bomb-proof SUV limo. During the transport, Flynne is again visited by Netherton.

At her mother’s house now, Flynne brings the Wheelie Boy inside with her and sets in on the floor. Netherton sees the inside of the house and notices a plastic tray, a commemorative souvenir from the celebration of the town of Clanton’s bicentennial. He saw a replica of this very tray inside Clovis Fearing’s shop in the future. He also notices a fly buzzing through the house.

Flynne’s mother adamantly refuses to be moved to a safe house in northern Virginia. Coldiron recommended such a measure to protect Ella but also to protect against her being used as collateral in the ongoing tensions surrounding Luke 4:5 and Coldiron. Flynne returns to the Wheelie Boy, and Netherton tells her about the tray that he saw and that Lowbeer has one just like it. When Netherton explains where Lowbeer got the tray, Flynne makes a connection. The Clovis of her present is named Raeburn; this is the maiden name of the Clovis Fearing of Netherton’s present.

Flynne takes the Wheelie Boy down to Burton’s trailer so that she and Netherton can talk. Flynne presses Netherton into explaining his relationship with Daedra in full detail: How it started, and how it ended.

The narrator mentions that Flynne has made connections between Lowbeer and Griff, though without providing too much explicit detail. The narrator also summarizes Netherton and Daedra’s relationship. Tacoma brings Flynne back to headquarters.

Netherton discovers that Ossian has been working on a weapons system designed to look like candy canes in the shape of guns. Except, as Ossian explains, these are not guns in the traditional sense; they do not fire bullets and are swarm weapons that seek soft tissue animals and devour them entirely. Ash then explains that they will be providing Flynne with a cognitive bundle, which she refers to as a “bullshit implant,” so that she will appear to fluently speak the jargon of a neoprimitivist.

Burton has recovered enough to go back up the line. He is there with Connor as this chapter opens. Griff notifies Flynne that they are creating a special kind of undetectable security compound around her mother’s house. Flynne then confronts Griff and asks whether he is Lowbeer. Griff says that he was but that in his future, he will become someone else. When Lev first communicates with them, Griff, as well as the others, will follow a different stub.

Flynne returns to her peripheral and sees the weapons system. They warn her not to point the weapon at anyone unless she is ready to use it, as it is programmed to lock in on the target as designated. Ash uses her Medici to install the cognitive bundle into Flynne’s peripheral.

Flynne is in her peripheral and asks Netherton to explain the cognitive bundle that has been implanted into her. She then sees Lowbeer and immediately discloses that she knows that Griff is an earlier version of Lowbeer. Flynne asks Lowbeer if she is in the future the way Lowbeer is, and Lowbeer tells her there is no indication one way or the other. Lowbeer then explains just how much depends on Flynne being able to successfully identify the assailant she saw in the window. This includes preventing the president in her current time from being assassinated.