Sometimes Sam wondered if this were only a veneer, a canine version of his own resignation. When Sam had returned to Renraku after the kidnapping, he’d expected the corporation to treat him as a disgrace. Instead, he and Jiru had been sent for evaluation to certify that the kidnapping bad not unbalanced them. No accusations of wrongdoing. In fact, not a single mention of the events. Stupefied, Sam had gone along with official efforts to ease him back into corporate life, expecting at any moment to be denounced by the guard he had shot. Censure never came. It was as though nothing had ever happened.