Excerpt

Gregor regarded her for a second, an aggressively medium-sized woman, clad in matte black like some weaponized hiking instructor, an outsized, presumably heavy stringed instrument strapped to her back. She was a crazy quilt of contrasting concepts, but there was little mistaking the burden she bore, and the nigh-compulsive need that ran counterpoint to it.

This was a woman with a mission.

“I made a promise to some people a long time ago,” she said. “A promise that I intend to either fulfill or to die in the offing. Nothing will alter my course nor stay my hand. I intend to make the Bloc by month’s end, and the Conference after, because the Greater Tech Republic might be the last damned hope for us all.

“So without getting into the finer details, I am going where I’m going and you can come too if you can keep up. Because even though I saved your ass, I will not hesitate to leave you behind should you come to burden me unduly.”

“Wow,” Gregor said.

“So are you coming? Because I might need that creepy little terminus of yours again.”

“Well, since you asked so nice, yes, I will come along. Better’n staying here and being eaten alive.”

“Then shut up and follow me.”