Table of Contents Sora paced the hallway, pushing hair out of her eyes, cold-limbed and sick to her stomach, her one fleshy hand shaking. Her cyber hand never shook; somehow that aggravated her further. “Damn it,” she whispered out loud, like letting whisps of steam out of a pressurized system.

Star Navy Academy, Annapolis (North American Territory), Spring 2148....

Now she found herself on a ghost of the Omacatl, watching stupid action-grindhouse flicks in an old-lady sweater and slipper socks… with Jase freaking Novak, who she hadn’t seen in seven years flat.

Sora reluctantly followed Novak to the “ward caf,” the outer room down the circular hall; she trailed in after him with her arms folded, hiding her cybernetic hand entirely inside the folds of her old-lady sweater. He got them there extremely on-time—years of institutional training and living in military

Mom left after Sora had a bit to settle, promising to try to return on Visitors Day, but Sora got the idea she really wanted to get out of there—the room had cast a shadow over Sora’s mood far beyond her resistant attitude in the car, and seeing

Mom came with Sora silently, as the nurse showed them into a small bleak room with minimal furnishing. He handed her a small stack of clothes, as well as a large see-through bag of thick bioplastic and a locking box. “Put all your clothes in the bag, including the ones