Page 287 of Commander’s Mate
Stopped before touching me.
I turned my hand over.
She placed her fingers against mine.
“I hope it is her.”
“So do I.”
The medic stepped forward.
“Time.”
I stood.
Nera’s grip tightened briefly.
“Harper.”
“Yes?”
“Julconi is not one place.”
I froze.
“What do you mean?”
“People said prison world. But there are compounds. Work zones. Transfer stations. If you go looking for one person—”
“We don’t.”
She studied me.
“No?”
“We go looking for everyone we can reach.”
Something in her face loosened.
“Good.”
Outside medical, I stood with the slate against my chest.
Meya.
Three crooked stars.
Maybe.
The registry had given us a road.
Nera had given the road a footprint.
That was enough.
Not certainty—direction.
* * *
