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"No," Vel answers simply No elaboration No false promises

He and I have seen some troubles since he first tracked me to New Terra, but this caps theet up from the makeshift stone table I’m tired, dirty, and dispirited

"At what point do we stop walking and start building?"

"I cannot answer that I only knoill die if we stay here There is no food to be hunted"

"There were ani to eat us" Not a place to call hoive up, Sirantha I have never yet seen you broken" To be honest, he has more confidence in me than I do

As I stare at the stone surface before isters--these are scratches, and they form a pattern While I can’t be sure about the nature of the trenches, I’raved these ent life on this planet, somewhere Or there used to be, at least

"Look," I say

Vel kneels to exa, but I do not recognize the language"

"Me, either But that’s a good sign, right?" Hope buoys er now

"I would say so" He’s cautious in offering an opinion, as always, but I recognize the marks of equal excitele of his head, he lee

For the first ti so blind "Let’s look for nposts?"

"An excellent idea"

This give y to move, and I fall in beside Vel A while later, I spot another stone table, and this time, I suspect it was built on purpose I clih, this one bears ht be directions"

After a short scrutiny, he inclines his head "This way"

Froain west--for lack of true directional--and find four ils along with a stylized line crowned in a triangle, soh to ht track, however

I trudge on, weariness so deep inthe knife Vel made for ri new At first I can’t believe lance at Vel for confir, still with shock

"You see it, too?"

"It isbefore us are the ruins of an uniinably immense city, the architecture of which defies description Even at this distance, I can tell it’s ancient, probably dating back to the Makers the turns, we’ve found artifacts and scattered ruins, but nothing like this, not on this scale

Anticipation takes hold, then, for I live to blaze new trails Without waiting for Vel, I break into a run

[Vid- the search for Jax]

I never told you hoound up on Lachion that first time, did I, Jax? The swa back all those old --I’ to tell you a storybecause I need to feel like you’re withto pretend you can hear , unsteady breath]

The air was thick with clotting blood, the ground a morass of churned s in the corpses of inning, and if I owned anything like a conscience, I’d have told the soft little Nicuan nobleman where he could stuff his credits because clearly he already had his head wedged up there

Instead, I checked my account to make sure I received payment, then obeyed his orders, no matter how stupid they were That hy I--and a handful offailed to take the property our employer wanted sacked Success or failure; it was all the saardless, as I never took a job without money up front