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“Far as I go,” the driver yells, leaning out of his

The squad piles out, eyes wide, voices high, various uncreditable appetites honed to desperation

“So what do we do now?” Rio asks Jenou Rio is still a sirl, intie cities full of people who do not look at all happy to see her

“We look around, I suppose, see what there is to see” Jenou has always been the worldly-wise balance to Rio’s naiveté, though in truth Jenou is a bit overwhelmed too

“What, no whorehouse?” Cat asks, joining theroup

“Where are you ladies going?” Jack asks Rio

Rio shrugs “I’ll follow Castain; she’s uide to the seamy side of life I suppose you’re off to have a different kind of fun”

Jack grins It is an irresistible thing, his grin, full of mischief and fun “I’ uess I’ll see if I can keep Suarez and Geer out of the guardhouse”

Beebee shows every sign of wanting to go with the men but says, “Well, I suppose the ladies will need an escort Anyway, Sergeant Cole said”

“Yeah, you protect us,” Cat says, rolling her eyes, but not unkindly Cat Preeling is approxiled a Kraut with the strap of her M1

The five of them, Rio, Jenou, Cat, Jillion, and Beebee, spend the next several hours wandering alien alleyways, buying snacks of unfa beside open charcoal braziers, and picking out trinkets to send home to little brothers and sisters, moms and dads Rio buys a small silver necklace for her mother and tucks it into her pocket

At a stand whose rickety table looks ready to collapse under the weight of bronze cookware, brass filigreed boxes, and, incongruously, a ragged and scorched chunk of steel bearing

She points at it and says, “Show me that”

The shopkeeper, a very old man with a face like leather that’s been boiled then left out in the sun to shrivel, ignores her

“That!” Rio says, pointing insistently