Elias slid the pages into his satchel and tightened the strap across his chest. Mara took position by the platform, one hand on the core, the other already reaching for the rail. The amber light swept over the room, over the smoke marks, over the old machine that had carried him farther than any person should go and brought him back damaged, alive, and late.

There was one jump left in it, perhaps, and the door was starting to give.