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there’s much else to do around here,” he spits back.
    “There
is
a lot to do around here and fighting isn’t on the list,” I intercede, before things get more out of control. “Save your personal problems for later, we have work to do.”
    “What do you have in mind? Rebuild the city?” Erik asks. “Or should we skip to the repopulating part?”
    “Shut up,” Jost commands. “You aren’t funny.”
    “Why? That’s the nice part of getting stuck on a completely forsaken piece of dirt.”
    “You better hope that you find someone to help you do it then, because she’s taken. I’m sure there’s a nice dog around here somewhere. Maybe you should stick to your own species,” Jost says.
    I’m between them before Erik releases his fist, and I barely cringe when I see it moving toward my face.
    Jost catches Erik’s fist, and Erik freezes. But his surprise at my near-disastrous intervention is quickly replaced by a glare, leveled directly at his brother.
    “We’re going to check things out,” Jost says through gritted teeth.
    “Suit yourself,” Erik says. “I certainly don’t need you here, moping about the joint.”
    Jost grabs my arm, a bit more roughly than usual, and drags me from the shack. I pull out of his grasp, my hand flying to rub my throbbing skin.
    “That hurt,” I inform him.
    He stares at me for a moment and then his eyes soften. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Erik just—”
    “I know,” I say quietly, “but I’m not Erik. Don’t take it out on me.”
    He nods his apology and I take his hand to let him know we can drop it. We have more important things to worry about right now.
    The metro is still several miles away if I can trust my generally poor sense of direction. The ocean now lies far enough behind us that although I can make out its glassy surface, I no longer hear the beat of its waves. We stand between this world and the one we left. Between the danger that lies ahead of us in the metro and the abyss behind us that will swallow us whole. Every choice we make now will have a consequence I can’t foresee, because I don’t understand this world yet.
    The quick crunch of approaching footsteps makes it seem as if someone has made a choice for us. We’ve been caught. A handlight blinds us to our approaching captor.
    “Who’s there?” Jost calls. He pushes me behind him, but I step back out. He doesn’t try again.
    “I should be asking you that.” The voice is rough, but feminine. The light fades away, and I blink against spots of phosphorescence left in my vision. A girl blurs into view. She wears no cosmetics but is still quite beautiful. Not in a Spinster way though. Her features are angular, sharp and chiseled, and her dark hair cascades down her back. There is nothing artificial or stylized about her. Her clothes are practical—leather pants that lace up the side, a belt slung low on her hips, and a thick silk tunic. This is a girl who doesn’t belong in Arras.
    “We saw the ship go down. We came out to see what happened,” I lie, hoping against everything I’ve been led to believe about Earth that the metro ahead of us is populated.
    “And you had nothing to do with bringing the ship down from the Interface?” She gestures up to the raw weave that covers the sky.
    The girl’s eyes sweep over us. Jost might pass her inspection. His clothes are as utilitarian as hers, but there’s no denying that I look out of place in comparison, in my lavender suit, stockings, and pumps. Nothing about me, down to the emeralds clipped to my ears, correlates to what I’ve seen of Earth.
    “Let me see your necks,” she says.
    “Why?” I ask.
    “Credentials.”
    I hesitate for a moment but then acquiesce. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but I know she’s not going to find it. I pull my hair up, Jost does the same, and when we turn back around to face her, a rifle is leveled at us.
    She utters one word: “Fail.”
    Time seems to slow as her finger presses