<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

*A little while after Katherine arrives, the train begins to move. It's a wholly uninteresting ride; there are screens on the back of each seat like an airliner, but they only display safety videos, public service announcements, and the occasional tacky kids' cartoons that always end in a lesson about obeying authority figures or practicing civic virtue or whatever. The train speeds across the dark, polluted landscape at what must be hundreds of miles an hour; you're going to reach Charleston in a little less than three hours.*

*On the last leg of the journey, a young, black-haired woman in a navy-blue suit finds a seat across the aisle from the two of you and unfolds the latest issue of the Union Times, occasionally looking up at you. After a few awkward minutes, she speaks.*

WOMAN: I see you found a change of clothes.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

*A little while after Katherine arrives, the train begins to move. It's a wholly uninteresting ride; there are screens on the back of each seat like an airliner, but they only display safety videos, public service announcements, and the occasional tacky kids' cartoons that always end in a lesson about obeying authority figures or practicing civic virtue or whatever. The train speeds across the dark, polluted landscape at what must be hundreds of miles an hour; you're going to reach Charleston in a little less than three hours.*

*On the last leg of the journey, a young, black-haired woman in a navy-blue suit finds a seat across the aisle from the two of you and unfolds the latest issue of the Union Times, occasionally looking up at you. After a few awkward minutes, she speaks.*

WOMAN: I see you found a change of clothes.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Pinches the bridge of my nose between my fingers*
A bio-hazard warning. Seriously. It nearly shut down the entire skylight club.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Pinches the bridge of my nose between my fingers*
A bio-hazard warning. Seriously. It nearly shut down the entire skylight club.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Lifts my hand with a soft wave*

<Snipped quote by Legend>

Sometimes people don't want to be reached. We made it nonetheless.

<Snipped quote by Legend>

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

*The woman returns the gesture.*

WOMAN: Katherine, Vector. I'm Naomi. Lucy's put me on to help you; since we're heading out of Union, I had to get on the same train. Took the liberty of disabling this car's surveillance system, so we can talk in private.

*Naomi gives Vector a sidelong glare.*

NAOMI: First off, I'd suggest making sure something like that doesn't happen again. I'm not a wizard; I can't get you out of everything. The Cooperative doesn't play around with terrorism; they're still cleaning up the rebs in North Africa. Probably thought you were one of them infected with some pathogen they stole from a lab.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Chuckles halfheartedly*
I suppose sympathy doesn't play well here. I'll choose my words carefully the next time we're confronted.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

NAOMI: Damn right you will. You'll get your papers when we get off. Just point 'em to the papers; don't do it right off the bat or you'll look suspicious, but, they ask for your identity, the papers come out. Don't say anything, don't make sudden movements. Some of the cops here are looking for a reason to rough someone up.

*She flicks the newspaper forward, flipping a page to the comics. Her face falls a little.*

NAOMI: Jesus, the funnies are awful. S'what you get when all the real artists go to jail.

<Snipped quote by Spiritblitz>

*I follow behind. I try not to stomp as I go*

I am…lost. But I help people.

<Snipped quote by Extra>

*Turns off the ATV and jumps out before ringing a bell attached to a feeder standing in the plain, with a pond in the distance to our right*
Alright, this will do.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

How'd it get so bad in the first place?

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*Naomi's mouth draws into a resigned line.*

NAOMI: Well, as far as I know, it wasn't so bad back when the folks who had fought in World War III were still alive and in control. They'd chosen to betray their countries in the name of the Revolution; they knew what they were fighting for and they wouldn't compromise on it. When they died, no one else had that spirit in them. Everyone just saw the Cooperative as the new source of power and wealth and whatever. Now we're here, and a nation that once ate the rich now feeds them.

<Snipped quote by Memory>

*looks around*
Are they going to come to us?

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

A slow and drawn out death, then? Sounds miserable.

<Snipped quote by Extra>

*A small rodent creature with skin-tight wings and bumpy skin flies in from the nearest tree and onto your head*
If you don't move too much.

<Snipped quote by Legend>

- You tell me. One of my coworkers is a native to this planet. She fuckin' hates it here.

*A pained look crosses her face.*

- She's fine now, though.

*The words spill out too quickly. Too forced.*

<Snipped quote by Memory>

*My head drops a bit from the landing*
That's nice to hear...
*relaxes a bit and sits down slowly*

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Raises an eyebrow*
Fine now?

<Snipped quote by Legend>

- Yeah. Fine now. We got her offworld when we hired her. Off-universe, technically speaking. It's like defecting from the Soviets; we're always happier here.

*Something pained lies behind her eyes. Like she doesn't want to say this, but she doesn't have a choice.*

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

You're telling me there are worlds more miserable than this one in your sector?

<Snipped quote by Legend>

- No, you misunderstand. She was born here, and we moved her elsewhere. Though... well, yes. Some of these Earths are... not good. I think this sector is... broken, in a lot of ways.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Crosses my arms and leans back*
Why is this one worse than any others?