See? That's what you get for giving a piece of yourself to someone, Tarris snapped in her mind.

But sister, she's our friend.

No, Rya, she's not our friend. She wishes to be free of us. Then so be it.

But we need her.

We didn't need her before, and we don't need her now. She's a liability.

But it's because of you she's in trouble.

Damn... Tarris knew Rya had presented the primary argument for protecting Asher. Tarris had made her a target for the Council by association.

Tarris ignored Asher as they walked deeper and deeper into the forbidden area of the city. The area was a law unto itself, because the peacekeepers refused to enter it. The homeless, thieves, murderers, and all others deemed unworthy by the Council lived here.

The silence had been eerie as they walked the streets to their ultimate destination. Asher moved closer to Tarris's side when their footsteps echoed in the chasms of narrow streets.

At the end of one long, lonely street, a noise built in intensity as they approached it. Around the corner, the street opened up to a large intersection, shadowed by a low bridge nearby. The stalls backed up to the walls of the bridge, and this afforded the vendors safety behind their backs.

The noise dropped for a moment as they were both scrutinized to see if they were friend or foe. No one approached, and Tarris found a shadowed alcove across the road to stand in unobserved. From her vantage point, she studied the terrain in front of her.

"Now what?" Asher asked.

Tarris looked at her timepiece. "Now we wait."

Tarris watched the area carefully, and all seemed normal. The market bustled with business, but there was an uneasy tension in the air. She couldn't see anything out of place, but she knew she wasn't the only one who watched the market. Had the Council tracked the credits that quickly, or was it an intuitive guess on their part? In either case, their representatives were present, and it made her predicament difficult.

"Hey! Kid!" she whispered at a child, perhaps twelve years old, who passed by. "Want to earn five credits?"

He looked at her skeptically. Tarris could read in his eyes what he was thinking. Was she luring him into a trap?

"Well? Five credits or I ask that girl over there." She pointed to a young girl who stood next to her father while he sifted through second-hand clothing. "I'm sure she could use the credits."

"What do you want?" The boy didn't move any closer.

"Go to stall 27 and retrieve a parcel for me."

He eyed her suspiciously. "Why don't you get it yourself?"

"Because someone is watching me," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." He looked Tarris up and down and finally made a decision. "Okay."

He was about to run off when Tarris called him back. "Hey! Don't you want to know my name?"

"Why? Is he delivering a package to anyone else?" the kid cheekily replied.

The kid was a smart-ass. "Do it slowly. Don't draw attention to yourself," Tarris said.

"What do you think I am? Some sort of idiot?" He ran off into the crowd and disappeared from sight.

"What do you think?" Asher asked.

"I think that kid will grow up to be on the Council one day. He certainly has the balls for it." Tarris grinned as she watched the boy wander around. He touched merchandise and talked to people whom he obviously knew. "Yep," she said, "he'll go far. That is, if he ever gets out of this dump."

It took a few more minutes for the kid to work his way slowly to the vendor of stall 27. Whatever he said got him the parcel. Tarris was tempted to recruit him to her cause, but she had dragged enough people into danger with their association to her. He retraced his steps to the alcove and handed over the parcel.

"Where's my money?" he demanded.

Tarris opened the parcel, took out a ten-credit piece, and flipped it toward the waiting child "There you go."

"Gee, thanks." He stared at the coin in his hand.

"Now what," Asher asked.

"Yeah, now what?" the boy mimicked.

"Now, we wait until the place empties." Tarris stepped deeper into the alcove until her back touched the wall. She leaned against it and sought solace within herself.

"Oh, great," Asher said.

"You don't have to do that," the boy called as he ran off.

"Strange kid," Tarris said.

"I could have told you that before you gave him the credits."

"But he got the parcel with no fuss."

"True," Asher said, "but what's to stop him from turning us in?"

"Nothing." Tarris looked for the kid, but he seemed to have disappeared. Out of the shadows, about fifty feet to the left of where they were hiding, emerged a large man in a black, knee-length coat. The kid was next to him and pointed in the direction of the bridge. As she watched, the dark figure swept the boy aside and walked briskly on the course he had been directed to.

The kid returned a minute later, an impish smile on his cherub-like face. "You won't have long before he's back."

Tarris could barely conceal her curiosity. "What did you tell him?"

"He asked me if I'd seen anyone sus-piss-cus. I told him I saw a couple of new people heading off to The Battery." He looked up at Tarris.

"And why didn't you turn us in?" She had to know.

"You paid me. He didn't."

Tarris laughed. "Then you better not be here when he gets back."

"I ain't afraid of him."

"You should be, little man." Tarris looked around. "Where are your parents?"

"Ain't got none. Lost 'em in the Sweeps."

The Sweeps were covert operations where the streets of the poorer sections were "cleansed," as the Council put it. People found on the streets at that time were never heard of again. When the operation was taking place, Tarris's unit talked about it quite freely, even to the point of placing bets as to how the victims were disposed of. Now she cursed herself for allowing such a vulgar and callous ritual to take place.

"We've got to get out of here." Tarris looked at the sky. "It's getting dark and cold."

"Follow me," the kid said.

"What's your name?" she asked the child standing there with a casual air of overconfidence.

"Jerad."

"Well, Jerad, lead the way." Tarris swept her hand to one side in an invitation to the boy.

Jerad ran off down the street and left Tarris and Asher to run as well or lose sight of him. Tarris could see why the boy had stayed alive for so long. He was quick, wiry, and slippery-a good combination for a street urchin. Not that they called kids like him that anymore. Troublemakers, that's what the local authorities called them. They were considered a threat to the common decency of the population as a whole. That's why there was never any outcry over the Sweeps. The Council manipulated the situation and presented the operation as a public service.

Tarris struggled to keep up. Her suit wasn't designed with running in mind. She pushed it as hard as she could, but it took a lot of her energy to do so.

"Are you all right?" Asher asked as she jogged beside her.

Flashes of a forgotten dream came to mind, and Tarris chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I'll tell you later." Tarris tried to keep track of Jerad as he led them through the maze of streets and buildings. What would Asher think of her revelation? No, Tarris felt it was something better left alone.

Asher started to fall behind, and Tarris slowed her pursuit of Jerad. This was not the place to leave Asher alone.

The light started to fade, and it grew dark quickly in the tall ruins of a civilization.

"Hold up," Tarris said. She placed a hand on Asher's chest and could feel the rapid heartbeat there. "We'll take a rest."

"But we've lost him."

"It can't be helped. I'm not leaving you alone." Tarris reached into her sack, pulled out a bottle, and handed it to Asher. "Take a drink while I look around." She took a few steps away and studied the surrounding area, looking one way and then the other. There was no way for her to establish their position. One street seemed very much like another. Any landmarks had been destroyed long ago. Tarris looked at her chronometer and decided they needed to find cover.

She moved back to Asher, who was breathing heavily. Tarris took a healthy swallow from the drink bottle handed to her and put it back into her pack. "Over there." She started to walk toward one of the abandoned buildings, her decision made by the fact that the roof was still intact.

"Don't go in there!"

Tarris looked around for the owner of the voice and found Jerad had returned.

"We lost you," Asher said.

"You're too slow. Come on." He waved at them and pointed down the street. This time he moved at a slower pace.

Tarris could feel something building within her. It started as a sensation of rushing blood through her veins, which stimulated her nerves to the point of painful pins and needles. It took her a few moments to realize where the sensation was coming from. She stopped in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Asher was immediately at her side.

"I... I don't know." Tarris had no idea what was happening to her body, but the elation at feeling something... anything... in her legs was welcome news. She stumbled as her equilibrium faltered.

"Sit," Asher said.

"If I do that, I won't get up." Tarris tried to ignore the painful rippling of constricting pain as she pushed herself to walk. Every footstep drew a wave of numbness followed by her nerves jumping about in pandemonium.

"Use the medipatch," Asher said.

"No. This is too good to miss." Tarris gritted her teeth.

"Too good? Are... are you...?" Asher looked at her. When Tarris nodded, she smiled broadly. "That's great news. Right?"

"Yeah, great and painful," Tarris said.

"Do you two yap all the time?" Jerad had returned and stood a few feet away from them.

"Not really," Tarris said. "Come on, let's get under cover."

They continued the rest of the journey in silence. Just when Tarris thought the boy was running them around in circles, he stopped at the wall of a large building.

"This is it?" Asher looked around for some sort of entrance.

"There," he said and pointed to a large grate set into the wall.

"In there? You're joking, right?"

"Nope. In there."

"I'm not going in there." Asher shook her head.

"Stay out here. I don't care," Jerad said absently. His gaze swept the area.

"Just get in there," Tarris hissed as another wave of pain overtook her.

"What about you?" Asher asked with concern. "You'll never get yourself in there."

"I will. Don't argue." Tarris grabbed Asher's arm and pushed her toward the hole in the wall.

Asher had barely entered the drain when she announced, "Oh God! It stinks in here."

Tarris entered, came up behind her, and pushed her onward. "It's a drain. What did you expect?" But Tarris ignored the smell because all her senses were honed in on her legs. While she was in extreme pain, she was thankful it didn't get any worse.

Jerad followed behind to put the grate back in place. "Keep going," he yelled.

"Remind me again why we aren't home in bed," Asher said.

Despite the pain, Tarris smiled. Asher had said "home" and not "your apartment." "Because I want to leave my profession."

Asher stopped and Tarris head-butted her in the rear. "Is that what this is all about? You resigning?"