Chapter One: Tomorrow in the Wheel

Han shoved his right hand into his pocket. Nine impacts of wind passed before he answered. “Eighteen years ago, the administration ordered a batch of old structural parts melted without scanning. Some showed words in their stress maps. I was only a welder. I asked who gave the order. By the next morning, nobody remembered.” “Nobody remembered, or there was no record?” “In Dawnline, those are often the same thing.” The alarm snapped on. The overhead lights changed from white to red, while the public-address voice remained gentle enough to announce dinner. “Weather update. The Black Tide storm front has accelerated by thirty-one percent. Estimated arrival at Dawnline in seven days. All departments initiate Orange Protocol.”