"Border is only one way. Didn't anyone explain that to you already?" The border officer sat behind a dingy beige desk and barely looked up from the screen.

  "I have a travel pass."

  Mina clenched her teeth. Weren't three biometric screenings and a half dozen automated ID confirmations enough scrutiny? Mina gripped her son’s hand as he started dancing around.

  The woman looked at the screen and tapped a few times with her bionic hand. She had the cheaper kind that didn't blend into the skin. Mina stared at it a little too long before she caught herself.

  "Don't people like you take cars?” The woman's brow furrowed. “You'll have to bear with me. I only work with people going the other way."

  Mina would have taken a car, but her husband could stop her.

  "I can't afford one right now," Mina said. She shouldn't need to explain herself like this.

  "Do you have money at all?"

  "Why is this any of your business?" Mina's voice lost its polite edge. She only had what she could quietly siphon off into a private account, but it was more than enough.

  "It's my job to ask questions." The woman narrowed her eyes.

  "Yes, I have money. I converted my money into 400 crowns. I'll use that to pay for travel to get to my mother. She lives near Carthage." Maybe by over-explaining, she would get through this process faster.

  "It's dangerous to cross this way, you know—lots of desperate people. I wouldn't want you or your son to get hurt," the woman said, looking down at the little boy. Mina's son preened at the attention.

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  "It's dangerous for us to stay here, too.”

  After a moment of eye contact, the woman nodded. "We'll search you for tech before you leave."

  Mina placed the comp on the table. "This is all I have. I'll wipe it, and you can have it. I already deactivated any implants."

  The woman raised her brows at the top of the line unit.

  "I'll still have to search you," she said, as if the comp was a bribe.

  "Of course," Mina said, because it wasn't.

  After the search, the woman led her to a door. "Go through here, into the room, and then you can leave after another biometric confirmation."

  Mina nodded, her heart pounding. They were going to be free.

  As she was about to open the door, the woman paused. "If you need a place to disappear in the city, I can help you with that. Crossing for someone like you, well, it's dangerous. The border has a lot of folks that would harm someone for the hell of it."

  "I appreciate the offer," Mina replied, and the warmth of the tiny hand in hers made her hesitate. What kind of life would that be? In hiding, with nothing, and her husband still might find her. No, she would go to her mother and raise the child in splendor. And once she was secure, she would find a way to get her other child across. One problem at a time.

  "I talk to folks crossing every day. I have a sense of these things, and I help people set up new lives here."

  "Thank you, but I only need to travel a few days. I'm sure I'll find a way."

  "May Helion protect you in day, and Nekthor in night."

  The woman opened the door, and with a quick word of thanks, Mina entered the blocky grey chamber. After the biometric scan, the automatic doors slid open. She stepped out and took a deep breath of the clean air; her eyes searching the trees. Everything felt different, better. The mass of the Wall loomed behind them.

  She smiled. Beneath her feet was real ground. No pavement, no skyways, just the real earth. Her little boy was staring with bright eyes, trying to understand this new world.

  "Come now, Alensar, we're almost at our new home." Mina gripped his hand.

  As she walked through the border town, her smile faded as stares followed them. She focused on trying to stay calm. They might rob her, but she would manage. Who would harm a mother and child?