Didi shivers in Emily's embrace, looking down at the floor where her grandfather used to lie, removed with solemnity and sorrow by two white-suited women on a magcart. They had the decency to cover him with a shield pod despite their obvious distress and tint the curved protection to hide the staring eyes of Solomon Gont, but Didi knows she'll see that empty, accusing stare in her dreams for whatever days remain to her.

If she'd only come a little sooner? But how could she ...