Kira sighed. "Jason, you heard them, didn't you? They think you're a threat. They might—"

"I thought we needed to get to the harbor before dawn."

She stood up, recognizing that continuing to argue would be futile. "Do what I said."

He didn't answer, following silently as Kira moved quickly along side streets, listening for more police and trying to avoid encounters with the few other people out in these hours before dawn.

As they passed the third wall from the water, Kira looked upwards. Somewhere on that wall, Sergeant Kira had died. She wondered what the namesake she had never met would think of her.

Was it just a coincidence that a light breeze chose that moment to play with her hair?

She pushed the pace, Jason doggedly keeping up with her even though she heard occasional grumbles under his breath. But it was getting close to dawn by the time Kira poked her head cautiously around the corner of a building on the waterfront to examine one of the piers where outgoing ships sold passenger tickets. "Wait here," she whispered to Jason, before dashing across the street.

The big board where sailings and prices were posted was easy to find, but so was a large notice also posted on it. Made of oddly glossy paper, it showed a picture of Jason that must be a "photo" like the old ones the librarians had. Apparently, despite Jason's shock at the use of actual paper, the Urth ship was capable of printing those notices. She peered closely at the notice, trying to see how it had been printed. Whatever method had been used, nothing on it looked like it had been done by hand. Kira looked down the pier, seeing other copies of the notice posted at the booths where the tickets were actually sold.

She ran back to Jason and shook her head. "They have pictures of you posted. I was going to have you buy the tickets again, but they'd be certain to recognize you. And they'd be certain to recognize me."

"So we can't get tickets? The only way to get them is in person?"

"We couldn't exactly preorder tickets through an agent!" Kira rubbed her eyes, tired and trying not to become frantic. Dawn was getting nearer. Time was running out, and she didn't have a plan. "Let's go down and check the other piers. Maybe we can buy passage on a cargo ship. There are going to be workers starting to show up very soon and we have to avoid being seen clearly by them."