About Samm. No one had seen or heard from him since last night. She couldn’t bear to think of what might have happened.

“Of course I’m coming with you,” said Marcus, bundling up in as many jackets and blankets as he could find—though Kira noticed he had given the warmest ones to her, and pulled them on gratefully. The first light was peeking through the curtain of another nascent snowstorm, and they were preparing for the long walk to the Partial army. An old man from the boat lines had built them snowshoes to ease the journey, and Kira stooped to lace them tightly to her feet. If Samm already proposed peace, and the Partials already ignored him, they’re not going to listen to me. She finished the knot on the first shoe and slowly started lacing up the next. But I have to try. Even if I die, I have to—

“Man on the road!” said Phan, breathless in the doorway of the command center. Kira looked up sharply, her heart in her throat, but it was Heron who spoke first.

“Can you see who it is?” she asked.

“Middle-aged,” said Phan, “maybe midforties. Dark-skinned. Probably a human prisoner. He’s too old to be a Partial, but none of the East Meadow guards recognize him.”

“Not Samm,” said Marcus.

“He’s not from the group I came here with,” said Kira. “Maybe one of the guerrillas the Partials captured?”

“He’s probably delivering a message,” said Calix.

Haru nodded. “Let’s go.” He sent runners throughout the camp, warning everyone to be on their guard, and led the group to Rockaway Point Boulevard: a long, straight stretch of road from one town to the other. Human guards watched the road from makeshift bunkers, bundled against the snow in mismatched layers and armed with a loose collection of hunting rifles; the best weapons the refugees had left. Kira watched the distant man approach, and after a moment she recognized him.

“That’s Duna Mkele,” said Kira. “The Senate’s old head of security.”

“I thought it might be him,” said Haru. “I guess his resistance force was finally captured.”

“If he’s a resistance leader, this is a prisoner release,” said Heron. She looked at Kira. “Interesting.”

The guards shouted at Mkele to stop a hundred feet from the bunker, and Phan ran out to check him for explosives or other tricks. “He’s clean,” shouted Phan, and threw a blanket around the man’s shoulders, leading him in. Mkele shook Haru’s hand and nodded solemnly at Kira.

“They want to meet,” he said simply. “Their leaders and ours, at the intersection halfway up the road.” He looked at Kira again. “They specifically requested you.”

“That’s getting to be a theme with them,” said Marcus. “Any threats? Are they going to kill a prisoner every day until she shows up to talk?”