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Source: collected/038-dust-episode-2-raw.mp3
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00:00:00.000 Speaker 1 Dust.
00:00:51.420 Speaker 1 Chapter three. Framed.
00:00:55.560 Speaker 1 Sandel fell a few feet to the floor of the train. Unlike the actual train she'd just
00:01:00.100 Speaker 1 left, this one was silent and still. Four silver shock troopers were frozen in
00:01:05.160 Speaker 1 mid-stride farther down the hallway. A statue of Regulus was stuck with one hand on
00:01:10.120 Speaker 1 the door going out the other end of the dining car. When she saw him bolt, she
00:01:14.860 Speaker 1 drifted on instinct into the closest frame. Sandel was grateful for those instincts.
00:01:21.640 Speaker 1 She couldn't hide here forever though. The longer she spent in the past, the harder
00:01:26.020 Speaker 1 it would be to get back to the present. So she needed to put some distance between
00:01:30.580 Speaker 1 her and these shock troopers. She might be able to hide out in one of the sleeper
00:01:34.780 Speaker 1 cars. The third person, Trit, was frozen in concern in the seating booth.
00:01:40.800 Speaker 1 She felt a little pang of guilt in leaving him here, but that was the business. If
00:01:46.480 Speaker 1 you took a job for the puppeteer, you accepted this as a possibility. Sandel
00:01:51.420 Speaker 1 lingered there for a moment longer, then walked past the armored guards. She slid
00:01:56.860 Speaker 1 open the door to the first Fairlane car, nodding to the statuesque man who guarded
00:02:01.300 Speaker 1 the door as she passed. Thanks. I'll only be a moment. The Fairlane cars
00:02:07.300 Speaker 1 were scarcely occupied. The passenger and employee cars had been absolutely packed
00:02:12.500 Speaker 1 by comparison. Figures. Figures. The aristocrats never suffered the casual
00:02:18.520 Speaker 1 indignities of having to share space with other people. Who could imagine the
00:02:23.760 Speaker 1 horrors of sharing a bathroom? So instead, they'd simply brought their own train
00:02:29.540 Speaker 1 cars to attach to the end of the train. Sandel shook her head. She passed
00:02:35.540 Speaker 1 by a rather curvy-looking woman with a key around her neck. The woman had her mouth
00:02:40.020 Speaker 1 open. She looked furious. This was probably the one who had alerted the vault
00:02:45.580 Speaker 1 guards. Sandel bumped into the statue of the woman, and she shattered on the ground.
00:02:51.400 Speaker 1 Oops.
00:02:53.740 Speaker 1 The world of the past was a good deal different than the world of the present. The
00:02:57.980 Speaker 1 real aristocrat would be just fine back in the present frame. This was merely a
00:03:02.500 Speaker 1 snapshot in time. There were still physical laws in other frames, but even those
00:03:07.200 Speaker 1 deteriorated quickly. If she went too far back in time, things would get
00:03:13.180 Speaker 1 very weird. Weird in a deadly sort of way. Sandel made her
00:03:19.180 Speaker 1 way through another Fairlane passenger car. She pulled open the exterior door and
00:03:23.820 Speaker 1 stepped onto the short catwalk between the two train cars. She took a moment to
00:03:28.720 Speaker 1 appreciate the scenic view, frozen in time like everything else. Sand blew across
00:03:34.520 Speaker 1 the desolate wastes, though it only hung in midair here. This desert had a name.
00:03:39.800 Speaker 1 They all had names, but what was the point? They were all the same. Wind, rocks,
00:03:46.020 Speaker 1 burning heat, and not much else. Just dust, really. And what was the point in
00:03:52.000 Speaker 1 naming dust? There was something wrong with the train car in front of her, and
00:03:57.980 Speaker 1 it took her a moment to realize what. This was the vault car. It was
00:04:04.000 Speaker 1 the first time she'd actually seen it. The puppeteer had given her precious little
00:04:07.860 Speaker 1 information about it or what was inside. He, or she, Sandel supposed, as she'd
00:04:13.800 Speaker 1 never met them, had given her $12,000 up front and the promise of ten
00:04:19.700 Speaker 1 times that if she succeeded. That had been all the information she'd needed. With
00:04:25.500 Speaker 1 her ability to drift, not to mention all the other skills she'd picked up over the
00:04:29.400 Speaker 1 years with her last team, it had just seemed like easy money. Worst case scenario,
00:04:34.840 Speaker 1 if things went crooked, she just disappeared, like she always did. Disappear and
00:04:40.400 Speaker 1 leave everyone else with the mess. It was probably not a good time to unpack that.
00:04:47.600 Speaker 1 Sandel walked right through the empty doorway. The exterior door was simply gone, as
00:04:53.560 Speaker 1 if someone had ripped it off the hinges and flung it into the desert. With any luck,
00:04:59.100 Speaker 1 she wouldn't meet the person who'd done that. Inside the vault car was the vault
00:05:03.820 Speaker 1 itself. Anyone with permission would be allowed to pass through the vault car, but
00:05:08.980 Speaker 1 there was a proper vault inside that no one but the Fairlanes could access. As
00:05:14.040 Speaker 1 Sandel eyed the empty and open vault, she considered the implications.
00:05:19.980 Speaker 1 Either the Fairlanes robbed themselves... But why? For insurance money?
00:05:26.360 Speaker 1 It was impossible to say without knowledge of what was inside. The puppeteer had
00:05:30.660 Speaker 1 been willing to pay quite well for whatever it was. So if they didn't rob
00:05:35.880 Speaker 1 themselves...
00:05:38.900 Speaker 1 What am I doing? She could just find out who robbed it and what was inside.
00:05:45.000 Speaker 1 Sandel drifted into the next frame in the past. In the next frame, nothing had
00:05:50.360 Speaker 1 changed. Of course it hadn't. It had only been a fraction of a second. So she kept
00:05:55.180 Speaker 1 drifting faster and faster. The frames whirred by her. She saw the world
00:06:01.220 Speaker 1 playing in reverse. A young aristocrat woman ran backwards into the vault, screamed,
00:06:06.560 Speaker 1 then walked backwards out the other door. Sandel kept drifting. Any moment
00:06:12.444 Speaker 1 now. A man walked into the vault, a huge revolver in his hand.
00:06:17.984 Speaker 1 Sandel studied him. This must be the robber. But how did he do it?
00:06:23.964 Speaker 1 I knew there was a mouse in the walls. Sandel stumbled backwards. You,
00:06:29.864 Speaker 1 you... He stuck the barrel of the gun in her face. The gun seemed impossibly large.
00:06:35.764 Speaker 1 He fanned the revolver back and pulled the trigger. The man grinned.
00:06:41.924 Speaker 1 Almost had you. Doesn't work here. Sandel glanced at the vault door. The man was
00:06:47.844 Speaker 1 blocking her path out. Maybe she could slip past him, but if he grabbed her... She
00:06:52.344 Speaker 1 looked at him more closely. He wore a brown hat currently hanging around his neck on
00:06:56.904 Speaker 1 a tie. His face was rough and weathered, with a mustache and stubble that seemed to
00:07:01.944 Speaker 1 turn into a messy beard. He looked like a man who only used his smile as a weapon.
00:07:07.644 Speaker 1 He pulled a knife from his back pocket. But this still works.
00:07:13.783 Speaker 1 Sandel drifted into an older frame, skipped two, skipped three dozen. She drifted as
00:07:18.684 Speaker 1 fast as she could, right past the moment when the vault was robbed. She slowed a
00:07:23.324 Speaker 1 little. Two frozen shock troopers stood, alarmed, looking at the vault door.
00:07:27.644 Speaker 1 Sandel's heart hammered in her chest. Could he follow her here? Of course he could.
00:07:32.384 Speaker 1 Another drifter? Was that really possible? Too many coincidences piling up. She
00:07:37.504 Speaker 1 wasn't safe here. The vault was still sealed in this frame, so without a way out,
00:07:42.324 Speaker 1 she rolled the frames forward by drifting toward the present. She watched the
00:07:46.384 Speaker 1 robbery play out as the vault guards had experienced it, except in silence.
00:07:51.664 Speaker 1 Something had alerted the guards because they were already standing, though she had
00:07:55.444 Speaker 1 no idea what. In one frame, they were staring at the vault, and in the next frame,
00:08:01.144 Speaker 1 the vault door was simply gone. It took a moment to understand what she was
00:08:06.864 Speaker 1 watching. A man stood on the other side of where the door had been. He was tall,
00:08:12.344 Speaker 1 incredibly tall. Hands the size of dinner plates were still stretched out in front
00:08:17.584 Speaker 1 of him, pressed against where the door used to be. His face was locked in
00:08:21.644 Speaker 1 concentration. She should really get going. Sandel rolled the frames
00:08:27.644 Speaker 1 back, then forward again. Sure enough, the door had vanished entirely in an instant.
00:08:33.584 Speaker 1 She drifted forward. The shock troopers pulled their rifles around to shoot. Before
00:08:38.464 Speaker 1 they could fire, the tall man had leaned forward and touched their heads with his
00:08:42.464 Speaker 1 huge hands, and then the guards had disappeared.
00:08:47.284 Speaker 1 Found you. The voice came from right behind her. Sandel tried to drift forward, but
00:08:52.924 Speaker 1 the man put her in a headlock and drifted with her. She felt a knife press against
00:08:57.144 Speaker 1 her kidney. Uh, uh, uh, uh, don't even think about it. You know how that plays out.
00:09:03.624 Speaker 1 If he held onto her, he could drift too. It was much easier to follow someone else's
00:09:08.164 Speaker 1 drifting. It was like a windbreak, except through time. At least, that's how it had
00:09:13.104 Speaker 1 been explained to her. Sandel had never met another drifter, and she'd certainly
00:09:18.704 Speaker 1 never fought one. The eternally still world of the recent past had always been her
00:09:24.444 Speaker 1 special place, a place where she could always run and no one could ever follow. As
00:09:29.444 Speaker 1 the knife cut through her suit and she struggled against the man's arm, she knew
00:09:34.484 Speaker 1 that had never been actually true.
00:09:39.044 Speaker 1 The shock trooper punched Regulus in the stomach again. He doubled over, gasping. I
00:09:44.424 Speaker 1 told you what you wanted to hear. Nothing you say is what I want to hear.
00:09:51.084 Speaker 1 Why was this man so angry? Sure, his rich employers had been robbed, but
00:09:56.864 Speaker 1 so what? He might be out of a job, but it wasn't the end of the world. See, this is
00:10:02.004 Speaker 1 why you never hired people like this. The shock troopers were skilled, but they were
00:10:06.364 Speaker 1 also unhinged. They were only so good at killing people because they'd had
00:10:11.904 Speaker 1 practice. I haven't even been in the vault. Ask the guards.
00:10:18.504 Speaker 1 The trooper narrowed his eyes. Can't. And why not? Someone
00:10:24.524 Speaker 1 threw them off the train. Threw the whole damn vault door off the train.
00:10:30.504 Speaker 1 That didn't make sense. Perhaps this one was a little more unhinged than the others.
00:10:37.764 Speaker 1 Just ask Rita Claire Fairlane. She'll vouch for me. I'm innocent. The trooper
00:10:43.904 Speaker 1 snorted and pushed Regulus into a dark room.
00:10:48.144 Speaker 1 Maybe you didn't rob us, but you ain't innocent. I'll tear this train and
00:10:53.944 Speaker 1 everyone on it to pieces if I have to. Pray that I don't find
00:10:59.744 Speaker 1 reason to come back here.
00:11:03.704 Speaker 1 Then he closed the door, leaving Regulus in darkness.
00:11:10.124 Speaker 1 Nice fellow. Almost as nice as the one who talked to me. Tritt?
00:11:17.124 Speaker 1 Tritt, I just wanted to say- Don't go apologizing. I see the score.
00:11:23.584 Speaker 1 Listen, man, we were being attacked. You might be able to handle these brutes, but
00:11:28.744 Speaker 1 I'm no warrior. Tritt stepped into the feeble light that trickled out from under the
00:11:33.944 Speaker 1 door. Regulus couldn't make out any color, but the shape of the man's face was
00:11:38.424 Speaker 1 wrong. He was horribly swollen. Had they really beaten him so badly? My
00:11:44.164 Speaker 1 God, man, did they put your head in a beehive? Oh, this? No, it's a nut
00:11:50.064 Speaker 1 allergy. Only had a swig of brandy. Eh, doesn't make sense. How do you get nuts
00:11:55.984 Speaker 1 in brandy? Hmm, now that was a bit of bad fortune.
00:12:02.644 Speaker 1 There was silence for a moment. Was it? What else could it have
00:12:08.644 Speaker 1 been?
00:12:10.648 Speaker 1 Hmm. Strange things happen around you, big nose. Like the drink order or that
00:12:16.808 Speaker 1 food cart. They really should tie those things down on a moving train.
00:12:23.328 Speaker 1 It hit the guards too, while you were running away to leave me there. Hmm.
00:12:29.508 Speaker 1 Helpful little food cart. Hmm. Listen, I don't care
00:12:35.388 Speaker 1 what games you're playing, but I'm getting off this train, and I'm not sure I can
00:12:40.908 Speaker 1 trust you to stay out of my way. You really don't want to be in my way.
00:12:47.188 Speaker 1 Regulus swallowed and took a step backward. Trit closed the distance immediately,
00:12:51.548 Speaker 1 but didn't put his hands on him. Trit's breath was hot on his face. Regulus,
00:12:58.108 Speaker 1 you want to be useful to me, right? Sure. So I'll
00:13:04.068 Speaker 1 ask this once. Can you get this door open? Regulus
00:13:10.148 Speaker 1 nodded, and there was a knock on the door. Hello? Is anyone in there?
00:13:16.908 Speaker 1 It's me, Irita Claire. Regulus, can you believe they locked me up? I'm innocent.
00:13:24.968 Speaker 1 I want to believe you. I do, really, but... But what?
00:13:31.548 Speaker 1 But something very precious was stolen from me. I'm just not
00:13:37.608 Speaker 1 sure I can trust you. Now, that's not fair. Think of our time
00:13:43.128 Speaker 1 together. In reality, they'd only spent a few hours together. Very little of that
00:13:48.868 Speaker 1 time would inspire anyone to trust. He was truly just a stranger they'd reluctantly
00:13:53.968 Speaker 1 picked up. Of course, everyone except Irita Claire would feel that way. To her,
00:14:00.228 Speaker 1 he was... Oh, my darling. Why didn't you just come straight to me?
00:14:06.368 Speaker 1 We could have talked it through. We could have... Why do I feel this way?
00:14:12.868 Speaker 1 I'm afraid. My dear, it could be love. He hated
00:14:18.568 Speaker 1 turning screws on a person like this, but he hated being locked up even more.
00:14:24.648 Speaker 1 Is it? You should tell the guards to let me out. Let's have that discussion.
00:14:30.948 Speaker 1 I'm sure we can sort things out. I can't. Nobody's listening to
00:14:36.968 Speaker 1 me. Milan and the others had me locked in my room. But I broke out to
00:14:42.608 Speaker 1 find you. Regulus heard a key wiggling in the lock. The doorknob started to
00:14:48.368 Speaker 1 turn, and he threw himself against the door. Oh, wow. It appears to be stuck.
00:14:55.168 Speaker 1 What are you doing? Listen, Trit, this door cannot be opened under
00:15:01.068 Speaker 1 any circumstances. If she gets close to me... Irita Claire pushed hard on the
00:15:07.028 Speaker 1 other side of the door. Pull on your end. Oh, I am. It just, it won't
00:15:12.608 Speaker 1 budge.
00:15:15.148 Speaker 1 I'll be back with help. I promise. Don't go anywhere.
00:15:19.348 Speaker 1 Regulus waited until she walked off to pull open the door. The two of them were
00:15:24.088 Speaker 1 bathed in the light of an empty hallway. Regulus let out a deep sigh. They'd come
00:15:30.268 Speaker 1 far too close just now. Trit was staring at him. It was hard to read
00:15:36.228 Speaker 1 the man's face, though, as it currently resembled a balloon. So, you
00:15:42.048 Speaker 1 gonna tell me what that was about?
00:15:45.408 Speaker 1 Like any good fixer, Regulus knew when to stop pushing his luck. One more
00:15:51.168 Speaker 1 lie might turn this man against him for good.
00:15:56.068 Speaker 1 A statistical improbability bordering impossibility. Trit
00:16:01.928 Speaker 1 continued to stare, and Regulus rolled his eyes. Let's just say we can't
00:16:07.868 Speaker 1 be together. Why? Why? Well, in short, most of
00:16:13.868 Speaker 1 the train would be destroyed. Trit surprised him by nodding once and leaving the
00:16:19.848 Speaker 1 room, slapping Regulus once on the back as he walked by. Ah, say
00:16:25.788 Speaker 1 no more. I've known women like that. I sincerely doubt it. The
00:16:31.788 Speaker 1 two of them slipped out of the car they were being held in and into a sleeper car
00:16:35.928 Speaker 1 where one of the rooms, blessedly, was unoccupied. They each sat down on a cot,
00:16:41.708 Speaker 1 facing each other. For some reason, Regulus felt the need to apologize to this man,
00:16:47.628 Speaker 1 to say something in his defense. But somehow he sensed that saying nothing at all
00:16:53.068 Speaker 1 was the best thing he could do right now. Words didn't really matter to people like
00:16:57.828 Speaker 1 Trit because he was a man of action. They were the hardest people to misdirect. So
00:17:03.428 Speaker 1 he would play it straight with him instead. Trit, is this your first job for The
00:17:08.428 Speaker 1 Puppeteer? No.
00:17:11.728 Speaker 1 Not my first. Regulus got up and paced around the room. Things
00:17:17.568 Speaker 1 really had derailed quickly. And we can still finish this job.
00:17:23.728 Speaker 1 Huh. Was this man serious? They'd be lucky to get off the train without shackles on.
00:17:29.728 Speaker 1 Only that drifter was likely to get out of here unscathed. She'd had the right idea
00:17:34.588 Speaker 1 to run. She'd simply been better at it. I'm serious. We need our
00:17:40.228 Speaker 1 mage, though. Mage? Yeah, our magic doer. Spell
00:17:45.888 Speaker 1 flinger. [laughs] Magic isn't real. Say things like that and people will think
00:17:51.828 Speaker 1 you're some backwater dooney. Yeah? And what's wrong with being a dooney?
00:17:59.688 Speaker 1 They're inbred, ingrate, cave-dwelling mutant people.
00:18:05.748 Speaker 1 Trit got off the cot and took one step towards Regulus. What did you just
00:18:11.488 Speaker 1 say? Oh, don't expect me to defend those. Say one
00:18:17.212 Speaker 1 more crooked word about Doonies, I swear. Regulus looked down.
00:18:23.152 Speaker 1 Somehow Tritt had a knife in his hand. He wasn't brandishing it around, just holding
00:18:28.532 Speaker 1 it against his side. Regulus cleared his throat, but didn't speak.
00:18:35.072 Speaker 1 Good answer. So you can shut up when you need to.
00:18:41.192 Speaker 1 The knife disappeared back into the folds of Tritt's clothing somewhere. He walked
00:18:45.572 Speaker 1 over to the little window of the sleeper car and parted the cloth drapes. Whatever
00:18:50.512 Speaker 1 had just happened, apparently Regulus had been forgiven. Listen,
00:18:56.432 Speaker 1 Big Nose, things are about to get real interesting, real fast.
00:19:02.452 Speaker 1 We won't have a lot of time to make our move. We need to find who robbed that vault.
00:19:08.692 Speaker 1 Then we need to rob the robbers, all before all hell breaks loose.
00:19:14.672 Speaker 1 Regulus did not like the sound of that. If the day so far didn't qualify as
00:19:19.672 Speaker 1 interesting, he didn't want to find out what would. You're not telling me something,
00:19:25.572 Speaker 1 Tritt? Yeah, didn't get to that part of the plan before you left me to rot.
00:19:32.792 Speaker 1 What part of the plan? The part of the plan where
00:19:38.132 Speaker 1 thirty-four pissed-off shock troopers finally catch up with the man who blew up
00:19:43.052 Speaker 1 their train. That, that couldn't be.
00:19:48.732 Speaker 1 Don't tell me. Tritt grinned. A huge, toothy grin.
00:19:55.432 Speaker 1 What kind of insane people would chase down this train? They could simply radio the
00:20:00.932 Speaker 1 station ahead and wait. It's not like we could go anywhere. Tritt shook his head.
00:20:07.252 Speaker 1 He'd been banking on the same thing. Shock trooper squads were mercenaries, and
00:20:11.672 Speaker 1 mercenaries could generally be counted on for only two things. One, to look out for
00:20:17.092 Speaker 1 themselves, and two, to stick to the exact letter of their contract. And they did
00:20:22.912 Speaker 1 so in that order. He'd expected the sabotage to be met with a collective shrug.
00:20:28.852 Speaker 1 Thirty-six of the forty men would be delayed from duty, lose their contract, and
00:20:33.312 Speaker 1 would promptly go get drunk and forget about the whole thing.
00:20:37.632 Speaker 1 What he hadn't counted on was that this mercenary band was completely, totally,
00:20:43.912 Speaker 1 irreversibly insane. I saw something when those guards were kicking me around.
00:20:50.712 Speaker 1 Something on their necks under the armor. Big Nose narrowed his eyes at him.
00:20:56.812 Speaker 1 Maybe he'd heard of this before. Good. Tritt didn't want to explain it to him. On
00:21:02.552 Speaker 1 their necks? Like an ascot?
00:21:08.912 Speaker 1 What? Ascots? Under their armor? Like a scarf? Well, it makes a
00:21:14.852 Speaker 1 completely different statement than a scarf. Scarves are for- Shut up. Not a
00:21:20.632 Speaker 1 scarf, not an ascot, a radio bomb. Fortunately, the other
00:21:26.652 Speaker 1 man did actually shut up for once. These aren't just shock troopers. These
00:21:32.612 Speaker 1 people took a grave-bound contract. If they don't stick to the exact letter of their
00:21:38.432 Speaker 1 contract, boom. Their employers killed
00:21:44.172 Speaker 1 them? Oh, yes. Well, that explains a lot.
00:21:50.172 Speaker 1 Yeah. It means if this train was already robbed, they'll do anything to
00:21:55.912 Speaker 1 find what was stolen. Because if they don't... Boom. Tritt
00:22:01.732 Speaker 1 nodded. It really made one wonder what was so valuable that they'd filled a train
00:22:07.672 Speaker 1 with forty living bombs just to protect it. The passengers on the train had no idea
00:22:13.192 Speaker 1 what was coming. Most of those poor souls didn't even know aristocrats were on
00:22:17.532 Speaker 1 board. There would be innocent blood spilled today, and Tritt wasn't sure he could
00:22:22.532 Speaker 1 stop it. It was wrong not to try. He knew that much.
00:22:29.232 Speaker 1 It was probable that not even the Fairlanes knew what a grave-bound shock trooper
00:22:33.972 Speaker 1 was capable of, what a man would do when he was certain he would die.
00:22:39.992 Speaker 1 There was a smash in the distance, followed by the sound of wrenching metal. Tritt
00:22:45.292 Speaker 1 bent down to check his boots. Both hole punchers were missing now. Shame. That
00:22:51.212 Speaker 1 would be the boarding train. Regulus rushed to the door and looked out. People were
00:22:57.192 Speaker 1 racing up and down the halls. Passengers looked around in fear and confusion. A
00:23:02.152 Speaker 1 server tried to reassure a panicking man who'd left his room. Big Nose looked back
00:23:06.912 Speaker 1 at Tritt. Remember how I said we wouldn't have a lot of time to make our move?
00:23:13.032 Speaker 1 Regulus nodded. Clock's ticking. We better find our mage fast.
00:23:19.812 Speaker 1 Sandel squirmed against the man's grip, but he held her tight. This is the
00:23:25.592 Speaker 1 part where you tell me everything.
00:23:29.452 Speaker 1 He emphasized his point by pressing the knife just hard enough to prick her skin.
00:23:34.952 Speaker 1 I'm here on a job. With who? Two others. Hmm.
00:23:41.432 Speaker 1 Hmm. Would that be the two men you sat with? Yes. How did... Ah, ah, ah,
00:23:48.032 Speaker 1 ah. Keep talking. He'd been watching them? How? She'd been careful.
00:23:54.352 Speaker 1 So careful. A job for who? Talk.
00:24:00.752 Speaker 1 I can't say. The knife bit into Sandel's skin, sinking in just half an inch, but
00:24:06.632 Speaker 1 enough to make her gasp in pain. The Puppeteer.
00:24:12.232 Speaker 1 Figured, but I needed to be sure. Didn't guess they'd send more than one team. That
00:24:17.652 Speaker 1 was dirty. Then he sighed, like he was stealing himself to do
00:24:23.464 Speaker 1 something he would dislike. And Sandel's intuition told her this was it. If
00:24:29.404 Speaker 1 she didn't fight now, there wouldn't be another chance. She didn't drift, not right
00:24:35.304 Speaker 1 away, because he would be expecting that. Instead, she brought her head back as hard
00:24:39.864 Speaker 1 as she could. She felt a crunch against the back of her head and felt a knife dig
00:24:44.064 Speaker 1 into her side. Then she was drifting, not forward toward the present frame, but
00:24:48.924 Speaker 1 backward, backward as fast as she could go. She flew through time. The shock trooper
00:24:54.884 Speaker 1 guards reappeared. The vault door reappeared. Minutes flew by in mere seconds. She
00:24:59.964 Speaker 1 watched the two guards talk to each other silently with exaggerated speed. Harder.
00:25:05.144 Speaker 1 She needed to push harder. A man with a hat briefly flickered into view. She drifted
00:25:10.224 Speaker 1 farther back in time to get away from him. Her head was spinning. Nausea started to
00:25:15.444 Speaker 1 set in. She'd never gone this fast, never tried to race to the brink. The
00:25:21.504 Speaker 1 man in the hat appeared in an instant and rammed a shoulder into her. Sandel fell
00:25:26.024 Speaker 1 over, drifted a dozen frames, then got back up. He appeared next to her and stabbed
00:25:30.804 Speaker 1 with the knife. She drifted away, causing him to vanish just before the knife struck
00:25:34.604 Speaker 1 her. Sandel breathed heavily. Her mind was stuffy. Her fingers tingled and her limbs
00:25:40.084 Speaker 1 went numb. Too fast. She was going too fast. But she kept drifting
00:25:45.724 Speaker 1 anyway. It was the only way, the only way to escape. Sandel
00:25:51.484 Speaker 1 didn't know how far back in time she'd gone when she finally stopped. It had only
00:25:56.224 Speaker 1 been a few minutes for her, but these frames were probably hours old already. When
00:26:02.104 Speaker 1 she stood, she looked up at open sky. The train around her was melting away into
00:26:07.924 Speaker 1 black dust. The desert around the train was darkness, deep and black.
00:26:14.524 Speaker 1 Two men lay on the ground here, one curled up in a fetal position, the other
00:26:19.504 Speaker 1 completely motionless. Sandel tried to drift farther back but felt a strong
00:26:24.684 Speaker 1 resistance. There were no older frames. She was here. She
00:26:30.724 Speaker 1 panicked and waited for it, but the man in the hat didn't appear again. One of the
00:26:36.404 Speaker 1 shock troopers on the ground looked up at her. Are you real? Sandel
00:26:42.504 Speaker 1 stumbled backward. What were they doing here? They were alive? How did they
00:26:48.384 Speaker 1 get here? She kept walking backwards. The vault door was still here in this frame,
00:26:53.604 Speaker 1 but part of the wall was missing already. Finally, a bit of good luck. She slipped
00:26:58.424 Speaker 1 through the disintegrating wall and ran down the length of the vault car, away from
00:27:02.504 Speaker 1 the shock trooper. Where am I? Where am
00:27:08.164 Speaker 1 I? Where?
00:27:12.124 Speaker 1 She kept running. She made it two full train cars before the erosion finally caught
00:27:16.484 Speaker 1 up to her. The train ahead was falling apart. The screaming man finally fell
00:27:22.464 Speaker 1 silent as the erosion moved over him, too. She waited until the very last
00:27:28.164 Speaker 1 moment, until everything around her was darkness, until everything was dust.
00:27:35.444 Speaker 1 Then she drifted forward.