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Speaker 1: Dust.

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Speaker 1: Chapter three. Framed.

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Speaker 1: Sandel fell a few feet to the floor
of the train. Unlike the actual train she'd just

4
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Speaker 1: left, this one was silent and still.
Four silver shock troopers were frozen in

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Speaker 1: mid-stride farther down the hallway.
A statue of Regulus was stuck with one hand on

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Speaker 1: the door going out the other end of
the dining car. When she saw him bolt, she

7
00:01:14,860 --> 00:01:20,500
Speaker 1: drifted on instinct into the closest
frame. Sandel was grateful for those instincts.

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Speaker 1: She couldn't hide here forever
though. The longer she spent in the past, the
harder

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Speaker 1: it would be to get back to the
present. So she needed to put some distance
between

10
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Speaker 1: her and these shock troopers. She
might be able to hide out in one of the sleeper

11
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Speaker 1: cars. The third person, Trit, was
frozen in concern in the seating booth.

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Speaker 1: She felt a little pang of guilt in
leaving him here, but that was the business. If

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Speaker 1: you took a job for the puppeteer, you
accepted this as a possibility. Sandel

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Speaker 1: lingered there for a moment longer,
then walked past the armored guards. She slid

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Speaker 1: open the door to the first Fairlane
car, nodding to the statuesque man who guarded

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Speaker 1: the door as she passed. Thanks. I'll
only be a moment. The Fairlane cars

17
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Speaker 1: were scarcely occupied. The passenger
and employee cars had been absolutely packed

18
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Speaker 1: by comparison. Figures. Figures. The
aristocrats never suffered the casual

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Speaker 1: indignities of having to share space
with other people. Who could imagine the

20
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Speaker 1: horrors of sharing a bathroom? So
instead, they'd simply brought their own train

21
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Speaker 1: cars to attach to the end of the
train. Sandel shook her head. She passed

22
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Speaker 1: by a rather curvy-looking woman with
a key around her neck. The woman had her mouth

23
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Speaker 1: open. She looked furious. This was
probably the one who had alerted the vault

24
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Speaker 1: guards. Sandel bumped into the statue
of the woman, and she shattered on the ground.

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Speaker 1: Oops.

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Speaker 1: The world of the past was a good deal
different than the world of the present. The

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Speaker 1: real aristocrat would be just fine
back in the present frame. This was merely a

28
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Speaker 1: snapshot in time. There were still
physical laws in other frames, but even those

29
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,980
Speaker 1: deteriorated quickly. If she went too
far back in time, things would get

30
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Speaker 1: very weird. Weird in a deadly sort of
way. Sandel made her

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Speaker 1: way through another Fairlane
passenger car. She pulled open the exterior door
and

32
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Speaker 1: stepped onto the short catwalk
between the two train cars. She took a moment to

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Speaker 1: appreciate the scenic view, frozen in
time like everything else. Sand blew across

34
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Speaker 1: the desolate wastes, though it only
hung in midair here. This desert had a name.

35
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Speaker 1: They all had names, but what was the
point? They were all the same. Wind, rocks,

36
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Speaker 1: burning heat, and not much else. Just
dust, really. And what was the point in

37
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Speaker 1: naming dust? There was something
wrong with the train car in front of her, and

38
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Speaker 1: it took her a moment to realize what.
This was the vault car. It was

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Speaker 1: the first time she'd actually seen
it. The puppeteer had given her precious little

40
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Speaker 1: information about it or what was
inside. He, or she, Sandel supposed, as she'd

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Speaker 1: never met them, had given her $12,000
up front and the promise of ten

42
00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:25,460
Speaker 1: times that if she succeeded. That had
been all the information she'd needed. With

43
00:04:25,500 --> 00:04:29,360
Speaker 1: her ability to drift, not to mention
all the other skills she'd picked up over the

44
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Speaker 1: years with her last team, it had just
seemed like easy money. Worst case scenario,

45
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Speaker 1: if things went crooked, she just
disappeared, like she always did. Disappear and

46
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Speaker 1: leave everyone else with the mess. It
was probably not a good time to unpack that.

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Speaker 1: Sandel walked right through the empty
doorway. The exterior door was simply gone, as

48
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Speaker 1: if someone had ripped it off the
hinges and flung it into the desert. With any
luck,

49
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Speaker 1: she wouldn't meet the person who'd
done that. Inside the vault car was the vault

50
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Speaker 1: itself. Anyone with permission would
be allowed to pass through the vault car, but

51
00:05:08,980 --> 00:05:13,960
Speaker 1: there was a proper vault inside that
no one but the Fairlanes could access. As

52
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Speaker 1: Sandel eyed the empty and open vault,
she considered the implications.

53
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Speaker 1: Either the Fairlanes robbed
themselves... But why? For insurance money?

54
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,620
Speaker 1: It was impossible to say without
knowledge of what was inside. The puppeteer had

55
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Speaker 1: been willing to pay quite well for
whatever it was. So if they didn't rob

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Speaker 1: themselves...

57
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Speaker 1: What am I doing? She could just find
out who robbed it and what was inside.

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Speaker 1: Sandel drifted into the next frame in
the past. In the next frame, nothing had

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Speaker 1: changed. Of course it hadn't. It had
only been a fraction of a second. So she kept

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00:05:55,180 --> 00:06:01,160
Speaker 1: drifting faster and faster. The
frames whirred by her. She saw the world

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Speaker 1: playing in reverse. A young
aristocrat woman ran backwards into the vault,
screamed,

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Speaker 1: then walked backwards out the other
door. Sandel kept drifting. Any moment

63
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Speaker 1: now. A man walked into the vault, a
huge revolver in his hand.

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Speaker 1: Sandel studied him. This must be the
robber. But how did he do it?

65
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Speaker 1: I knew there was a mouse in the
walls. Sandel stumbled backwards. You,

66
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Speaker 1: you... He stuck the barrel of the gun
in her face. The gun seemed impossibly large.

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Speaker 1: He fanned the revolver back and
pulled the trigger. The man grinned.

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Speaker 1: Almost had you. Doesn't work here.
Sandel glanced at the vault door. The man was

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Speaker 1: blocking her path out. Maybe she
could slip past him, but if he grabbed her...
She

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00:06:52,344 --> 00:06:56,844
Speaker 1: looked at him more closely. He wore a
brown hat currently hanging around his neck on

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Speaker 1: a tie. His face was rough and
weathered, with a mustache and stubble that
seemed to

72
00:07:01,944 --> 00:07:06,924
Speaker 1: turn into a messy beard. He looked
like a man who only used his smile as a weapon.

73
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Speaker 1: He pulled a knife from his back
pocket. But this still works.

74
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Speaker 1: Sandel drifted into an older frame,
skipped two, skipped three dozen. She drifted as

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Speaker 1: fast as she could, right past the
moment when the vault was robbed. She slowed a

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Speaker 1: little. Two frozen shock troopers
stood, alarmed, looking at the vault door.

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Speaker 1: Sandel's heart hammered in her chest.
Could he follow her here? Of course he could.

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Speaker 1: Another drifter? Was that really
possible? Too many coincidences piling up. She

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Speaker 1: wasn't safe here. The vault was still
sealed in this frame, so without a way out,

80
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Speaker 1: she rolled the frames forward by
drifting toward the present. She watched the

81
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Speaker 1: robbery play out as the vault guards
had experienced it, except in silence.

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Speaker 1: Something had alerted the guards
because they were already standing, though she
had

83
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Speaker 1: no idea what. In one frame, they were
staring at the vault, and in the next frame,

84
00:08:01,144 --> 00:08:06,804
Speaker 1: the vault door was simply gone. It
took a moment to understand what she was

85
00:08:06,864 --> 00:08:12,044
Speaker 1: watching. A man stood on the other
side of where the door had been. He was tall,

86
00:08:12,344 --> 00:08:17,544
Speaker 1: incredibly tall. Hands the size of
dinner plates were still stretched out in front

87
00:08:17,584 --> 00:08:21,584
Speaker 1: of him, pressed against where the
door used to be. His face was locked in

88
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Speaker 1: concentration. She should really get
going. Sandel rolled the frames

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Speaker 1: back, then forward again. Sure
enough, the door had vanished entirely in an
instant.

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Speaker 1: She drifted forward. The shock
troopers pulled their rifles around to shoot.
Before

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Speaker 1: they could fire, the tall man had
leaned forward and touched their heads with his

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Speaker 1: huge hands, and then the guards had
disappeared.

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Speaker 1: Found you. The voice came from right
behind her. Sandel tried to drift forward, but

94
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Speaker 1: the man put her in a headlock and
drifted with her. She felt a knife press against

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Speaker 1: her kidney. Uh, uh, uh, uh, don't
even think about it. You know how that plays
out.

96
00:09:03,624 --> 00:09:08,124
Speaker 1: If he held onto her, he could drift
too. It was much easier to follow someone else's

97
00:09:08,164 --> 00:09:13,064
Speaker 1: drifting. It was like a windbreak,
except through time. At least, that's how it had

98
00:09:13,104 --> 00:09:18,644
Speaker 1: been explained to her. Sandel had
never met another drifter, and she'd certainly

99
00:09:18,704 --> 00:09:24,324
Speaker 1: never fought one. The eternally still
world of the recent past had always been her

100
00:09:24,444 --> 00:09:29,404
Speaker 1: special place, a place where she
could always run and no one could ever follow.
As

101
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Speaker 1: the knife cut through her suit and
she struggled against the man's arm, she knew

102
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Speaker 1: that had never been actually true.

103
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Speaker 1: The shock trooper punched Regulus in
the stomach again. He doubled over, gasping. I

104
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Speaker 1: told you what you wanted to hear.
Nothing you say is what I want to hear.

105
00:09:51,084 --> 00:09:56,764
Speaker 1: Why was this man so angry? Sure, his
rich employers had been robbed, but

106
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Speaker 1: so what? He might be out of a job,
but it wasn't the end of the world. See, this is

107
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Speaker 1: why you never hired people like this.
The shock troopers were skilled, but they were

108
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Speaker 1: also unhinged. They were only so good
at killing people because they'd had

109
00:10:11,904 --> 00:10:17,744
Speaker 1: practice. I haven't even been in the
vault. Ask the guards.

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Speaker 1: The trooper narrowed his eyes. Can't.
And why not? Someone

111
00:10:24,524 --> 00:10:29,044
Speaker 1: threw them off the train. Threw the
whole damn vault door off the train.

112
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Speaker 1: That didn't make sense. Perhaps this
one was a little more unhinged than the others.

113
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Speaker 1: Just ask Rita Claire Fairlane. She'll
vouch for me. I'm innocent. The trooper

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Speaker 1: snorted and pushed Regulus into a
dark room.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't rob us, but you
ain't innocent. I'll tear this train and

116
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Speaker 1: everyone on it to pieces if I have
to. Pray that I don't find

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Speaker 1: reason to come back here.

118
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Speaker 1: Then he closed the door, leaving
Regulus in darkness.

119
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Speaker 1: Nice fellow. Almost as nice as the
one who talked to me. Tritt?

120
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Speaker 1: Tritt, I just wanted to say- Don't go
apologizing. I see the score.

121
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Speaker 1: Listen, man, we were being attacked.
You might be able to handle these brutes, but

122
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Speaker 1: I'm no warrior. Tritt stepped into
the feeble light that trickled out from under
the

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Speaker 1: door. Regulus couldn't make out any
color, but the shape of the man's face was

124
00:11:38,424 --> 00:11:44,084
Speaker 1: wrong. He was horribly swollen. Had
they really beaten him so badly? My

125
00:11:44,164 --> 00:11:49,864
Speaker 1: God, man, did they put your head in a
beehive? Oh, this? No, it's a nut

126
00:11:50,064 --> 00:11:55,924
Speaker 1: allergy. Only had a swig of brandy.
Eh, doesn't make sense. How do you get nuts

127
00:11:55,984 --> 00:12:01,284
Speaker 1: in brandy? Hmm, now that was a bit of
bad fortune.

128
00:12:02,644 --> 00:12:08,584
Speaker 1: There was silence for a moment. Was
it? What else could it have

129
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Speaker 1: been?

130
00:12:10,648 --> 00:12:16,628
Speaker 1: Hmm. Strange things happen around
you, big nose. Like the drink order or that

131
00:12:16,808 --> 00:12:22,308
Speaker 1: food cart. They really should tie
those things down on a moving train.

132
00:12:23,328 --> 00:12:28,868
Speaker 1: It hit the guards too, while you were
running away to leave me there. Hmm.

133
00:12:29,508 --> 00:12:35,348
Speaker 1: Helpful little food cart. Hmm.
Listen, I don't care

134
00:12:35,388 --> 00:12:40,848
Speaker 1: what games you're playing, but I'm
getting off this train, and I'm not sure I can

135
00:12:40,908 --> 00:12:46,168
Speaker 1: trust you to stay out of my way. You
really don't want to be in my way.

136
00:12:47,188 --> 00:12:51,448
Speaker 1: Regulus swallowed and took a step
backward. Trit closed the distance immediately,

137
00:12:51,548 --> 00:12:57,448
Speaker 1: but didn't put his hands on him.
Trit's breath was hot on his face. Regulus,

138
00:12:58,108 --> 00:13:03,968
Speaker 1: you want to be useful to me, right?
Sure. So I'll

139
00:13:04,068 --> 00:13:09,988
Speaker 1: ask this once. Can you get this door
open? Regulus

140
00:13:10,148 --> 00:13:15,867
Speaker 1: nodded, and there was a knock on the
door. Hello? Is anyone in there?

141
00:13:16,908 --> 00:13:22,668
Speaker 1: It's me, Irita Claire. Regulus, can
you believe they locked me up? I'm innocent.

142
00:13:24,968 --> 00:13:30,368
Speaker 1: I want to believe you. I do, really,
but... But what?

143
00:13:31,548 --> 00:13:37,428
Speaker 1: But something very precious was
stolen from me. I'm just not

144
00:13:37,608 --> 00:13:43,068
Speaker 1: sure I can trust you. Now, that's not
fair. Think of our time

145
00:13:43,128 --> 00:13:48,808
Speaker 1: together. In reality, they'd only
spent a few hours together. Very little of that

146
00:13:48,868 --> 00:13:53,908
Speaker 1: time would inspire anyone to trust.
He was truly just a stranger they'd reluctantly

147
00:13:53,968 --> 00:13:59,668
Speaker 1: picked up. Of course, everyone except
Irita Claire would feel that way. To her,

148
00:14:00,228 --> 00:14:06,008
Speaker 1: he was... Oh, my darling. Why didn't
you just come straight to me?

149
00:14:06,368 --> 00:14:11,428
Speaker 1: We could have talked it through. We
could have... Why do I feel this way?

150
00:14:12,868 --> 00:14:18,488
Speaker 1: I'm afraid. My dear, it could be
love. He hated

151
00:14:18,568 --> 00:14:23,388
Speaker 1: turning screws on a person like this,
but he hated being locked up even more.

152
00:14:24,648 --> 00:14:30,488
Speaker 1: Is it? You should tell the guards to
let me out. Let's have that discussion.

153
00:14:30,948 --> 00:14:36,908
Speaker 1: I'm sure we can sort things out. I
can't. Nobody's listening to

154
00:14:36,968 --> 00:14:42,548
Speaker 1: me. Milan and the others had me
locked in my room. But I broke out to

155
00:14:42,608 --> 00:14:48,288
Speaker 1: find you. Regulus heard a key
wiggling in the lock. The doorknob started to

156
00:14:48,368 --> 00:14:54,288
Speaker 1: turn, and he threw himself against
the door. Oh, wow. It appears to be stuck.

157
00:14:55,168 --> 00:15:00,928
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Listen, Trit,
this door cannot be opened under

158
00:15:01,068 --> 00:15:06,968
Speaker 1: any circumstances. If she gets close
to me... Irita Claire pushed hard on the

159
00:15:07,028 --> 00:15:12,548
Speaker 1: other side of the door. Pull on your
end. Oh, I am. It just, it won't

160
00:15:12,608 --> 00:15:13,068
Speaker 1: budge.

161
00:15:15,148 --> 00:15:17,828
Speaker 1: I'll be back with help. I promise.
Don't go anywhere.

162
00:15:19,348 --> 00:15:24,048
Speaker 1: Regulus waited until she walked off
to pull open the door. The two of them were

163
00:15:24,088 --> 00:15:30,008
Speaker 1: bathed in the light of an empty
hallway. Regulus let out a deep sigh. They'd
come

164
00:15:30,268 --> 00:15:36,188
Speaker 1: far too close just now. Trit was
staring at him. It was hard to read

165
00:15:36,228 --> 00:15:42,008
Speaker 1: the man's face, though, as it
currently resembled a balloon. So, you

166
00:15:42,048 --> 00:15:43,828
Speaker 1: gonna tell me what that was about?

167
00:15:45,408 --> 00:15:51,008
Speaker 1: Like any good fixer, Regulus knew
when to stop pushing his luck. One more

168
00:15:51,168 --> 00:15:53,888
Speaker 1: lie might turn this man against him
for good.

169
00:15:56,068 --> 00:16:01,868
Speaker 1: A statistical improbability bordering
impossibility. Trit

170
00:16:01,928 --> 00:16:07,808
Speaker 1: continued to stare, and Regulus
rolled his eyes. Let's just say we can't

171
00:16:07,868 --> 00:16:13,828
Speaker 1: be together. Why? Why? Well, in
short, most of

172
00:16:13,868 --> 00:16:19,788
Speaker 1: the train would be destroyed. Trit
surprised him by nodding once and leaving the

173
00:16:19,848 --> 00:16:25,728
Speaker 1: room, slapping Regulus once on the
back as he walked by. Ah, say

174
00:16:25,788 --> 00:16:31,728
Speaker 1: no more. I've known women like that.
I sincerely doubt it. The

175
00:16:31,788 --> 00:16:35,888
Speaker 1: two of them slipped out of the car
they were being held in and into a sleeper car

176
00:16:35,928 --> 00:16:41,348
Speaker 1: where one of the rooms, blessedly,
was unoccupied. They each sat down on a cot,

177
00:16:41,708 --> 00:16:47,188
Speaker 1: facing each other. For some reason,
Regulus felt the need to apologize to this man,

178
00:16:47,628 --> 00:16:53,008
Speaker 1: to say something in his defense. But
somehow he sensed that saying nothing at all

179
00:16:53,068 --> 00:16:57,768
Speaker 1: was the best thing he could do right
now. Words didn't really matter to people like

180
00:16:57,828 --> 00:17:03,348
Speaker 1: Trit because he was a man of action.
They were the hardest people to misdirect. So

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Speaker 1: he would play it straight with him
instead. Trit, is this your first job for The

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Speaker 1: Puppeteer? No.

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Speaker 1: Not my first. Regulus got up and
paced around the room. Things

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Speaker 1: really had derailed quickly. And we
can still finish this job.

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Speaker 1: Huh. Was this man serious? They'd be
lucky to get off the train without shackles on.

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Speaker 1: Only that drifter was likely to get
out of here unscathed. She'd had the right idea

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Speaker 1: to run. She'd simply been better at
it. I'm serious. We need our

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Speaker 1: mage, though. Mage? Yeah, our magic
doer. Spell

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Speaker 1: flinger. [laughs] Magic isn't real.
Say things like that and people will think

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Speaker 1: you're some backwater dooney. Yeah?
And what's wrong with being a dooney?

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Speaker 1: They're inbred, ingrate,
cave-dwelling mutant people.

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Speaker 1: Trit got off the cot and took one
step towards Regulus. What did you just

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Speaker 1: say? Oh, don't expect me to defend
those. Say one

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Speaker 1: more crooked word about Doonies, I
swear. Regulus looked down.

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Speaker 1: Somehow Tritt had a knife in his
hand. He wasn't brandishing it around, just
holding

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Speaker 1: it against his side. Regulus cleared
his throat, but didn't speak.

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Speaker 1: Good answer. So you can shut up when
you need to.

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Speaker 1: The knife disappeared back into the
folds of Tritt's clothing somewhere. He walked

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Speaker 1: over to the little window of the
sleeper car and parted the cloth drapes.
Whatever

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Speaker 1: had just happened, apparently Regulus
had been forgiven. Listen,

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Speaker 1: Big Nose, things are about to get
real interesting, real fast.

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Speaker 1: We won't have a lot of time to make
our move. We need to find who robbed that vault.

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Speaker 1: Then we need to rob the robbers, all
before all hell breaks loose.

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Speaker 1: Regulus did not like the sound of
that. If the day so far didn't qualify as

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Speaker 1: interesting, he didn't want to find
out what would. You're not telling me something,

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Speaker 1: Tritt? Yeah, didn't get to that part
of the plan before you left me to rot.

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Speaker 1: What part of the plan? The part of
the plan where

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Speaker 1: thirty-four pissed-off shock troopers
finally catch up with the man who blew up

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Speaker 1: their train. That, that couldn't be.

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Speaker 1: Don't tell me. Tritt grinned. A huge,
toothy grin.

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Speaker 1: What kind of insane people would
chase down this train? They could simply radio
the

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00:20:00,932 --> 00:20:06,832
Speaker 1: station ahead and wait. It's not like
we could go anywhere. Tritt shook his head.

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00:20:07,252 --> 00:20:11,612
Speaker 1: He'd been banking on the same thing.
Shock trooper squads were mercenaries, and

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Speaker 1: mercenaries could generally be
counted on for only two things. One, to look out
for

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00:20:17,092 --> 00:20:22,832
Speaker 1: themselves, and two, to stick to the
exact letter of their contract. And they did

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00:20:22,912 --> 00:20:28,392
Speaker 1: so in that order. He'd expected the
sabotage to be met with a collective shrug.

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Speaker 1: Thirty-six of the forty men would be
delayed from duty, lose their contract, and

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00:20:33,312 --> 00:20:36,112
Speaker 1: would promptly go get drunk and
forget about the whole thing.

219
00:20:37,632 --> 00:20:43,312
Speaker 1: What he hadn't counted on was that
this mercenary band was completely, totally,

220
00:20:43,912 --> 00:20:49,712
Speaker 1: irreversibly insane. I saw something
when those guards were kicking me around.

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00:20:50,712 --> 00:20:56,212
Speaker 1: Something on their necks under the
armor. Big Nose narrowed his eyes at him.

222
00:20:56,812 --> 00:21:02,492
Speaker 1: Maybe he'd heard of this before.
Good. Tritt didn't want to explain it to him. On

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00:21:02,552 --> 00:21:06,532
Speaker 1: their necks? Like an ascot?

224
00:21:08,912 --> 00:21:14,812
Speaker 1: What? Ascots? Under their armor? Like
a scarf? Well, it makes a

225
00:21:14,852 --> 00:21:20,492
Speaker 1: completely different statement than a
scarf. Scarves are for- Shut up. Not a

226
00:21:20,632 --> 00:21:26,572
Speaker 1: scarf, not an ascot, a radio bomb.
Fortunately, the other

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00:21:26,652 --> 00:21:32,552
Speaker 1: man did actually shut up for once.
These aren't just shock troopers. These

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00:21:32,612 --> 00:21:38,352
Speaker 1: people took a grave-bound contract.
If they don't stick to the exact letter of their

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Speaker 1: contract, boom. Their employers
killed

230
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Speaker 1: them? Oh, yes. Well, that explains a
lot.

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00:21:50,172 --> 00:21:55,832
Speaker 1: Yeah. It means if this train was
already robbed, they'll do anything to

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Speaker 1: find what was stolen. Because if they
don't... Boom. Tritt

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00:22:01,732 --> 00:22:07,612
Speaker 1: nodded. It really made one wonder
what was so valuable that they'd filled a train

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00:22:07,672 --> 00:22:13,152
Speaker 1: with forty living bombs just to
protect it. The passengers on the train had no
idea

235
00:22:13,192 --> 00:22:17,472
Speaker 1: what was coming. Most of those poor
souls didn't even know aristocrats were on

236
00:22:17,532 --> 00:22:22,452
Speaker 1: board. There would be innocent blood
spilled today, and Tritt wasn't sure he could

237
00:22:22,532 --> 00:22:27,472
Speaker 1: stop it. It was wrong not to try. He
knew that much.

238
00:22:29,232 --> 00:22:33,932
Speaker 1: It was probable that not even the
Fairlanes knew what a grave-bound shock trooper

239
00:22:33,972 --> 00:22:38,932
Speaker 1: was capable of, what a man would do
when he was certain he would die.

240
00:22:39,992 --> 00:22:45,232
Speaker 1: There was a smash in the distance,
followed by the sound of wrenching metal. Tritt

241
00:22:45,292 --> 00:22:51,132
Speaker 1: bent down to check his boots. Both
hole punchers were missing now. Shame. That

242
00:22:51,212 --> 00:22:57,152
Speaker 1: would be the boarding train. Regulus
rushed to the door and looked out. People were

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00:22:57,192 --> 00:23:02,072
Speaker 1: racing up and down the halls.
Passengers looked around in fear and confusion.
A

244
00:23:02,152 --> 00:23:06,852
Speaker 1: server tried to reassure a panicking
man who'd left his room. Big Nose looked back

245
00:23:06,912 --> 00:23:12,412
Speaker 1: at Tritt. Remember how I said we
wouldn't have a lot of time to make our move?

246
00:23:13,032 --> 00:23:18,612
Speaker 1: Regulus nodded. Clock's ticking. We
better find our mage fast.

247
00:23:19,812 --> 00:23:25,532
Speaker 1: Sandel squirmed against the man's
grip, but he held her tight. This is the

248
00:23:25,592 --> 00:23:27,632
Speaker 1: part where you tell me everything.

249
00:23:29,452 --> 00:23:33,512
Speaker 1: He emphasized his point by pressing
the knife just hard enough to prick her skin.

250
00:23:34,952 --> 00:23:40,832
Speaker 1: I'm here on a job. With who? Two
others. Hmm.

251
00:23:41,432 --> 00:23:47,272
Speaker 1: Hmm. Would that be the two men you
sat with? Yes. How did... Ah, ah, ah,

252
00:23:48,032 --> 00:23:53,652
Speaker 1: ah. Keep talking. He'd been watching
them? How? She'd been careful.

253
00:23:54,352 --> 00:23:59,172
Speaker 1: So careful. A job for who? Talk.

254
00:24:00,752 --> 00:24:06,572
Speaker 1: I can't say. The knife bit into
Sandel's skin, sinking in just half an inch, but

255
00:24:06,632 --> 00:24:09,712
Speaker 1: enough to make her gasp in pain. The
Puppeteer.

256
00:24:12,232 --> 00:24:17,612
Speaker 1: Figured, but I needed to be sure.
Didn't guess they'd send more than one team.
That

257
00:24:17,652 --> 00:24:23,404
Speaker 1: was dirty. Then he sighed, like he
was stealing himself to do

258
00:24:23,464 --> 00:24:29,344
Speaker 1: something he would dislike. And
Sandel's intuition told her this was it. If

259
00:24:29,404 --> 00:24:35,244
Speaker 1: she didn't fight now, there wouldn't
be another chance. She didn't drift, not right

260
00:24:35,304 --> 00:24:39,824
Speaker 1: away, because he would be expecting
that. Instead, she brought her head back as hard

261
00:24:39,864 --> 00:24:44,024
Speaker 1: as she could. She felt a crunch
against the back of her head and felt a knife
dig

262
00:24:44,064 --> 00:24:48,864
Speaker 1: into her side. Then she was drifting,
not forward toward the present frame, but

263
00:24:48,924 --> 00:24:54,824
Speaker 1: backward, backward as fast as she
could go. She flew through time. The shock
trooper

264
00:24:54,884 --> 00:24:59,924
Speaker 1: guards reappeared. The vault door
reappeared. Minutes flew by in mere seconds. She

265
00:24:59,964 --> 00:25:04,804
Speaker 1: watched the two guards talk to each
other silently with exaggerated speed. Harder.

266
00:25:05,144 --> 00:25:10,144
Speaker 1: She needed to push harder. A man with
a hat briefly flickered into view. She drifted

267
00:25:10,224 --> 00:25:15,364
Speaker 1: farther back in time to get away from
him. Her head was spinning. Nausea started to

268
00:25:15,444 --> 00:25:21,444
Speaker 1: set in. She'd never gone this fast,
never tried to race to the brink. The

269
00:25:21,504 --> 00:25:25,944
Speaker 1: man in the hat appeared in an instant
and rammed a shoulder into her. Sandel fell

270
00:25:26,024 --> 00:25:30,764
Speaker 1: over, drifted a dozen frames, then
got back up. He appeared next to her and stabbed

271
00:25:30,804 --> 00:25:34,584
Speaker 1: with the knife. She drifted away,
causing him to vanish just before the knife
struck

272
00:25:34,604 --> 00:25:40,044
Speaker 1: her. Sandel breathed heavily. Her
mind was stuffy. Her fingers tingled and her
limbs

273
00:25:40,084 --> 00:25:45,664
Speaker 1: went numb. Too fast. She was going
too fast. But she kept drifting

274
00:25:45,724 --> 00:25:51,444
Speaker 1: anyway. It was the only way, the only
way to escape. Sandel

275
00:25:51,484 --> 00:25:56,184
Speaker 1: didn't know how far back in time
she'd gone when she finally stopped. It had only

276
00:25:56,224 --> 00:26:02,044
Speaker 1: been a few minutes for her, but these
frames were probably hours old already. When

277
00:26:02,104 --> 00:26:07,884
Speaker 1: she stood, she looked up at open sky.
The train around her was melting away into

278
00:26:07,924 --> 00:26:13,324
Speaker 1: black dust. The desert around the
train was darkness, deep and black.

279
00:26:14,524 --> 00:26:19,444
Speaker 1: Two men lay on the ground here, one
curled up in a fetal position, the other

280
00:26:19,504 --> 00:26:24,624
Speaker 1: completely motionless. Sandel tried
to drift farther back but felt a strong

281
00:26:24,684 --> 00:26:30,644
Speaker 1: resistance. There were no older
frames. She was here. She

282
00:26:30,724 --> 00:26:36,344
Speaker 1: panicked and waited for it, but the
man in the hat didn't appear again. One of the

283
00:26:36,404 --> 00:26:42,384
Speaker 1: shock troopers on the ground looked
up at her. Are you real? Sandel

284
00:26:42,504 --> 00:26:48,304
Speaker 1: stumbled backward. What were they
doing here? They were alive? How did they

285
00:26:48,384 --> 00:26:53,544
Speaker 1: get here? She kept walking backwards.
The vault door was still here in this frame,

286
00:26:53,604 --> 00:26:58,384
Speaker 1: but part of the wall was missing
already. Finally, a bit of good luck. She
slipped

287
00:26:58,424 --> 00:27:02,464
Speaker 1: through the disintegrating wall and
ran down the length of the vault car, away from

288
00:27:02,504 --> 00:27:07,984
Speaker 1: the shock trooper. Where am I? Where
am

289
00:27:08,164 --> 00:27:10,144
Speaker 1: I? Where?

290
00:27:12,124 --> 00:27:16,424
Speaker 1: She kept running. She made it two
full train cars before the erosion finally
caught

291
00:27:16,484 --> 00:27:22,404
Speaker 1: up to her. The train ahead was
falling apart. The screaming man finally fell

292
00:27:22,464 --> 00:27:28,104
Speaker 1: silent as the erosion moved over him,
too. She waited until the very last

293
00:27:28,164 --> 00:27:34,164
Speaker 1: moment, until everything around her
was darkness, until everything was dust.

294
00:27:35,444 --> 00:27:37,904
Speaker 1: Then she drifted forward.