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Ruby cursed, and told Ani, “Keep the blood out of his eyes and put pressure on the wound.”
    She reached across the man’s inert body and picked up his stunner, which had fallen on the other side of him. She checked it for charge. It was good, barely used at all.
    She stood up behind the other guards. There were at least twenty or twenty-five attackers standing close outside the train door. None had gained entrance. A few sprawled on the ground, as stunned as the guard who now lay bleeding behind her.
    She looked for a face she knew among the attackers, found it. Sylva. Right there in front, her small pinched features pulled tight by her high gray ponytail. She wore a full red uniform and held a stunner in each hand. She seemed to be searching the train car.
    Looking for Ruby.
    Ruby took a half-step forward.
    Sylva’s eyes met Ruby’s.
    Ruby screamed, “Hope.” She raised her arm and aimed. “It’s about hope, you bitch!” She fired.
    Sylva sneered at her and raised her right hand, sighting down the stunner.
    Ruby ducked. It was clear now that she’d missed.
    The man closest to Ruby fell.
    A door in the back of the train station sprang open.
    Two of the reds fell forward.
    Three of Joel’s people pushed in through the door. One of them was built like Chitt, although Ruby couldn’t see her face to be sure. It looked like there were more behind them. Some of the attackers turned and fired at the new threat.
    The fight looked surreal. Part dance, part struggle.
    The train beeped and someone pulled her backwards. The station doors and the train doors shut in concert, and all she could see through the porthole window in the door was a blur of activity.
    Ruby checked to be sure that everyone was okay. The stunned man had stopped bleeding and there were two more stretched out on the floor. Ani moved among them, making sure they were in natural positions; they couldn’t move themselves until their nervous systems woke up. Onor saw to Joel’s arm. The remaining guards wandered about the train car, talking in low tones and watching the dull and featureless tunnel go by.
    She leaned against the wall of the train behind the door, muttering, “It’s about hope.”

Onor didn’t relax until the train doors slid open to reveal the muted greens and golds of a command station. Four of Joel’s staff stood waiting for them: Laird, SueAnne, Bruce, and Michael. Three old men and an old woman, all of them gray-haired and severe.
    Onor turned to help Joel and Ruby off the train. Ruby looked shocked and Joel’s arm still hung limply at his side. The effect of the partial hit should wear off soon. The three men who had been more thoroughly stunned were all awake now, although they needed help getting out of the train. Joel ignored Onor’s offered hand and helped Ruby down himself, but he did give Onor an approving nod. “You were good back there. Thank you.”
    Onor fought a rising blush in his cheeks. “I want to know how they made the train stop.”
    â€œNot as much as I do.”
    Joel’s lieutenants surrounded them. SueAnne put a gnarled hand on Joel’s arm, and whispered just loud enough for Onor to hear. “Ix has news. It’s waiting for you.”
    A brief pout crossed Ruby’s face, quickly replaced by curiosity. As they moved down the corridor toward the map room, SueAnne shuffled and hitched in an odd gait, her face screwed into a look that suggested moving this fast required a true effort.
    Maybe the battle they’d just been in was one of many. Maybe there was a bigger organized resistance than he or Joel had thought possible. After all, no one had expected the opposition to be able to stop a train. It implied a lot of people helping Sylva and Ellis.
    He’d been fascinated with power for a long time, with the way it changed people’s actions. And since they’d won, he’d learned something else about