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don’t butcher until right before they cook. They don’t keep them around long enough for them to starve, so they just have to give them the bare minimum of water.”
    Ling looked at the images for a long while.
    â€œThat’s your assessment, Shao?” he asked.
    â€œI’ve seen it before, sir.”
    â€œOkay,” Ling said. “We’ll keep an eye on those thermals. If they don’t move by the time you’re ready to go in, then work on the assumption that there are survivors inside and they’ll need to be recovered,” he said. “You’ll all get brain band links to the new images, and we’ll keep it updated from here as best we can. Any other questions?”
    There weren’t.
    â€œThen the transport is waiting,” Ling said. “It will take you to the rim’s security wall. They’ll provide you with everything you need to go into the impact zone, so get geared up and wait for word that it’s clear to go in. Remember: When you hit, hit hard. I want that plant out of commission. If there are captives inside, then get them out safe, but anyone else, you know what to do. Once the site is secure, make sure no one ever uses it again. Understood?”
    â€œUnderstood, sir,” Heng said.
    â€œThen let’s go.”
    Heng stood and addressed the rest of us.
    â€œYou heard him,” he said. “Transport pad 54B. Let’s move.”
    When I stood and we began to file out, Liao and Su made their way over to me.
    â€œReady to take care of some bad guys?” Liao asked.
    â€œReady.”
    â€œHe’s going to show us how they do things in the borderlands,” he said to Su.
    â€œTake no prisoners,” Su said. “Right?”
    â€œRight,” I said, and Liao grinned.
    â€œI should have joined,” he said.
    â€œYou still can,” I told him, but he just shrugged. He wouldn’t join.
    It felt like soldiering, though. Watching the younger men file through the door, watching them get psyched up for the promise of action to come, it reminded me of the border zone. For one of the first times since I’d returned, I felt at home.
    When I followed them out, the situation felt black and white, like Ling had said. No conflicting orders, no turning a blind eye . . . just stopping the bad guys from hurting the good guys.
    Simple.

FIVE
    Stationed on the security wall at the impact rim, a day passed with no word from command. The men’s excitement turned to frustration, until they’d holed up in the barracks below to alternate between watching the brain band feed and complaining. Without so much as an update from Ling, a second day passed, and with Fangwenzhe burning in the dark blue sky, the order to go in still had not come.
    Scanning . . .
    The word pulsed in one corner of my brain band’s holoscreen as it had for the past hour. I’d been searching for a remote node, any node that might belong to a captive inside the factory. No doubt the farmers had disabled any implants they found, but if I did catch a signal I could use a security override to access the device. If I could do that, I’d be able to switch it back on, but after a long stretch of silence I thought I might have to concede soon that there was nothing to find.
    Just one signal. Anything at all.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing up here?”
    I glanced back and saw Liao had come up to join me.
    â€œKilling time.”
    â€œKilling time?” He approached and leaned against the rail next to me.
    â€œScanning the brain band for nodes.”
    â€œWhy? You think if you find proof someone’s in there they’ll give the order for us to go in?”
    â€œNo. They know they’re in there.”
    Liao shrugged. When he didn’t say anything, I pressed him. “What’s the deal, Liao? Ling was primed for this. Hell, for a second I thought he was going to grab a sword and lead the charge.