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this damaged, I can’t take a risk on some colony repair bay. We’re headed to Wuxia. It’s not Paradox, I know, but you should be able to find something suitable.”
    That was an understatement. Wuxia was a Terran Republic core world and one of the biggest trade centers in the universe. If I couldn’t find a replacement for Phoebe there, it didn’t exist. “Thank you sir,” I said again.
    Caldswell nodded and turned back to the window. I waited a moment to see if he would dismiss me, but he said nothing. I was about to ask if that was all when he suddenly spoke again.
    “Have any of your memories come back?”
    “No sir.” Hyrek had assured me that my memories would come back in time, but the blank spot in my head was just as empty now as it had been when I’d first woken up in the medbay. Of course, considering the hours I’d been pulling, I was surprised I remembered my name. The captain didn’t seem troubled at my answer, though. He just nodded again and told me to get some sleep.
    I bowed out of habit and left, stumbling up the stairs to my bunk as Basil’s whistling voice came over the com to start the jump countdown.
    We entered hyperspace with barely a bump, but we could have crashed into the gate and I don’t think I’d have noticed. I was so tired I felt almost feverish, and I fell onto my bunk face-first, diving into my pillow without even saying hello to Nova, who’d come in behind me. I was asleep the second I was flat, and I didn’t move again until the alarm sounded to signal our arrival at Wuxia.
    Wuxia was deeper into the Terran Republic than I’d ever been. My work in the Blackbirds only took me to the lawless fringes, and now that the war was over, the Paradoxian army never entered Terran space. As such, I’d never set foot on a Republic core world before, but I’d heard a ton about them, especially Wuxia. It was supposed to be one of the oldest human colonies, founded by early jumpers from Old Earth back before the ancient human homeworld had collapsed. After all that buildup, I was expecting something majestic and historic. Something impressive. What I got was a lot of smog.
    I couldn’t even see the ground as the Fool entered the atmosphere, just black clouds and the glow of lights below. The view wasn’t much better after we broke through the cloud cover. Being such an old colony, the vast majority of Wuxia’s landmass was covered in city. That normally wouldn’t have bothered me, but I was used to big, beautiful cities like Kingston. Wuxia just looked decrepit, crowded, and filthy.
    The industrial grime was so thick it tinted the air brown, and the buildings, even the newer-looking skyscrapers, were coated in a greasy film. We’d set down on the daylight side of the planet, but thanks to the heavy clouds you couldn’t actually tell that from the ground. Between the smog and the huge buildings, the sun didn’t have a chance, though it was still plenty bright. Massive projected signs shone in the sky, blanketing the heavy clouds in a wash of glowing advertisements that shed their neon light onto the buzzing city in the sun’s stead.
    I went outside just long enough to look in a full circle before going back into the ship. I’ve never cared for Terran cities at my most charitable, and a minute outside on Wuxia had almost been enough to choke my suit’s air filter. That, plus the huge traffic jams I could see on the public skyways even at this distance, told me this was no place for sensible people. Hell, it was probably no place for Terrans.
    Because of the Terran Republic’s draconian armor regulations, I could only legally wear my suit while I was on Caldswell’s ship. Since I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, that suited me fine, but the Terran work crews who showed up to fix the ship shortly after we landed seemed unnerved to have a Paradoxian in full armor watching them. That suited me fine as well. The war might be over, but scaring Terrans witless is one of