THE SHUTTLE DOORS OPENED, and Jas unexpectedly got her first close-up glimpse of Dawn. She’d thought there would be some kind of sealed tunnel leading them from the shuttle to the testing center, something to keep them separate to prevent the spread of any infection they might be carrying. What she saw instead, beyond the shuttle runway and perimeter fence, were undulating hills of some kind of mossy material the color of copper. It was a warm, fresh hue, and the air that swept into the shuttle was fresher still, fresh and humid, and had a light scent unlike anything Jas had encountered.
Armed guards appeared at the bottom of the shuttle ramp, and Jas and Lingiari followed them down the runway to a low, white building that looked like it’d been built from a kit, as it probably had. No oth
