Chapter 18
Birk prowled the empty streets of Alpha-Xi like a lost poltergeist looking for a house to haunt. Alpha-Xi was a city that had never been truly alive before it died, and somehow—though Birk had never noticed it before—that made all the difference. The body of the town was intact, but its soul had been aborted centuries before Birk was even born.
When he first came into the city he was in no condition to measure such delicate feelings. He was still smarting from the sting of Michi’s betrayal and still smoldering with the fires of his resentment. Sleep was difficult, coming in too-short intervals from which he fitfully awoke with his body dripping in sweat. He’d been most afraid of having nightmares, but he couldn’t sleep long enough for any to come. He was reduced, instead, to r
