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BEAR

As his hovercoach navigated the streets of the city, Bear felt more and more impatient.

“Faster!” he growled, pounding on the steering deck of the coach. It was moving down ever-narrowing roads in what was obviously a poorer part of the city. “Can’t you go any faster?”

“The maximum safe speed has already been achieved,” the maddening mechanical voice of the coach informed him. “To go faster would be breaking the local speeding laws.”

“I don’t give a damn about the laws—go faster! I authorize more speed as a Kindred Ambassador to the Karpsian government!” he exclaimed desperately.

At last he seemed to have said something that helped.

“You are requesting government override of speeding laws?” the coach inquired.

“Yes, yes!” Bear growled. “You have my credentials—they’re in my communications device. Now go faster, you stupid fuck!”

“Profanity is not necessary,” the coach informed him primly. “Override granted.”

And finally it began to speed up. But as he watched the red dot on the screen of his device move erratically from place to place, Bear feared it wouldn’t be enough to get him to Aleena in time…