"I have no doubt that you're right," she said. "But the town I have in mind is a very long way from the Storm Divide—indeed, a very long way from any E-Rep officers, and from this very planet."

She set the safety on her S&W and put it down, so that she could give him her full attention. "What I'm about to tell you will be very difficult to believe, and I can certainly forgive you for thinking me mad, or a fabulist. But I ask that you hear me out all the same, and listen with as open a mind as you can."