Raleigh blinked at TamLin’s retreating back as the StretSec officer went back the way he’d come. “Why isn’t anyone arresting me? I attacked Thir—”

She stumbled over her own tongue and quickly ran a find-and-replace search on her memory storage to overwrite what she called her roommate. “Kitten!”

“Oh,” Kasy said lightly, “I’m sure he’ll take that out on whoever…did whatever to your programming that made you do that.”

Kasy squinted at her remaining coworker—Misha, she’d said—and managed to keep her tone confident even while her words revealed that she didn’t quite know what was going on. At least her pimp hadn’t broken her yet; that would make it easier to get her away, once Raleigh had enough information to be able to help.

“What kind of universe has those indenture things, anyway?” Kasy asked.

Misha shrugged helplessly.

Kitten ignored the question, focusing instead on their surroundings, her eyes jumping as if she were analyzing something.

Raleigh scanned the area, herself, but she had no idea what Kitten was looking for or had noticed. “I don’t know what they mean with that query about an indenture getting paid, but I’ve been told I’m from an ‘apex universe’.”

From the expressions of TamLin’s two coworkers, that didn’t mean anything to either of them.

Kitten met her gaze and glanced after TamLin in pointed suggestion.

“He’s an asshole,” Raleigh said.

The younger woman raised both eyebrows, as if to ask, ‘And you think I don’t know that because…?’

“He beat you up yesterday!”

Kitten gave a slight sigh, mostly a release of breath, and looked to TamLin’s two coworkers. “We should go.”

“What is a class-five breach, anyway?” Misha asked.

“Tech-based entrance to this universe by items and-or persons unknown,” Kitten answered promptly.

“Oh,” he said. “So that would be normal, then. …What do you mean, no?”

Apparently he could read Kitten’s expression perfectly fine.

“Inability to calculate transference of mass means it’s a bridge, not a portal.”

Raleigh tried not to stare at Kitten, caught off guard by how…loquacious the girl was being.

“Most common for this universe’s point of development is a class four: mod-based entrance by sufficient mass to be a person.”

“‘Mod’ meaning ‘biological modification’?” Raleigh asked.

Kitten didn’t answer, just turned about and followed after TamLin.

The two coworkers exchanged a glance and then gestured for Raleigh to do the same.