Chapter Twenty-Six
The Change
“The stuff of Legends is nothing more than the stuff of Myths.” —The H-Pad 11
H2, in her Operator jumpsuit, strode through the dusty path of the market with Alice in her backpack. Behind her marched Mex, Pete, and, at the rear, Woody.
Everyone stopped mid packing up and stared; the laughter, the bartering, the joshing silenced as the end of the day food sizzled, forgotten . . .
Never before had an Operator been seen to march down the market lane, let alone with a man spy—man spies walked alone, possibly with a robot behind them, but never with an Operator.
They watched, then gasped when Woody came into view, who, to quote one, “walked like a god.”
“A dwarf?”
“So handsome!”
“So young!”
Dwarves were the stuff of legends, especially one so young. The on
