Excerpt:

Melina shot them out of there a few seconds before they hit the ground. No one noticed - the guards were too busy catching the tilt of the ship caused by inefficient fuel disposal or something (Melina spoke about it at length but Emalia didn't understand much of it and cared about even less) and they didn't try to stop the speck of silver that disappeared out of the back. Looking back, Emalia noticed that the hole was some kind of exhaust. Gas flooded out of it the moment the vessel touched the ground.

"Is that poisonous?" asked Emalia.

"Only to... oh. Only to humans," said Melina. She glanced at Ane. "We really have to be more careful about these things now she's with us."

"Yes, well," said Ane, looking flustered for the first time since she appeared to Emalia. "Come. We should get to Kate's building."

"Kate?"

"Kate McGree," she replied. "She was a woman known to be looking for this cure, or rather someone who knew those who were. I've never met her."

"And now," said Melina, "you never will."

"Why not?" asked Emalia. She really was out of her depth here and feeling it. She wondered if this cold light-headedness was fear or the poison from the exhaust they'd flown through. "What's going on?"

"She was killed a year ago," said Ane. "It's likely by the self-same woman we're looking for now. Erica. She works for someone quite high up."

The planet was bizarre. The streets were all crowded together despite the size of it as if they were trying to cram as much as possible in, as if even this mass of people and factories and pollution wasn't yet enough. The air was worse than stale, it was rotten. It clogged up Emalia's throat and took a long time to get used to. She pulled the fabric of her top up over her nose and regretted that when she smelt the musk-sweet smell of her own unwashed body. She really didn't like this trip at all.

The buildings were tilted into each other above some of the smaller streets, friends looking for support from other fragile figures. It was a strange sight for someone who had really only seen houses that were multitudes of miles apart until today. Emalia didn't feel much like taking in the sights but it didn't stop her looking around. There was no point in keeping her eyes fixed to the ground. That was filthy itself and at least looking up she didn't have to wonder what she was treading on.

"What's that?" she asked once or twice, but neither Ane nor Melina seemed likely to reply. They walked quietly and Emalia was oddly satisfied to realise that Ane's pale robes were starting to soak up the grey dirt from the street. Melina looked like Ane's shadow, shortened by the noon light above them. Emalia felt like a useless figure behind them, a weight dragged along because there's nowhere convenient to put it. "Maybe I should have waited in the ship."

"You can go back if you wish," said Ane.

Emalia shook her head. It sounded like an excellent idea, honestly, but she didn't want to seem as weak as she felt. The planet was stirring up some strange interest in her, like she wanted to see more of this shipwreck just to see how bad things could get.

She had never had it this bad.