Outside the atrium, in a room lined with ship manifests and faded photographs, Mara found a picture of a girl with the same laugh lines as the captain. A woman had once captained a vessel called LEEHEE EXPRESS here, before the Collapse took her and her people. The girl in the photograph held a similar spherical device. Someone here had tried to return home and failed; someone had hidden the device in the lanes for a crew brave or foolish enough to take it back to life.
: This is the specific serial number or release ID for this set. Collectors and followers of the brand use these codes to catalog different shoots. LEEHEE EXPRESS - LEDG-158 - GMS-51P-154MB-
On their return, LEDG-158 moved across the lanes with a purpose that had outgrown transit and become pilgrimage. Word, as it always did, slipped out from port to port: a ship with a glowing crate, a device that sang old routes. Merchants came, diplomats rang their bells, and a delegation arrived with greased smiles and positions at court. They wanted maps; they wanted a monopoly over the routes the Bluebell carried. They offered payment that could buy a dozen new engines. Outside the atrium, in a room lined with