The walk back to the hangar was a quiet, grim procession. The vibrant energy of the Bazaar felt like a mockery now. The scents of cooking food and exotic fuels were just background noise to their failure. The dazzling lights of merchant stalls seemed to highlight the darkness of their dead end.
Reia walked beside Lucian, her voice low, cutting through the ambient noise. "The probability of the abductor being on Earth is negligible. He's demonstrated access to technology and magic that doesn't exist there. He moves through the wider universe like it's his backyard." She glanced at the teeming, multi-species crowd. "Our best chance of finding any trace of him, any pattern, is out here. In the chaos. This is his hunting ground, not ours. We need to learn the terrain."
Lucian didn't look at her, his eyes scanning the crowded thoroughfares with a new, cold calculation.
Before Reia could respond, a small, frantic figure burst from a side alley, colliding hard with her legs.
