“Oh, I know a lot of people like that.” He laughs. “Is he nice?”

When Luka’s hand reaches the engraved surface, he immediately recognizes the inscription as Braille. His parents had enrolled him in Braille lessons nearly as soon as he had been cleared from the hospital, and reading it now was no sweat.

“Which way?” He asks Ten. None of the brief descriptions particularly hinted at where the answers were most likely to be found, or where Nine’s machine would be. Probably not in ‘veggies’, but you never know.