Keith's hands tightened on the controls as he wrung a little more speed out of the hoverbike, twisting to shift it just enough to one side to slip through the tiny fissure in the rock. . .

He exploded out of it again barely a second later, skimming the edge of a cliff and dodging the scant, hardy trees that clung to the sheer rock face above him. He threw his head back with a whooping laugh, heart singing and light for the first time in months as he let himself go, pushing as hard as he could in the flight.