Curtis lifts his head and draws back, just enough to look at Dejah in open astonishment.

But you're Front, he thinks. And she's not like Wilford sitting alone in the engine, never venturing out to the rest of his creation. She's talked so much about reaching out to her people. Helping them. Fighting alongside them. Shit, one of her friends even threatened to kill Curtis if he hurt her.

How can he matter so much? How can she be alone?