"Call me Mr. Rattlebone, Holy Ghost who haunts your home."

There it was again. Arizona had asked George Mendoza where the noise was coming from, but he just shrugged. "This is a sad, odd place, my dear," he'd told her. "I think the mysterious song is the least of our worries." He was probably right. Nevertheless, she didn’t like that song at all. It made her think of the grayish-green desert surrounding her home city, full of nothing but rocks and bones.

Suddenly, she remembered the box. She'd forgotten all about it in the chaos. Evidently it belonged to a man who lived on the sixth floor, though she didn’t understand how it came to be in his possession. She had immediately recognized the faint infrared glow characteristic of perilium alloys, but not until she touched the lock did she realize it was morbidium. Death metal. It sent an electric shock up her arm, numbing her skin and turning it turquoise. She desperately needed to call Agent Henry.

“Theodora Henry, AETA.”

“Agent Henry, where is the John Doe?”

“Oh, hello, Arizona. Has the storm passed?”

Arizona huffed. That wasn’t what she wanted. “Yes, it was bad. I do not want to talk about it. Where is the John Doe?”

“Brownville, about 7 miles south of here. A local recognized him from the Wanted posters.”

Arizona was relieved. He was further away than she thought. “Thank you many, Agent Henry.”

“No problem, Arizona. Talk to you soon.”

Later, she was back up her favorite tree in Yelsnag Park, thinking. This John Doe, as Agent Henry and Agent O’Connor called him, was very scary. Back home they called him Nightwatcher; he worked in the secret police by day and ran a violent smugglers gang by night. He hated Arizona with a passion. She had beat him in everything at school, despite spending half her time in the reform room, and ended up with a better job, despite being an opponent of government policies. He was the only one could have possible brought the death metal box to Earth. The AETA was taking too long to catch him, she decided. Might as well do it herself.

These thoughts surprised her. For months, it seemed like Earth had taken away all her fearlessness; her homesickness manifested as reluctance and negativity. Thankfully, her courage returned with the storm. Now, all she needed was a plan.