Sven Sigmundsson sat in his chair and waited. His blue eyes scanned the screens in his station. He looked down for the hundredth time to make sure his tanned bag sat by the door. Once he was moving, he wouldn't have time to come back for it, or his guitar.

He wished it didn't have to be this way, but you couldn't quit the Service. Din, the head of the Authority, would give his remaining eye before he allowed one of his soldiers to leave. They were massing against the final battle with the giants. All hands were needed.

Sven didn't think that he was necessary to that effort. One ant didn't make that much of a difference to the colony in his opinion.

He checked the towers on both sides of his station. When he left, there would be a hole in the defenses until his replacement arrived. If there was an action, someone would note that he wasn't shooting like the other two towers and someone would be sent to check on him.

He planned to be gone for a long time before he was missed.

Sven called up the local space-time net on his operations screen. He checked the clock. He would have an opening in less than an hour. He should get moving if he wanted to use the intersection.

He picked up his bag with his meager belongings and guitar sticking out of it. He slung it over his shoulder. He took one last look around before he left for good.

He spent numerous years guarding against a threat that hadn't come. He doubted it ever would. He rubbed his face and decided he should go before he lost his nerve.

It might take him years to get enough nerve to leave if he stalled now.

Sven pulled on his battered Stetson and opened the door to his station. He looked out in the bright hall. No one walked through. He nodded at himself before he stepped out in the hall and headed for the emergency stairs.

He couldn't chance running into his colleagues. They would want to know why he was not at his station, or why he was walking around in a work only area. He doubted explaining that he was deserting would make him look better than being a slacker.

He opened the emergency stairs with his weapon. He stepped inside and looked for anyone who might want to stop him. He headed down when he was sure he was alone.

The stations were built into a wall surrounding the city state of Asgar. They housed armament designed to kill giants on sight. Sally ports dotted the base of the wall, but they weren't used by the soldiers.

No one was going outside if they could avoid it.

Sven reached the sally port closest to his station. He raised his right arm. His weapon, bands of metal connected to a wrist band, changed to a key that fitted his hand. He opened the door with it. He stepped outside and closed and locked the door behind him so no one could get in.

He didn't want to leave Asgar open to attack if he could help it.

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Deserting didn't mean he was going to turn over the city to its enemies. They would have to find their own way in.

He passed through the sally port and headed for where the intersection would occur. The plan meant he would have to go through things until he was sure he had lost any pursuit.

As long as he didn't land any place close to the home cities of the Jotun, he should be able to reach one of the mortal worlds and use the inhabitants to blend in.

He wished he could have packed a space-time map but that would have given away his scheme that much sooner.

Sven tried to keep his profile down as he walked on the grass outside the wall. He hoped that no one had spotted him. A firebolt to the back would stop his escape in a blaze of glory.

He smiled when he spotted the intersection coming into being at the edge of the strip of grass. Once he was through that, he was off Asgar land, and somewhere else. He could move faster if the other intersection was in place like he had planned.

If it wasn't, he was stuck on the other side of the intersection until he found another random door, or the Service found him.

Neither appealed to him in the slightest.

Sven took three running steps and stepped out of the shadow of the Wall and into snow up to his knees. He looked around as he plowed ahead. He spotted the other intersection starting to shift away from where he stood. He lunged through the snow and leaped through the closing door before it slammed shut in his face.

The moisture soaking his pants and boots boiled away as he took stock of where he had landed. He frowned at the heat and streams of boiling rock around him. He needed to move on before the natives found him.

There was no love lost between Asgar and the Muspell. If they caught him roaming on their lands, he could expect a drawn out fiery end. It wouldn't matter to them that he was running from his duty to find a new life among humans.

He needed another intersection so he could keep moving. His weapon buzzed to indicate the direction he should take if he wanted to reach the next random door. He followed its urging.

Sven ran across the lava fields. He found breathing hard, and smoke rolled from his boots. He saw the next intersection forming. He smiled. All he had to do was jump over a stream of glowing liquid and run up a hump of rock to go somewhere else.

Wherever he went had to be more survivable than the Muspell lands.

He heard something that made his blood run cold as he ran toward the intersection. He looked over his shoulder. Masses of fire and rock chased after him. Some held burning air in their rudimentary hands.

He forced himself to run faster as he avoided falling into the cooking stew around him. He jumped the stream and landed on a piece of land that broke on impact and started floating away from the shore. He leaped again and ran toward the mound in front of him. The ground shifted under his feet to make him fall. He jumped on the hummock and jumped again as it started to collapse under his weight. He passed through the intersection into cool darkness.

Sven took a moment to catch his breath and let his lungs enjoy the normal air. He looked around. He stood in a place full of books. He smiled.

Then he realized the lights were off, and he was standing in a closed place full of books. He didn't hear an alarm. Had he set one off, or had the intersection cloaked his arrival from the Muspell? He raised his weapon and looked around for anyone to approach him.

His listening ears told him he was alone.

He didn't want to clash with human authorities. He needed to leave before they found him and thought he was burglarizing the books. He didn't want to start his new life on the run in his new home.

Sven decided that he could hide in the book place if he moved fast enough. When the Authorities arrived, he could make a judgement on if he could stand up to their force.

If he was lucky, he might be able to sneak around the shop and use it as a temporary home until he found a place on his own.

He thought it was risky, but he had nothing to lose.

How long would it take the local guards to check out an alarm? He surveyed the room for routes. Then he moved from his spot.