gistfile1.txt

Gyges was already waiting at the dropship lock. Nemes said, “I’ll take the 
town, you move downriver to the farcaster arch and make sure that nothing
gets through—going upriver or down—without your checking it out. Phase 
down to send a squirt message and I’ll shift periodically to check the band.
If you find him or the girl, ping me.” It was possible to communicate via
common band while phase-shifted, but the energy expenditure was so horribly
high—aboye and beyond the unimaginable energy needed just for the phase-shift
—that it was infinitely more economical to shift down at intervals to check
the common band. Even a ping alarm would use the equivalent of this world’s
entire energy budget for a year.

Rise of Endymion
Chapter 11