- Their doom was sealed at the gate
Steel chariots vanish'd in still clear night
Glorious terrain left undefended
Till the river changes course.Quatrain 88, Century 9
Cade investigates a section of road where a number of drivers have mysteriously disappeared.
Tropes:
- BBC Quarry: The Quantum Pocket appears to be filmed in one of these, full of abandoned cars of people who've been trapped there.
- The Bermuda Triangle: The titular mile marker where people have disappeared is explicitly compared to the Triangle, which is theorised to be another Gua experiment.
- Pocket Dimension: People who go missing at the mile marker end up trapped in a Quantum Pocket. In a war, this effect could be expanded to catch things like fighter planes.
- Reverse Polarity: How Cade escapes the Quantum Pocket.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Cade is feeling the pressure of being a fugitive while fighting a secret war, all to protect people who would happily arrest him, and is thinking seriously about getting a fake passport and getting the hell out of Dodge.
- Title Drop: The titular mile marker is a gateway to a Gua Quantum Pocket.
