Book excerpt: A local cop. A US Peacekeeper. A divided Tokyo. In the future, two mismatched cops must work together to solve crimes in a divided Tokyo. Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers. In the city of drone-enforced borders, bodymod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda. Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace. This is the first episode of Ninth Step Station. Created by Malka Older, whose Infomocracy was named one of Kirkus' "Best Fiction of 2016", with cowriters Jacqueline Koyanagi (author of Ascension), Fran Wilde (2016 Nebula Award nominee, and winner of the 2016 Andre Norton and Compton Crook awards), and Curtis C. Chen (2017 Locus Awards and Endeavour Award Finalist).