Tyki hesitated, then knelt down in front of Phoenix and shrugged out of his suit jacket. The white shirtsleeves underneath were stained red and the stain was spreading, but he wasn't too worried.

He started to roll the sleeve up, but it was awkward to get it high enough. "I think there might be more on your world," he said with a sigh. "And on other worlds, too. Every minute I spend, people are dying."

He gestured with his unhurt arm towards a pile of dust resting on the sidewalk. There were clothes in and around it, as if the person wearing them had literally fallen to dust in seconds and the clothes had simply deflated. Which was precisely what had happened.