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I laugh "I’ve seen birds! We have chickens"

"No!" As with music "Those chickens aren’t even proper chickens I’ about real birds! Birds that tweet so loud you wake up in thebefore your alarm clock Birds that soar and swoop and fly!"

With that, she ju with her arht "You have no idea hoonderful it’s going to be!"

She sees birds and freedom and oceans

I see the ar, If Godspeed can still be your home, if it’s possible to stay on board--do so

"Yeah," I tell her, s as best I can "It’ll be brilly"

A me this look that says, You have no idea, and all I can think is that neither does she Centauri-Earth isn’t the Earth she came from She doesn’t knohat’s down there, no one does, the only one who had a clue about it was Orion, and it scared the shite out of hiht?" I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but she knows i about

"It’ll be worth it," A to question herself

"But--"

"No It will be Whatever is down thereMaybe it’s too dangerous Maybe on’t survive I don’t know But I do know I’ I won’t die on this ship I cannot live surrounded by walls Not now Not anyh the honeycorasp

"Maybe it’s a good thing so," Amy says, more serious now "There will be less trouble"

I meet Amy’s eyes

She narrows hers

"Orion ishe is going to be left here, right? We’re not taking him to the new planet, are we?"

"Amy--I can’t leave hi"

"If we left him here, he could be unfrozen He could live here on the ship"

I holdto be unfrozen anyway The timer can’t be stopped, just delayed"

She kicks her chair back and starts pacing Her hair swings out every tiry swipe of a red blade

"Bartie and I talked about it Doc will stay here and he will be punished, but Bartie’s going to give him a tree-all"

"A trial," Amy corrects me automatically

I didn’t ask Bartie what Doc’s punish with us to Centauri-Earth But Bartie was closer to Victria than I was, and I know Doc’s punishment will be severe

"So, that’s it?" Aets Doc and you get Orion?"

"So like that," I say Bartie needed Doc, but neither of us knehat to do with Orion If he wakes up on the ship, Doc will support him and undermine Bartie If he comes with us to the new planet, he’ll still cause trouble Neither of us illing to unplug him or throw him out of the hatch In the end, I volunteered

"It’s not fair," she says "Why should he co to cause more chaos Can’t you see that? He’s frozen, and people are still being killed and blowing up all kinds of crap for hiine what he’ll do when he wakes up"

I shake my head "It was always the plan He would wake up with the other frozens, and they would judge him for his crie," she shoots back "You could just leave him here"

I could I know I could It would be far simpler But I also know--because, no matter how much I want to deny it, we’re bound--so I know, I knowhe wants off He left those clues for Amy to find, he left the decision for Amy to makebut the mere fact that he left clues, that he didn’t destroy our hope of leaving shows that, ultimately, he--like me--wants off Godspeed

I can’t condemn him to a life behind the walls of Godspeed, even if he deserves it

"I’ll let the frozens judge him, and I’ll stick by what they say," I tell Ahten; there’s a narrohite line on the edge of them "It won’t be as si to the new planet," I say

As can’t be the sa Orion with us"

"I can’t believe you’d take away the planet from anyone, even Orion"

She looks at rav tube without another word

I go to Eldest’s room in the dark, alone The Keeper Robe lies on the floor, wrinkled

I leave it there

72

AMY