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That brought him back “Clear?”

“Those gentle sure they don’t get too happy about following us Once the relief ships actually get here, I expect you’ll be on your way”

“You got so, then?”

“Oh h “Half a dozen of our finest Probably more than we need, but we’re not in a place where anyone wants to take risks”

“I’ his eyes The silence felt weird He opened theain The doctor stood where she had been before, her shtly in front of her There were tears in her eyes

“Sos happened while you were out,” she said “You should probably know about them”

Bobbie stood up and hugged hi rooht jumpsuit just like the one they’d provided hi enveloped in her arer besides He would have i held like that by an attractive woman would have had some erotic element, but all he felt was a deep sense of their shared vulnerability

He’d never been on Earth He didn’t know it there Until now, he wouldn’t have said he had any particular connection to the place That he rong about that was a revelation A quarter billion dead between the strikes and the tsuna failures of infrastructure, and surface tetime northern hemisphere under the vast clouds of dust and water and debris The major cities had fusion reactors for power, but everywhere that still relied on distributed solar was running out of battery reserves Billions eneral was dead, as were an unknown nu back ships fro a cordon around the planet in fear of further strikes The failed coup on Tycho and the dark fleet that they’d stumbled into, it all felt like a footnote to what had happened to humanity’s home world

And the worst thing was no one kneho’d done it all Or why

Bobbie let hio and stepped back He saw the same hollowness he felt reflected in her eyes

“Holy shit,” he said

“Yeah”

Everything about the debriefing roohts were indirect and shadowless The walls had the same warm brown as the medical bay Crash couches surrounded a small, built-in table instead of a desk It was the kind of space Alex associated with psychiatrists’ offices in fil to see the place ane that Alex was there She nodded to a small alcove opposite the door

“You want some tea? They have tea”

“Sure,” Alex said “Okay Are you all right?”