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The toas half an hour away, down past a dozen other houses like hers The older houses all came from the first wave—scientists and researchers like her parents who’d coates opened The town itself, though, came later, with the soldiers Even Cara could re down the foundations of the barracks and the town square, theand the fusion plant Most of the soldiers still lived in orbit, but every , another street Xan’s friend Santiago was seven years old He was the child of soldiers, and had their boldness He often came all the way out to her house by himself so he could play Sorow out around all their houses The pond and the forest would be taken down, paved over, rebuilt The way he said it, it didn’t sound like a good thing or a bad one Just a change, like winter

For now, though, her house was her house and the toas the town, and she could sit at her kitchen table while the others got ready to go someplace else Momma bird didn’t move The more Cara looked at the bird, the less real it see that clearly dead ever have swu a rock to sing The babies would be wondering what had happened by now Calling for their o back up to the nest with no one there to show them when

“Moo back out the door again “I need to use the sa drone”

There was a line that appeared between herat the saht now Your father and I—”

“I can do it I just need to help take care of Momma bird’s babies Just for a few days, until they’re used to her being gone I s up I need to fix them”

The line erased itself, her oing to say yes

“No, baby I’oes wrong, we can’t get a new one”

“But—” Cara gestured to Momma bird

“When I get back, I’ll take it out with you if you still want to,” her h that probably wasn’t true By the tiot back from the town, Xan would be tired and hyperactive and her parents would just be tired All anyone would want to do was sleep A few baby sunbirds didn’t really s

Santiago’s voice ca note of young, ht toward the doorway

“Okay, Mom,” Cara said

“Thank you, babygirl,” her mother said, then walked out Their voices cah for her to hed, but froone Cara sat alone in the silence of the house

She walked through the rooms, her hands stuffed deep in her pockets, her scowl so hard it ached a little She kept trying to find rong Everything was in place, except that soes by the doors where their hands had left marks over the months and years The white flakes at the corners shohere the la old The house had only been designed to last five years, and they’d been in it for eight so far Her room, with its raised futon, across the hall fro out over the dirt road her fae, just at her belly, and she couldn’tabout the house seem crappy and small

She threw herself onto her futon, staring up at the ceiling and wondering if she was going to cry But she didn’t She just lay there for a while, feeling bad And when that got boring, she rolled over and grabbed her books They were on a thin foil tablet keyed to her Her parents had loaded it with poeaet in touch with the networks back on the far side of the gates, they could have updated it But with the soldiers, that wasn’t possible All the content in it was aier than Xan, but it hat she had, so she loved it Or usually she did

She opened the stories, looking through the at a wound It took a few minutes to find it, but she did A picture book called Ashby Allen Akere was in watercolors, gray and blue with little bits of gold at the streetlights Ashby and her h, twisting, beautiful shape of the Daniau Tower behind the for was on the side An old wo bits of bread at birds that her e ca kind to a bird and nobody was dying No one was hurt And it wasn’t even exactly a lie, because apparently she could do that on Earth In Paris Where she’d never been and didn’t have any reason to think she’d ever go But if all the things in her books were about other places with other rules, then none of the to school oneout that ot the sa