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And the closest ship to it right noas the Tempest

She could order her communications forces not to use it That was easy But the EMC intelligence forces also had access to it And Saba’s underground The more people who couldAnd it was easy enough for her to shut it down One signal packet would do it, like toggling a light off It would go into a passive listening state, and soister as inably vast ocean of the void

Going dark was the right thing to do But she rebelled at it

“What’s the point,” she said, “of having so you can’t use? Functionally, it’s the saan again The Teate

“Preserving so, sa sa que?” Vaughn said

“Was being rhetorical,” Drummer said

“Apologies,” Vaughn said

“Tell them …” It was more than herinto Medina It was her link to Saba What if he needed to reach her? What if so happened, and his call for help died in silence because she was being too careful? Loneliness widened in her chest, stretched until it felt bigger than she was Emptier “Tell them to shut it down Save it for a rainy day”

“Yes, hn said, and turned to leave

“Have you ever seen rain, Vaughn?” she said, stopping hi herself a few more seconds with the connection to Medina and Saba still there Even if she couldn’t use it

“No, ma’am Never been to Earth Never plan to”

“‘Rainy day,’ though We still say it”

“Inner planet cultural ihn said

“Rain isn’t just for inners It rains on Titan too It’s methane instead of water, but you can see it if you’re in the domes there I spent my madhu chandra week there A billion dots on the surface of the doe clouds behind it? They look like tiny dark stars If you can see theood He couldn’t see them But I could”

“If you say so, hn said Either he was ined he was Well, fuck you too, she thought, but didn’t say it in case it was just her