They made a camp of sorts in the shadow of a collapsed building, far enough from the assembly square that the wreckage of the Sentinel wouldn't draw attention if another one passed through. Veera set about calibrating the perimeter alarm proximity canisters she'd pulled from the Drop-Drone's emergency kit, small, squat cylinders she spaced along the rubble line, each paired with the next by a thin line-of-sight laser. Katya watched her work.
"Veera," Katya said, after a stretch of silence. "What is space like?"
Veera crouched over a proximity canister, checking the calibration readout. "It's OK, I guess. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know." Katya drew her knees up to her chest, hugging them. "I always wondered what it would be like. To live among the stars."
"You do live among the stars."
Katya rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
Veera moved to the next canister. "To be honest, it's not much different from living here. Different planets, different atmospheres, different night skies." She paused, looking at the readout again. "But it's the same humans everywhere."
"That makes me sad."
"Why? You're not missing out on much."
"I meant," Katya said quietly, "it makes me sad for you."
Veera looked up from the proximity cannister in front of her.
"You get to see all of it," Katya said, "and it's just normal to you. If I had the opportunity– all those stars, all those people– I'd live in a constant state of wonder." She picked at a scab on her calf. "I hope I never outgrow it."
Veera looked at her for a moment, then back at the proximity canister. "You're still young. Everything has a sense of wonder at your age."
"Mmm."
It wasn't a sound of agreement.
Katya reached into her robes and lifted out a small golden locket on a chain, turning it in her fingers. She opened it with her thumbnail, looked inside, and said nothing until Veera wasn't sure she would speak at all.
"Kyle and I always talked about travelling the stars together," she said finally. "The plan was to save up enough crypto-credits to buy passage on one of the merchant ships. We'd see the universe side by side." She closed the locket. "Everything would be perfect."
"Was Kyle one of the colonists who–"
"No." Katya's voice was careful. "His family got transferred off-planet a few years ago. We were still teenagers. He had no choice." She tucked the locket back inside her robes, close to her chest. "He promised he'd come back for me."
She sounded like she believed it.
"I still miss him. Every day."
Veera again realised she was not good at this. Emotions were hard to deal with.
"I uhm–" she started, and then didn't finish.
She stood up, patted the last perimeter proximity canister, and said: "There. That should do it. Perimeter's up. We can get some sleep."
Katya looked at her with a mix of confusion and disappointment. She nodded. "Thanks."
They slept badly. Veera didn't dare remove her combat armour, and she kept her sidearm within reach, her back to the wall, facing the only approach. Katya found a hollow in the rubble and pulled a discarded blanket over herself, dirty and thin as it was.
They tried to sleep.
Veera woke in the dark to the sound of crying.
It was soft, deliberately soft, the kind of crying that was trying very hard not to be heard. Katya had her face pressed into the blanket, her shoulders barely moving.
Veera lay still for a moment, staring at the stars above. When she got up, she deliberately stamped her boots against the ground a little harder than necessary, making sure Katyah could hear her. She crossed to the comm-kit and began fussing with the settings.
The soft crying had stopped.
She opened the channel. "May. You awake?"
Static, and then Mayvheen's voice, sounding far away through the radio. "Yeah, I'm here. How's it going down there?"
"Did you see the preliminary report?"
"I did. What are you thinking?"
Veera looked at the rubble around her, at the partially collapsed wall and the dark beyond it.
"The colony is in bad shape. I doubt they'll be able to rebuild without off-planet supplies and labour."
"I thought it would come to this," Mayvheen said. "Lunar Command will have to make the call, but I don't think they'll reinvest. An evacuation will be more cost-effective."
"Yup."
"We need to head back to the Tabitha, Veera. Is it safe to make for the Drop-Drone at first light?"
"Should be. The girl and I will start for it as soon as there's enough visibility."
"OK." Mayvheen's voice softened. "Stay safe. Veera?"
"Yeah."
"Be careful out there. Come back–"
"–We'll be fine," Veera said, and closed the channel.
The sun was already well up when they reached the Drop-Drone. The Khatsey flies had found them somewhere along the route. They were small, persistent things that seemed particularly interested in Katya, who batted at them with irritation as they walked.
When the Drop-Drone came into view, they both slowed.
"How do you know there aren't any more sentinels nearby?" Katya asked.
"I don't. But we need to get back into orbit, and that's the only way to do it."
"If you start the launch sequence, won't it attract them?"
"Probably."
Katya stopped walking. "I don't want to go."
Veera turned to look at her.
"I know you think I don't have a choice," Katya said, before Veera could speak. "But I do. I can stay here."
"You can." Veera kept her voice even. "And you'll die here. There are no supplies coming. You'll run out of clean water. There are no other people nearby." She watched the girl's face. "This is your home, I understand that. But the people who made it your home are gone. It's time to make a new one."
Katya stayed silent. Her hand moved slightly, toward the place on her chest where the locket sat.
"What about all the stars?" Veera said. "What about Kyle?"
Katya reluctantly nodded and resumed walking.
They were almost at the Drop-Drone–
A blaster bolt caught Veera high on the thigh, deflecting off the armour plate in a spray of blue sparks. She spun on instinct, putting herself between the shot's origin and Katya, and her rifle was already up.
"RUN!" She shoved Katya hard toward the drone's entrance. "Get inside! Strap yourself down!"
She laid down covering fire in the direction of the shot. She couldn't see them yet, but she continued backing toward the entrance one step at a time. The air around her crackled. More shots from different angles. There were at least four of them by her count, shooting from the cover of the ruins.
"We need to leave right now!"
"But Cleo—"
"Shut up about the cat!" She fired her last round and slipped through the door. "We are not dying down here!"
Veera swung back out of the door and shot towards the closest Sentinel.
When she swung back in, she hit the emergency lock, and the door hissed closed. She turned around.
Katya was not there.
"Katya?"
She checked behind the supply crates. The launch sequence was already counting down on the panel above her head. She'd triggered it when she hit the emergency lock. There was no aborting once the sequence was running.
"Katya, if you're hiding, you need to come out right now!"
Nothing.
She stopped. On the opposite door panel, hanging from a catch that must have been placed there deliberately, was a small golden locket on a chain.
Veera looked at it for a moment. Then she shook her head. "Damnit. Foolish girl."
The computer moaned at her to strap in.
She walked to the locket, unhooked it, and held it in her palm for one moment before closing her fingers around it. Then she walked to the restraint harness, settled into position, and strapped herself down.
The drone launched.
In orbit, she stripped off the armour piece by piece and pulled her uniform back on. Her shoulder still ached, and she knew from experience that it would be worse in a day or two.
She didn't think about the locket.
She had tucked it into a pocket to forget about it.
Mayvheen was waiting when the Drop-Drone docked. She was smiling with unguarded relief.
"Veera! I'm glad you made it back."
She looked past Veera's shoulder.
"Where's the girl?"
"She stayed behind."
"How–"
"She went back for her fah'raking cat." Veera moved past her into the storage section. "I know. I'll prep the drone for re-entry."
"OK, we need to hurry–" Mayvheen stopped. "Veera. There's something moving in that crate."
Veera turned to where Mayvheen was pointing. One of the supply crates was shifting. A faint rustling, coming from inside.
She looked at Mayvheen. Then she crossed the distance in three steps, put her shoulder in Mayvheen's back, and shoved her out through the drone's entrance before hitting the emergency lock behind her.
"Veera?!" Mayvheen's voice came through the door, sharp and alarmed. "Open this door! What's happening?"
"Stay there." Veera had her rifle up, moving toward the crate. "Get ready to eject me and the drone if it becomes necessary."
"Eject–!? Veera, what is happening?"
Veera ignored Mayvheen. The crate was too small for Katyah, but just large enough for a Sentinel waiting in ambush. She'd seen them do it during the war. The little ones, the scouts.
She reached the crate, raised her rifle and kicked it hard.
A ball of black and white fury exploded out of the box.
It hit the floor, hissing, ricocheted off a supply rack, and launched itself to the top of the tallest crate, where it arched its back and glared at Veera.
Veera lowered her rifle.
"Cleo."
She stared at the cat.
"Are you kidding me?"
The door mechanism behind Veera clicked. Mayvheen had manually overridden the security lock, and she stepped inside. Cleo launched himself off the crate in a fluid movement and sprang into Mayvheen's arms.
Mayvheen looked down at the cat. "Oh, you poor thing," she said to the cat.
"Give it to me," Veera said. "I'll dispose of it."
Mayvheen frowned. "What's wrong with you? It is a living creature."
"We can't keep it here. It'll pee everywhere. What are you going to feed it? We're short on supply as it is."
"It is not a wild animal. And that girl is going to be very upset with you if you get rid of her cat." Mayvheen adjusted Cleo against her shoulder. "We hold onto him until we can reunite them. End of discussion."
Veera looked at the cat.
"Fine."
Mayvheen turned to go. "Can you finish checking everything in here?"
"Sure."
She waited until the door closed. Then she stood in the empty storage bay, alone with the scuffed metal and the half-emptied crates.
Why couldn't you just have listened?
Now you are down there. And the whole reason you stayed behind is up here.
She looked at the crate and gave it another kick for good measure. Then she straightened up, pocketed the locket again, and went to meet Mayvheen.