Page 173 of Commander’s Mate

It saved them time.

I did not care.

“Human confirmation before route assignment.”

“You mean survivor confirmation,” Tivid said.

I looked at him.

“Yes.”

He smiled faintly.

That was new.

The registry became slower.

Everyone hated that.

It also became harder to lose people inside.

I could live with slower.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Harper

Halor was beautiful in a way that made me want to hate it.

The planet hung on the forward screen like a jewel someone had polished for display: purple-blue oceans, pale cloud spirals, continents in shades of green and gold. After days of metal walls, filtered air, and grief, the sight of a living world made the conference room fall silent.

Kyanna Guryon stood near the screen with both hands pressed to her mouth.

She had been calmer than the rest of us through most of the journey, wrapped in the certainty that her father would save her because she belonged somewhere powerful enough to demand her return. I had resented her a little for that. Not fairly. Not generously. But grief was not fair or generous, and Kyanna was going home while Earth had become a coordinate no one could find.

Now, watching her cry without sound at the sight of Halor, I could not hate her.

She had been stolen too.

Her rescue had simply come with an address.

Zared stood beside Admiral Degatu near the main viewport, speaking quietly with officers as the ship entered orbital approach. I noticed him noticing me. We had developed that problem. Awareness moved between us like a live current; if he entered a room, some part of me turned toward him before I chose to.

“Pretty,” Zoe said beside me.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think Earth looks like that from space?”

The question hollowed me.

“I’ve seen pictures,” I said. “Blue. White clouds. Brown and green land. Beautiful.”

Zoe nodded, eyes bright. “I used to think those pictures were fake when I was little. Like school posters.”

“I never thought about it much,” Scarlet said from my other side. “It was just where we were.”

Nora folded her arms. “That is how most people feel about home until it is unreachable.”