I don’t recall ever hearing anyone say that, but I go with it. “Wish I had your job, then.”

“And I’ve gotten quite good with the StarPad.”

I give her a smile that feels less cheerful than I intend. I can’t get this weight off my mind.

“You guys really should come with us tonight,” Ellin insists.

“What time?”

“Nine o’clock.”

I pretend to mull it over, then nod. “That works.”

Ellin taps the edges of her tray rhythmically and looks around the food court. I watch her fingers for a moment, then—unable to think of anything interesting—ask, “How do you think John’s doing?”

She stops tapping the tray. After a moment, she stares into her cup as if contemplating whether to refill the drink, but her mouth slowly falls into a frown.

“Give him a job and he does it. He likes being busy.”

Ellin looks like she wants to say more but holds back. I give her a slight smile and that seems to open her up.

“He doesn’t exactly make friends well. He tries—I’ll give him that. But he’s got a lot on his mind. He kind of had to tag along when I said I wanted to take the Placement Report. We didn’t want to leave our parents until things got better. Except that didn’t quite happen. Mother got worse and Father lost his job and they couldn’t take care of John anymore. Dude’s a genius, but…”

Her eyes wander when she trails off. Then a new thought must pop into her head, because a smile graces her face.

“You should see him when he’s on a roll. He loves drawing maps with holograms, you know? And I can’t tell you two things about physics, but John loves that stuff. He downloaded all these textbooks and read them for weeks. Taught himself everything he knows. He always wanted to join Horizon Tower.”

She takes a deep breath and holds her arms on her stomach as her cheeks begin to flush.

“When’s Glacia done?” she asks quickly.

I pull out my holotab and check the time: 3:07.

“Hopefully forty-five minutes or so.” I lean on the table. “She’s under the impression she’s going to die out there.”

Ellin gives me an encouraging smile.

“She’ll be fine.”

“That’s what I kept saying.”

When Glacia walks through the gate, I’m waiting there as if I haven’t moved an inch since we last saw each other. She stares at me—her jaw clenched tight—and walks with her arms stiff. We look at each other in silence until she nods slowly.

“It was…okay,” she says. “Rough, but okay.”

“How was Captain Fallsten?”

“I think she thought we were going to die more than I did.”

“So that’s a good thing?”

“Uh, no. I’m just glad to be alive.”