I bite back a smile as I recognize some of my own words in her speech. As silence falls, I glance around at the half circle of council members. Some of them look as moved as I felt during Shey’s speech. Some even more so—the mustached Councilman Acharya discreetly wipes his eyes with a handkerchief. But others, like silver-haired Heikki, look completely unaffected. Oshiro looks almost angry. I resist the urge to break the silence, since this is no place for stupid jokes and quips.

After some murmured, private exchanges among the council members, Heikki stands and looks down at us.

“We thank you for your speech,” she says, and glances to her left and right as if seeking silent agreement. “Of course, an issue of this magnitude will require great thought and care. After the recent tragedy of Titan, we must be especially careful in how we choose to deal with our planetary neighbors.” She pauses, and I chew my lower lip. Perhaps the fall of Titan will make them more sympathetic to Gaia’s plight… or perhaps it will only make them more wary. I’m sure that hostile Interplanetary Council meeting didn’t help their relationship with Gaia. “The council will ruminate in private, and reconvene to make our final decision.”

Shey stands with her hands clasped and her expression mild.

“How long, may I ask, do you expect a decision will take?” she asks, her voice as calm as if she’s inquiring about the weather, though I know the fate of her people must weigh heavily on her mind.

“In order to make a careful decision, we must continue to look into Titan, as well as better understand the circumstances on Gaia,” the councilwoman responds. “I expect the investigation and discussion will take us at least one month’s time.”

My stomach drops. A month? We have no idea what will happen on Gaia during that time period. And that’s a month minimum. Knowing how this shit works on Nibiru, it will likely be longer. By the time the council decides, there could be no more Gaians left to save.

“I beg you to reconsider,” Shey says, her voice trembling slightly. “Gaia cannot begin to evacuate our citizens until we are sure we have a safe place to go. And even if we start immediately, we do not have the ships to transport our population all at once. If each trip takes a week to arrive here from Gaia, and another to travel back…” She trails off, shaking her head. “We can’t afford to wait so long.”

“We sympathize with your plight,” Acharya says, his expression genuinely regretful. “But for the sake of our own people, we will not rush such a choice.”