She’s also asking their parents about basic Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mexican cooking. After all, Katrina will have her bad days along with her good, and Astrid feels that the woman she is becoming might request congee or flautas instead of miso soup.

As for Lan and me?

We’re returning to deep space after another performance. Sometimes planets are at the verge of war. Sometimes they are in the middle of collapse.

Most often, however, we arrive at planets like this one … long forgotten after the Endplague has left them for dead.

I played Handel. The survivors cried. They told me of the crimes they had committed. I told them of mine.

Many were angry. More were ashamed. They asked, “Do we even have the right to hear this music? Is this okay?”

But as I played, they listened. And slowly, their music welcomed them home.

What did they find? Perhaps themselves. Perhaps each other—who am I to say?

All I know is that I was not playing alone.

After I finished, Lan brought out donuts. As we ate, she told stories of a faraway planet where there was Eggplant Parmigiana and peachy iced tea, and donuts even more delicious than those they were having now.

“And she said there will be a gamma ray burst—level five!” someone said.

“Really? Maybe we can visit one day?” ventured her friend.

“Yes! I heard they have a brand-new stargate!”

One might insist that no lives were saved. One might scoff that nothing was returned. But that is as it should be. The songs will change, but the music is never truly gone. A life ends. A life begins.

But always, it is here for us to play.

Lan guides the ship to the nearest stargate. She pulls up the viewscreen and points to our next destination.

“They’re waiting,” Lan says.

“What are they like?” I ask.

“You’ll see,” she replies.

I put on my sunglasses. I take her hand.

“Let’s do this.”

Our engines begin to hum. We surge, as only lovers can.

We go. We come.

We begin.

♫

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to:

Meredith Kaffel Simonoff and Lindsey Hall, to whom this book owes its life.

Thank you to:

Charlene Gima and Asher Yap, for sanctuary and support.

Thank you to:

The wonderful people at Benning Violins, Metzler Violin Shop, Rosa Musical Instrument, and Charles W. Liu Fine Violins, for giving so generously of their time and expertise.

The lady at Kindle’s Do-nuts and her amazing Texas Donut.

Jacey Mitziga, Rachel Bass, Sanaa Zahra Ali-Virani, Caro Perny, Renata Sweeney, Ana Deboo, Angie Rao, Steve Wagner, and Cindy Kay—go Team Space Koi!

Jamie Stafford-Hill, for Space Koi.

Thank you to:

Lucia Ochoa, Philip Littell, Victory Matsui, and Richard Becker, for giving me encouragement and confidence to tell this story.

Saki Yamanouchi Michaels and Adelina Huerta, for helping with Japanese and Spanish.