Everyone else had finished climbing the rubble. They were staring at us. Mandy didn’t seem to notice, or to care.

“You said you were an alien and I believed you, I made jokes about how people used to call my mother an alien just because her skin was brown and her words didn’t sound exactly like theirs, so we could be sisters, we could be secret invaders taking over a white man’s world from within. You said you were an alien and I trusted you. But you never said you were going to kill people, you never said you were going to come here and make us all over in your own image. Christopher Columbus committed genocide, and people kept it going in his name for centuries, but he’s not going to have anything on you when this is over, is he? He’s not going to have nearly as much blood on his hands. You told me to dream of the stars, and the whole time, you were dreaming of an empire.”

“I wasn’t,” I said, in a very small voice. “I didn’t even know if I was right.”

“Congrats,” she said wearily. There was no hatred in her eyes. Just a sad exhaustion that somehow managed to hurt even more. “You were right.” She turned then, and walked away across the uneven floor, heading deeper into the terminal.

The sound of sirens was getting ever louder from outside. The rest of us followed quickly after her. The scout ship was gone; the farther we got from the terminal windows, the more likely it became that whoever was out there would take us for human survivors, and let us be.

It still wasn’t very likely. But it was better than nothing. We moved onward.

The terminal hadn’t just collapsed: it had been the site of some vast and terrible battle, something that left bloodstains on the carpet and walls. The smell of it was sweet and inviting but not, I was relieved to realize, as enticing as the smell of fresh blood. I didn’t feel any pressing desire to lick the walls.

The lights were off, shattered even before the electricity had been disconnected, but enough sunlight filtered through the gaping holes where the windows had been to cast the entire place in gray twilight, rendering its horrors and its wonders visible. Toni made a small sound of pleased delight when she spotted a rank of vending machines with cracked cases, running over and beginning to try, ineffectually, to pry them open. After a moment’s enthusiastic effort she turned, considering Graham for a moment before she focused on Jeff.

“Hey, you,” she said. “Green Giant. Get over here and get me some chips.”

“I don’t see why I should get you anything when you won’t stop being such an asshole,” Jeff sneered, picking up a chunk of concrete from the floor before prowling in his direction.