She’d trusted him. He hadn’t disobeyed orders; he’d gone with her permission. That seemed a tiny distinction to me, considering what would happen next.

My father’s ship rotated, acclivity ring hinging to point downward. His nose toward the sky, he engaged his booster.

I watched him go, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t watch this. Not again. Please. Father…

I reached toward him. With my hand, foolish though the gesture was, and… and with . . .

With something else.

I heard something then, up above. A sound like a thousand musical notes intertwining. I imagined myself, as Gran-Gran had always taught, soaring upward. Reaching for the stars…

My cockpit went black, plunging me into complete darkness. And then, around me, a million pinpricks of light appeared.

Then those pinpricks opened. A million white eyes, like stars, all turning directly on me. Focusing on me. Seeing me.

“Turn it off!” I screamed.

The darkness vanished. The eyes disappeared.

I was back in the cockpit.

I gasped for breath, in and out, hyperventilating. “What was that!” I demanded, frantic. “What did you show me? What were those eyes!”

“I’m confused,” M-Bot said. “I didn’t do anything. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why didn’t you play that earlier part of the conversation last time? Why were you hiding it from me?”

“I didn’t know where to start!” M-Bot said. “I thought the part about the stars was what you wanted!”

“And that talk of a defect? Did you know about this?”

“Humans have lots of defects!” he said, his voice whimpering. “I don’t understand. I can process at a thousand times the speed of your brain, but I still can’t follow you. I’m sorry. I don’t know!”

I put my hands to my head, my hair damp with sweat. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing in and out.

“I’m sorry,” M-Bot said again, his voice softer. “This was supposed to have excited you, but I have failed. I should have anticipated that your frail human psyche would be impacted by the—”

“SHUT UP.”

The ship went silent. I huddled in the cockpit, trying to claw at my own sanity. What had happened to my confidence? Where was that child who’d been so sure she could take on the entire Krell fleet by herself?

Left behind, like all childhoods…

I couldn’t say how long I sat there, hands running through my sweaty hair, rocking back and forth. A severe headache struck me, a piercing pain behind my eyes, like someone had begun screwing my eyeballs to my skull.

The pain gave me a focus. It helped me pull back, until finally I became aware of the fact that I was still hovering there. Alone above an empty field, in the blackness of night.

Just get back. I told myself. Just get some sleep.

That suddenly seemed like the only thing I wanted in the entire world. Slowly at first, I settled into the controls and turned us toward the coordinates of our hole.