The Eiferman was on its way within the hour. After they submerged, Hutch joined everyone in the passenger cabin. They talked for a while, reassuring each other that there was no way the WSA could fail to do the right thing. Eventually, Hutch returned to the bridge and was joined by Kwylla, who stared out at the vast darkness. “I wish we could see something,” Hutch said. “It’s seriously boring out there.” Later, she told Derek that the next upgrade for the Locarno system should be to manufacture visuals of a sky. “It would be easier if we could get a sense of moving. We’ve got all kinds of technology. It should be easy to do. It would make things much more interesting if we could watch clouds of stars drifting by.”

“But not black holes,” said Derek.

They spent most of the first day in the passenger cabin, looking at canyons and coastlines and mountains and urban scenes. They knew movies wouldn’t work. Derek had begun reading Marie Esperson’s The Quantum World, while Wally buried himself in a police thriller. Arin enjoyed talking with Barry. Kwylla watched Ken and Hutch playing chess and picked up the rudimentary tactics over the course of an hour.

On that first evening, they set the front porch on a bank of the Thames and got into a conversation over how good life had always been on Volaria and how fortunate they’d been to find Utopia. “We’re lucky to be getting a second chance,” Arin said. “Everybody’s grateful for that.”

They discussed Barry’s role in making it possible to talk. “We have to get past this, though,” Kwylla said as the AI translated. “If we’re going to be of any use when we get to your world, we’re going to have to be able to speak without using machines.” Hutch, meantime, could not stop thinking about the reaction they could expect from Zhang Chao and President Proctor when the Eiferman arrived at Union Station with aliens onboard. She worried that Kwylla and Arin might not even get a chance to be heard.

•  •  •

On the second day, both Volarians got seriously to work on their language skills. Kwylla, who hadn’t invested the time her spouse had, spent additional hours in an effort to begin catching up. That same day, needing a break, she discovered the electronic library. “How many books do you have?” she asked Beth, speaking without the help of the AI.

“Thousands.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“I’m frustrated. I wish I could read some. Even one. Could Barry read one to me?”

“I think we can arrange that.” Beth produced a set of ear pods and handed them to Kwylla. “What kind of books do you like?”

“Fiction.”

“Romantic? Mystery? Historical?”

“What is mystery fiction? Where something happens without understanding and you try to find an explanation?”

“Yes. Usually, it involves what we call a whodunit.”

“What is that?”