“God’s sake,” Tenn said, looking over top of their chairs. “Are you guys still moping about the sprout?”

Seth turned and glared at Tenn. “You’re really bound and determined to just forget about him?”

“Robinson, if I had a button I could press that would rewind the whole Ivan thing, I’d push it, no problem. Hell, even for purely selfish reasons, I’d press it—we’ve wasted a lot of time, here, and my—”

“Your family?”

“Whatever.” Tenn looked away for a moment, then continued. “A lot of people have suffered because of this whole thing, not just us. And Pritchard’s family will be getting all his money. You think that’s being cold? Ask Pritchard if it’s important or not. I’ll bet you my entire share that he’d rather die and leave them wealthy than go home still dirt poor.”

Seth hesitated and looked at Aspasia. “Actually, he did say something to that effect.”

“Yeah.” Tenn glared at Seth. “It’s what I’d do. It’s what you’d do if you had a family to worry about. So, okay, I’m bothered that he’s still here, but maybe there’s a bit of an upside to be glad about.”

With that, Tenn slipped back down to his seat. Seth heard the click as he buckled in. Seth turned to Aspasia, who mouthed a wow at him.

“So, on that subject,” Will called from the back, “What’s everyone planning on doing with their money? Anyone going to buy a mining ship?”

The question was met with general laughter. It appeared no one was prepared to continue asteroid mining as an avocation.

“The captain probably will,” said Cirila.

“Well, yeah,” Will replied. “But he’s a spacer by choice. Prospecting will just be an excuse.”

Seth was silent, thinking about the question. He had no family, and no real urge to correct the situation. “I’ve been thinking about buying a small island somewhere but, come to think of it, a space ship might be cheaper.”

“Yeah, and a small ship won’t get smaller every year.” More laughter, typical gallows humor.

“It might be worth buying into one of the new floating cities,” Lorenza said, her tone thoughtful. “Not just as an investment, but to live on.”

No one replied, but Seth could see heads nodding.

He looked over at Lita, who was paging through something on her tablet. “You still have a connection?”

“Mm, hmm. Sys message says it’ll go down when the shuttle launches, but until then it’s full service. I’m just checking the news. I want to see what we’re returning to.”

“Okay, and?” Will said.

“There’s a technical term, best articulated in German,” she replied. “Fledermuasscheiße-verrückt.”

“Which means?”

“Batshit crazy.”

Lita got the expected chuckles, and Seth said, “It’s that bad?”