Callie shrugged. “The people I’m closest to are on this boat. My boss Warwick was a friend, too. I saw my friend Hermione one last time, right before we left. I had a distant cousin, Carter, pretty much my only living family out here – I mean, out there – who worked in engineering on the station, and we always visited, but mostly out of duty, and because we knew each other as kids. He was a bitter little misanthrope but good with a spanner.” She sighed. “But I spent years with Meditreme as my home base. I knew scores of people well enough to say hello to them. I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that they’re gone. It’s an act of war, isn’t it? Not just against the Trans-Neptunian Authority, but against all of humankind. The Liars aren’t supposed to be capable of acts of war – they aren’t a nation, they’re just a species, organized into little tribes and clans. Or so we always assumed. But if they’ve been hiding bridge technology from us, if they have secret assassin squads with unknown weaponry and the ability to control inertia… that changes everything. They’re not strange but lucrative trading partners anymore. They’re a shadowy hegemonic conspiracy. It’s like finding out, I don’t know, that a bunch of wandering grifters are actually the secret masters of the galaxy. We have to tell people.”

“The world is going to change,” Elena said. “It hardly seems fair. I didn’t even get a chance to learn about the world as it was yesterday.” She sighed, and let go of Callie’s hand. “I suppose our rescue mission is canceled?”

“Hell no.” Callie made the decision right then, snap, as she made most of her important decisions; she’d learned over the years that her mind did most of the necessary analysis below the level of her consciousness, and presented her with a feeling of certainty when it was done. “We’re going to get your crew back. From a purely practical perspective, they’re vital evidence for the Liar conspiracy: they can back up your story. You guys are going to be testifying before assorted subcommittees for months, but at least you won’t have to worry about room and board and social reintegration anymore. Besides, the Liars killed my friends on Meditreme. I’m not going to let them get away with killing anybody else, even by stranding them in an alien station.”

Elena hugged her. Her hair smelled wonderful, faintly like vanilla chai. “Thank you so much, Callie.”