“So I’m giving you continuous evidence that I am committed to your survival—provided you don’t endanger the survival of the human race, which means you stay in this ship and die with it.”

“I don’t know why you brought the mice along in the first place,” said Ram Odin.

“Because two of the wallfolds on Garden are shared with billions of sentient mice. I may need these as witnesses of what we do here. Or if I conclude that we do have to destroy the human race on Earth, then the mice can do it more easily and thoroughly than I can.”

“You’re the version of Rigg that isn’t murderous?” said Ram Odin.

“I’m here to save Garden,” said Noxon. “And it’s humans from Earth who destroy it. You do the math.”

“It’s ironic, that’s all,” said Ram Odin. “We created colony ships because that comet came so close to the kind of impact that would destroy all life on Earth. We had to create a colony so humans would exist on more than one world. And now you come back and destroy the human race on Earth.”

“I’ve come back to find out why Earth decided to destroy Garden,” said Noxon, “and talk them out of it, if I can. But I’m going to save the nineteen wallfolds of Garden, one way or another. Humanity may have arisen here, but that doesn’t mean they have a right to destroy Garden after 11,191 years of history there.”

“I agree,” said Ram Odin. “I’m just noting the irony.”

“Noted,” said Noxon.

“I’m afraid to die,” said one of the mice.

“You would hardly be sentient if you weren’t,” said Noxon. “But you are sentient, and that’s why I’m not going to leave you here, dead. I’m going to change the future if I can. Either way, I’ll come back and get you. Just remember that you will die, the first time through. But when I retrieve you, you’ll have no memory of that death. And you’ll know, once again, that I keep my word—even though you don’t.”

“So it’s settled,” said Ram Odin. “We park the ship where ice will cover it. Then you and I leave the ship and use the flyer to get us to a place that will someday be reasonably well-inhabited. From there we travel into the future, while the flyer—and our expendable friend—go back to the starship, kill everybody, and shut down all the systems. But we return in time to stop any of that from happening.”

“That’s the plan,” said Noxon.

“Only one problem,” said Ram Odin. “Fuel.”

“Oh?” asked Noxon.

“This ship can set down on a planetary surface,” said Ram Odin. “But on Garden, it was a bit of a sharp collision, right?”

“An extinction-level event,” said the expendable. “By design.”