I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I couldn’t imagine making that decision, and yet at the same time, I couldn’t imagine handing over my whole being to be imperfectly translated.

Just the thought stirred up some faint feelings of panic that could have become overwhelming feelings if I was willing to let them.

“How much is she… Sarah Pelham?” I asked, quiet.

“I don’t know. I would have had to know the real her to have something to measure against,” Valkyrie told me. There weren’t as many echoes in her voice as she said it.

I nodded. It made sense.

“Ninety percent, maybe. Eighty percent? Seventy?”

I nodded again. I didn’t trust my voice if I spoke.

“I would tend closer to ninety, now that I think about it,” Valkyrie said. “When I was talking to her, prior to bringing her back, I remember she talked about flying with her family. Her heroics were intertwined with her love life, her family, her work, the face she wore every day. If it’s not ninety percent or more, it’s going to be easier for her to get there than it has been for others.”

I nodded with more vigor this time.

The hug had broken. They were exchanging words now. I could have gone over to talk, but it would have felt like I was intruding.

“I do have questions,” I said. “Do you have ten minutes?”

“I do, but…” Valkyrie let the last of the echoes die away. When she spoke to me, it was as a singular person. “I’m suspicious they have to do with what you were up to last night?”

“Yeah.” The crystal world. The guts of this alien system.

“If my colleagues asked what I was up to, and I told them I was encouraging what you did by giving you more answers, it wouldn’t earn me any favors.”

“It was suggested that it was either losing the favor and resources of the Wardens or keeping it but being in trouble. It sounds an awful lot like I’m getting the worst of both worlds.”

Valkyrie smiled behind her helmet. Only the section of her mouth beneath her nose was visible, but I could see the teeth showing, the crinkle in the eyes that suggested she was closer to my mom’s age than mine.

“I saw some other things,” I said. I hesitated. “You were the one that found the Wardens and the people who were lost in the portal attack?”

“Who are you interested in?” she asked.

“Bonesaw,” I said. I met her glowing eyes. “Jessica Yamada.”

I could see that there was something in how she reacted, that drew a direct line between those two. My heart sank, and not because I could guess her answer.