Riley looked over the design. The scans had a lot of extra information, but there was data she could read, growth record, cellular detail, energy consumption. She could fill in the blanks. She memorized it, and she knew she could trust her power to provide those details to her in the future.

“I see. Well, that’s neat. Thank you for showing me,” Riley said, meaning it.

“Is it useful? It’s the first thing I thought of that you might be able to use.”

“I’ve kludged together computers when I set up workshops in the past. Mostly because of the time constraints while running around with the Nine. Would be nice to set up a workshop with screens like that.”

“Makes sense,” Lookout said. “Cool.”

“If you want to scan something, you could scan my eyes. Should apply to your field, if I remember right.”

Lookout nodded, eager, adjusted something on her phone, and held it to Riley’s face.

“I don’t want to be greedy or annoying,” Lookout said.

“You’re not annoying. I spent years with people who were decaying alive, who had hair-trigger tempers, who thought hurting people was fun. Masochists, pyromaniacs, perverts, murderers…”

“Low bar,” Lookout said, smiling.

“You’re less annoying than the people out there who couldn’t decide what to do with me. Don’t worry about it,” Riley said. “I appreciate the company.”

“Then… do you mind if I ask you stuff? I can’t offer you much else.”

“No. There’s no need. What do you want to ask?”

“Is there a way to bring back the dead? Can you?”

Riley didn’t immediately answer. The question was a heavy one, and she was just now realizing that Lookout’s small smile was deceptive. It had to be a hologram, painted over whatever expression she was actually wearing.

“When I did it, I had Valkyrie’s help to bring them to the surface. Before that, it took years, multiple tries, and the equipment from a major tinker enclave.”

“So it’s possible.”

“I wouldn’t want to promise,” Riley said. “There’s no guarantee the Wardens would let me try.”

“Oh.”

The girl still smiled. Smiled more, if anything.

“You had other questions,” Riley said, eager to move on.

“It’s embarrassing.”

“Embarassing?”

“Yeah,” Lookout whispered. “The most embarrassing thing.”

The girl scooted closer. Their knees touched.

“What?” Riley asked.

“I did something, and I’m going to get in trouble for it. Like, wow, a lot of trouble. Have you ever felt that dread, knowing you’re about to get caught?”

Riley thought of preparing to wake up Jack and the rest of the Nine, in the days before Gold Morning.

She nodded.

“What do you do? How do you handle it? What happens?”

“You keep moving forward,” Riley told the girl, with solemnity and sincerity. “You plan and contemplate, you prepare, you take action and fix things. Then you maintain.”