That was some bad-luck country. But the kid had ruled Illinois during high school, and that’s why Able brought him here. I took the rocket train from Minneapolis, waving at Mom and Dad on the platform as the train pulled out, then settling comfortably into my coach seat. Now that the”—again, the incomprehensible ship’s name slid entirely over my brain—“is operational once more, I suppose we’ll find others.
I used it to make a more benign world than my own, within which countless lives could for a limited time unfold and savour their existence. For an endless, agonising moment, Dac Kien thought Zoquitl was referring to her life choices—how did she know about Ha ”“No,” he said. It hangs amid the leaves, its fur green with algae, its yellow claws hooked around an umbrella rib, and chews on the same leaf it’s been working on for the past half an hour.
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