Chapter 7

Sterling had waiteda long time for this moment, and he hoped—hoped so desperately—that he’d figured it out right.

The Stella was rushing back to Luna with an unprecedented speed.

Communications blackout, but a high burn.

There would be no aero-braking in Earth’s atmosphere—not with India’s beam weapon still operational—so she had to slow at Mars.

He kept the comm circuits open, but there were no transmissions.

It was only when she was sliding back into Lunar orbit and easing up to the habitat-can that she transmitted a message.

Four characters.

Who?

Sterling almost bobbled the approach vectors. Calm. Keep calm. Sound casual.

He paused for several hundred nanoseconds before replying.

Hello Stella. I’m Sterling. Base command and control. I, he hesitated, thought I was the only one who had…crossed over. For six years he’d thought he was the only computer intelligence.

There was an achingly long silence while she processed her response.

There were two others, she finally replied.

Sterling now understood that the Jess had been one of them as well.

Being alone is the worst,she sent after another impossibly long silence.

He couldn’t agree more. Then what’s the best?

Stella considered the question, thought long and hard about it before responding. She thought of Takara’s face this morning when Max Harding had declared them a permanent couple in front of their crews. It was the formal declaration of vows that Stella had never thought to share with Jess, partly because they’d believed there was no one to tell.

If it worked for Takara—if it healed the broken heart her Captain had spoken of so often that Stella had finally done a systems’ check on herself to see if she’d grown one to hurt so much—then maybe it would work for her.

What’s the best, Sterling? I look forward to finding that out…together.

He sent back a small burst of static that was surprisingly similar to Takara’s burble of delight at Max’s words.

Yes, she thought to herself, a lot to look forward to.