Page 85 of The Brightness Between Us

“It must have been absolutely terrifying, imagining a life without me,” Dad says.

Father gives a wet laugh.

I slap Dad’s foot, and he pretends it creates pain lancing up his body. Or maybe it actually did. Whoops. “This is good,” I say. “If you are able to exaggerate your suffering as usual, I think that means you’re going to be okay.”

“His prognosis is optimistic, though his recovery will last weeks,” OS reports through Rover. “It would have been ideal if there had been only the one bullet, or of course if he hadn’t been shot at all. But given the circumstances, the path of the bullets through his body could have been much worse.”

I kneel beside Father. “Yarrow? Any sign of Yarrow?”

He shakes his head. “A few pairs of his garments aremissing. And some water sleeves and algae planks.”

“He was gone when I woke up from the surgery,” Dad says. “And OS told me—well, you tell them what you saw, OS.”

OS orates in Devon Mujaba’s—the traitor’s—voice. We’ll have to change that setting. “Yarrow went motionless after he shot Ambrose. Though he was stationary, his pulse surged. He held the gun to his temple. Then he dropped it and ran for supplies before fleeing the settlement, picking the gun back up at the last minute. I was unable to track him after he left, since Rover was needed to care for Ambrose. This was all during last sunset, from 23:07 to 23:21.”

I tell Dad about finding the beacon. About the recording from old-Dad and old-Father. I offer to try to replay it for him.

Dad lets out a long breath. “Nope, nope. Not up for that yet.”

Father helps me fluff Dad’s pillow, and then he returns to his position at Dad’s side, pressing his forehead against Dad’s palm. Dad isn’t quite crying, but tears keep streaming from his eyes. It feels awkward to be there, suddenly, so I head out to the settlement’s center. There, on the far side of the fence, I can see the hulking corpses of the slaughtered malevors. The fence killed them during all this. Collateral damage.

That makes me think of the orphaned one, all alone on the other side of the fence.

I backtrack to the gate and find her lying on the gound, looking almost bored, making occasional grunts. As soon as she sees me, she’s on all fours, whisking her ears as she stares my way. She doesn’t take a single step in my direction, but as I approach she flicks her tail and bobs her head, butts me. She needs milk.

I can wallow in my feelings, or I can work to get this little creature fed.

I kneel beside her, and she nudges me. I think it’s a loving nudge, but then I realize she keeps prying at my fingers and snuffling around my pockets. She’s really hungry. “Okay, we’ll get you something in a second.”

A whir, and then Rover is with us. “Wanted to give them privacy, too?” I ask OS.

“Actually, I need to speak to you, Owl. My understanding is that it is important for their emotional well-being that Kodiak and Ambrose have at least twenty minutes of reunification time, but since you are not participating I decided to risk taxing your own emotions by providing you additional information I have not supplied them.”

I lay my hand on the malevor’s head. I need the touch of something real. “Okay, OS. What is it?”

“Look up, where Sky Cat’s right ear would be if it were night. Do you see something unusual?”

There’s a light. Bright as a planet. My stomach drops. “That’s not Cuckoo, is it?”

“No, it is not a local planet.”

No. After all this, it’s coming. “How long do we have, OS?”

“Approximately twenty-two days, ten hours, and seventeen minutes. With an unfortunately large error window—a day or so.”

“Do you know where it will land?”

“One hundred five degrees of arc, 38,350 kilometers south-southwest from here.”

“Which means...”

“The impact is potentially survivable, if models hold, and if your bodies are all well underground inside theAurorabunker. But we have to hurry.”

“OS, I have a nanotech schematic. Do you think it’s possible that I could, you could...?”

“There is no way we can use precious metal to produce that device now, not if we want the bunker to be ready.”

My mind is all tension and energy, my thoughts jagged and incoherent. The comet. Almost here. Fuck!

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