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I would appreciate that very much, yes.

* * *

The same primal cocktail of dread and awe that had shot through Signy the first time she’d met Colibri returned as she guided herself through the truss suspended over leathery flesh. There was no glass between her and Colibri anymore, other than the faceplate of her helmet. A pitted hide of red and pollen orange carpeted everything below the open metal beams, stretching past the edges of Signy’s peripheral vision. There was no question that every inch of it was alive. The animal stretched. The animal pulsed.

And all of those pits were eyes.

The animal was named Colibri, and she was kind, Signy reminded herself. She was full of love and she meant no harm.

Smokey guided Signy into the saddle, handing her off to one of the techs and waving her farewell. The juxtaposition between the organic mass outside and the mechanical black metal now encasing her was stark.

And oh god, Cora had been right. When Signy placed her hand against the hull, she could feel a slow, harmonic thumping. Colibri’s five hearts.

* * *

Go back to what you

said before. Your perceived

naiveté.

I didn’t think hard

enough about whether it was

right for us to be out here.

I just wanted the stars,

before I met her.

You brought people water. You

brought people fuel. What

you did was a necessity, and

you didn’t build the society

that made it so. Someone had

to go off-planet to keep the

rest of us alive. I’m very glad

it was you.

But don’t you see, I didn’t

think further than just

going. I saw, and I wanted,

and I took the next step

without questioning what

was underneath. Whether it