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her—she reminded herself of who Celeste was and where she was.
    “Yes,” Crystil said, biting her lip. “I have.”
    Celeste pushed no further. At least, that’s what Crystil thought when Celeste turned and Crystil began walking out of the room.
    “I just don’t get it.”
    Crystil paused at the doorway.
    “Don’t get what?” Crystil said.
    A long pause came as Crystil knew Celeste needed to build up the courage to talk. If I could just put some fortitude into that girl…
    “My father. He said… he said we could reach peace with them. He said he’d go and meet their leader, grant them enough land to live comfortably, and we would stop fighting. Dad always came through. Always. Crystil, he always lived up to his word. I can’t say it enough.”
    “I know,” Crystil said.
    “He seemed so sure about it. I just… I don’t know.”
    “We’ll never know, Celeste. Don’t waste your time thinking about things you can’t get the answer to. You’ll spend energy that you could use for doing things you can actually control.”
    “But don’t you ever think about… what could’ve been?”
    Crystil sighed as a stalling mechanism.
    “I could. But I don’t. I focus on what matters.”
    Sensing she was losing Celeste, she walked closer to her, refusing to turn her eyes to the text on the screen.
    “And listen, the good news is we have a lot of great things that matter right now. We have a new home to discover. We have new adventures to go on on Anatolus. We can do anything out there. So don’t look at what I’m saying as ignoring the past, but as working toward the future.”
    Celeste weakly smiled. Crystil couldn’t say if it was in agreement or submission.
    “I know what you’ve said, Crystil, and I’ll do my best to look forward. I’ll do everything I can to act. But it’s hard. You know? We both lost people we loved. And for no good reason.”
    Instead of anger, Crystil felt sympathy. She could see Celeste shaking and motioned for her to come. When she did, she embraced her tightly, a hug needed as much for herself as for Celeste.
    “You’ll be fine, Celeste. We honor those in our past by our actions ahead.”
    Celeste nodded, her voice quivering with thanks. She said nothing more and sat down. Crystil took her leave, heading once to the training room, where she chuckled at the sight of Cyrus still in simulated fights with multiple enemies. She strolled into the cockpit, put her legs up, and looked out.
    Maybe I should give more time to the past. Think about it.
    But she shook the thought off, remembering what had happened when she saw the recording.

 
     
     
     
    7
    Upon waking up from the previous night’s sleep, Crystil quickly sat up from her black bed and slipped into her uniform—a commander’s gray vest, black pants and heavy black boots. She liked having people know of her arrival before they could see her. It added to the aura of the even-keeled commander. Without the need for any caffeine, she made her way to the cockpit, head high and lips taut.
    “What’s the schedule for today, Cortanus?” she said as she took her seat in an authoritative position, legs at a ninety-degree angle on the ground.
    “Today, you will train on escaping predators.”
    Crystil, who had reached over to a computer to pull up some documents, froze and gulped.
    “Is there a reason we are doing this?”
    “It is better to be prepared for the possible than ignore the improbable.”
    Wouldn’t be here if we didn’t follow that statement.
    “Afterward, you will have your usual review. However, at approximately seventeen hundred hours and forty-six minutes, we are scheduled to enter into Anatolus’ gravitational pull, and will then begin the landing procedure.”
    The words brought a much-needed relieved smile to Crystil, who still couldn’t believe the day had come.
    “Any questions, Crystil?”
    “No, Cortanus, not at the moment,” she said, propping her feet on the dashboard.
    But this time, she