The eagerness of Pilgrim and Scrupilo and the others for human contact was evidence of this. In the long run, we can move the Tines out of this cul de sac. Amdi and Jefri were giggling about something, the Pack sending runners out almost to the limit of consciousness. These last weeks, Ravna had come to learn that pell-mell activity was the norm for Amdi, that his initial slowness had been part of his hurt over Steel. How ... perverse (or how wonderful?) ... that a monster like Steel could be the object of such love. Jefri shouted, "You watch in all directions, let me know where to look." Silence. Then Jefri's voice again: "There!" "What are you doing?" Johanna asked with sisterly belligerence. "Watching for meteors," one of the two said. "Yes, I watch in all directions and jab Jefri -- there! -- where to look when one comes by." Ravna didn't see anything, but the boy had twisted around abruptly at his friend's signal. "Neat, neat," came Jefri's voice. "That was about forty kilometers up, speed --" the two's voice murmured unintelligibly for a second. Even with the pack's wide vision, how could they know how high it was? Ravna sat back in the hollow formed by the hummocky moss. It was a good parka the locals had made for her; she barely felt the chill in the ground. Overhead, the stars. Time to think, get some peace before all the things that would begin tomorrow. Den Mother to one hundred and fifty kids ... and I thought I was a librarian. Back home she had loved the night sky; at one glance she could see the other stars of Sjandra Kei, sometimes the other worlds. The places of her home had been in her sky. For a moment the evening chill seemed part of a winter that would never go away. Lynne and her folks and Sjandra Kei. Her whole life till three years ago. It was all gone now. Don't think on it. Somewhere out there was what was left of Aniara fleet, and what was left of her people. Kjet Svensndot. Tirolle and Glimfrelle. She had only known them for a few hours,
复件 (77) air max, but they were of Sjandra Kei -- and they had saved more than they would ever know. They would still live. SjK Commercial Security had some ramscoops in its fleet. They could find a world, not here, but nearer the battle site. Ravna tilted her head back, wondering at the sky. Where? Maybe not even above the horizon now. From here the galactic disk was a glow that climbed across the sky almost at right angles to the ecliptic. There was no sense of its true shape or their exact position in it; the greater picture was lost to nearby splendors,
复件 (69) air max2, the bright knots of open clusters,
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mbt shuguli black, frozen jewels against the fainter light. But down near the southern horizon, far from the galactic way,
复件 (2) 复件 air max1, there were two splotchy clouds of light. The Magellanics! Suddenly the geometry clicked, and the universe above was not completely unknown. Aniara fleet would be -- "I -- I wonder if we can see Straumli Realm from here," said Johanna. For more than a year now she had had to play the adult. Come tomorrow, that role would be forever. But her voice just now was wistful,
复件 (8) 复件 air max2, childlike. Ravna opened her mouth, about to say how unlikely that must be. "Maybe we can, maybe we can." It was Amdi. The pack had pulled itself together, snuggled companionably among the humans. The warmth was welcome. "See, I've been reading Dataset about where things are, and trying to figure how it matches what we see."