The kid gave a weak nod, holding the sides of his head.

Tessa flashed him a thumbs-up. They’d all been there.

Aya ran over as soon as the shoe-tying was complete. She put out both hands with a broad smile, her twin rows of teeth checkered with empty spaces. ‘Yes, please.’

Tessa gave her the box. ‘Careful, it’s hot.’

Aya tucked into the sugar-fried bugs without hesitation. Tessa caught a wince as her daughter burned her tongue. Neither commented on it.

‘Come on, it’s our family’s night to cook,’ Tessa said. They began to walk together.

‘I know,’ Aya said. She frowned. ‘I’m not late, right?’

‘No, you’re not late.’

‘Then how come you came to get me?’ She looked at the snack box in her hands, the realisation dawning that she’d been given a sweet treat before dinner. ‘How come I get cricket crunch?’

‘Just ’cause,’ Tessa said. ‘I guess I’m feeling sentimental.’

Aya tucked a mouthful into her cheek. ‘What’s sentimental?’

‘It’s . . . caught up in your feelings. The way you feel when you’re thinking a lot about the people or things you care about.’

Tessa had stopped looking at her daughter, but she could feel her staring back. ‘You’ve been weird today,’ Aya said.

Tessa didn’t want to have the conversation, and she knew there were parts she’d have to tread extra carefully around for Aya’s sake. But Pop would bring it up the second they were home, so: ‘You’re right, I have been. I’m sorry. Something happened you should know about. Everything’s okay. That’s the first thing you should know.’

Aya listened intently, still chewing.

‘You know how Uncle Ashby went to build a new tunnel?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, there were some sapients there who weren’t very nice’ – she wasn’t sure Aya was ready for Ashby was on the business end of the first shot in what looks like a territory war – ‘and they damaged his ship.’

Aya’s face went rigid. ‘Are the bulkheads okay?’

Tessa put her hand on Aya’s shoulder. She knew why the question was being asked. Despite counselling, despite patience, despite everybody’s best efforts and five more years of growing up, Aya still crumbled at the idea of any breach between in here and out there. She remained uncomfortable around airlocks, she avoided cupolas as if they were on fire, and bulkheads were a matter she fixated on to a concerning degree. ‘His ship’s stable,’ Tessa said. ‘He wrote to me this morning, and he’s okay. There are a lot of repairs to do, but everyone is safe.’

Aya processed that. ‘Is he coming here?’

‘Why would he come here?’

‘For repairs.’

‘There are plenty of spaceports he can do that in. But you should know, before we get home, your grandpa’s pretty shook up.’

‘How come?’

‘Because Ashby’s his kid, and parents can’t help but worry about their kids.’ She tousled Aya’s hair. ‘So be extra nice to Grandpa tonight, okay?’

‘Did they use a gun on Ashby’s ship?’

Guns were another subject of fixation – an exotic, abstract danger Aya knew of from sims and news feeds and whatever kids talked about among themselves. ‘Yes,’ Tessa said.

‘What kind?’

‘I don’t know.’

Aya crunched and crunched. ‘Was it Aeluons?’

Tessa blinked. ‘Was what Aeluons?’

‘The aliens who broke his ship.’

‘No. Why would it be Aeluons?’

Crunch crunch crunch. ‘They have the biggest guns and go to war all the time.’

‘That’s—’ Tessa struggled to unpack that technically accurate statement. ‘The Aeluons have a big military, that’s true. But they’re our friends. They’ve done a lot of good things for us in the Fleet, and they wouldn’t hurt Ashby.’

‘Have you ever met one?’

‘An Aeluon? Yes. I’ve done work with a few Aeluon merchants, a long time ago. They were all very nice. Well, except one. You gotta remember, baby, other sapients are people just like us. There are good people and bad people and everything in between.’

Crunch crunch. ‘Then who shot at Uncle Ashby?’

‘A species called the Toremi.’

‘What do they look like?’

‘I don’t actually know. I don’t know much about them. We can look it up on the Linkings when we get home.’

‘Have you met one?’

‘No. How could I have met one if I don’t know what they look like?’

‘Why were they mad at Uncle Ashby?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t think it was about him, just the GC in general.’

‘Why—’

‘I don’t know, honey. Sometimes . . . sometimes bad things just happen.’

The crunching had stopped. ‘Will they come here?’

‘No,’ Tessa said with a firm voice and a reassuring smile. ‘They’re very far away. The Fleet’s a safe place. It’s one of the safest places you can be.’