for governor.”
“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes.
“Could you use some help?” Jane asks.
“Yes, thank you, Jane.” Next to her, Gordon is leaning on Dennis for support. “Think we can handle this?” Chloe asks him.
“Clearly.” He winks.
***
People pat them on the back, offer up well wishes and words of love, as all three hobble toward their tattered spaceship. Before they enter Sephora ’s main hatch, a grand cheer goes up. Nix can’t help but bask a little in the attention and gives the crowd a wave to an even bigger cheer.
On the disheveled flight deck, Chloe hesitates before taking her place in the pilot’s chair. Humanity’s fate—at least for the short term—is in her hands. Jane straps herself in.
“How is this thing still flying?” Nix says, genuinely curious and amused.
“It— she doesn’t have the good sense to give up. Like the rest of us,” Chloe observes. She takes a deep breath. “Nix. Strap in, ya donkey. Shotgun.”
He smiles and hops into the co-pilot’s chair.
“Watch what I do.” Chloe, looking out the spider-cracked forward porthole, confidently runs her good fingers over the ship’s helm.
Sephora ’s engines roar to life as all of Gaea watches. The battle-worn ship gleams under a shaft of sunlight. She lights up, lifts off, and rockets straight up toward the Eye and the docked Alien Grey supply ship.
Chapter Thirty-six
Chloe crisscrosses the neatly manicured cemetery alone, passing cross after cross, including new ones for those they’d recently lost—Wray, Marshall, Naledri, and Frey. She kneels at the cross for Amon Earl.
“You’re wrong, you know,” she says out loud. “You made a murderer of me, but you’re wrong.” Her eyes well up. “My God, I hope you’re wrong.”
She slowly sits back on her legs in the rusty sand. “You know we are what we are. Sometimes our own worst enemy, but there’s no reason we can’t be better at love than we are at war. And that rock wall will come down.”
She stands and looks to the horizon, wiping the tears away. “And it’s a beautiful day.”
“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes.
“Could you use some help?” Jane asks.
“Yes, thank you, Jane.” Next to her, Gordon is leaning on Dennis for support. “Think we can handle this?” Chloe asks him.
“Clearly.” He winks.
***
People pat them on the back, offer up well wishes and words of love, as all three hobble toward their tattered spaceship. Before they enter Sephora ’s main hatch, a grand cheer goes up. Nix can’t help but bask a little in the attention and gives the crowd a wave to an even bigger cheer.
On the disheveled flight deck, Chloe hesitates before taking her place in the pilot’s chair. Humanity’s fate—at least for the short term—is in her hands. Jane straps herself in.
“How is this thing still flying?” Nix says, genuinely curious and amused.
“It— she doesn’t have the good sense to give up. Like the rest of us,” Chloe observes. She takes a deep breath. “Nix. Strap in, ya donkey. Shotgun.”
He smiles and hops into the co-pilot’s chair.
“Watch what I do.” Chloe, looking out the spider-cracked forward porthole, confidently runs her good fingers over the ship’s helm.
Sephora ’s engines roar to life as all of Gaea watches. The battle-worn ship gleams under a shaft of sunlight. She lights up, lifts off, and rockets straight up toward the Eye and the docked Alien Grey supply ship.
Chapter Thirty-six
Chloe crisscrosses the neatly manicured cemetery alone, passing cross after cross, including new ones for those they’d recently lost—Wray, Marshall, Naledri, and Frey. She kneels at the cross for Amon Earl.
“You’re wrong, you know,” she says out loud. “You made a murderer of me, but you’re wrong.” Her eyes well up. “My God, I hope you’re wrong.”
She slowly sits back on her legs in the rusty sand. “You know we are what we are. Sometimes our own worst enemy, but there’s no reason we can’t be better at love than we are at war. And that rock wall will come down.”
She stands and looks to the horizon, wiping the tears away. “And it’s a beautiful day.”
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