"A stowaway," I said. "I knew it."

"Ow," said Friday. Gary had plugged in an IV drip to get him rehydrated.

"A Human in pain is a blessing to all," said Gary.

I didn't ask why he'd chosen the name Friday; it was from Robinson Crusoe, of course, but he seemed a little spacy from his time on the Obsidian Chorus. He wasn't weirded out all that much by Gary, which was good, because phlebotomy isn't something I enjoy. I can't hit the vein.

"Why did you want to come here?" I asked him. He was already looking better; Gary was mean but he used our equipment better than anyone, and theoretically I was in charge of it. Delegation, right? "I understand Earth has seen better days, I get that."

He nodded. He watched with wide eyes as Gary puttered around the lab. Then he was fixated on the alien healing machinery like he'd…well, like he'd never seen anything like this before.

"I have an idea about what you're doing here," I said. "The other crew didn't know about you, I think. And they couldn't detect you because of your Stealth rune."

"And they were idiots," he said.

"Roger that. You were in a hurry, I think, because everyone else had guns and equipment. Or you just couldn't get any of that stuff. You were in the Taco Bell site before the rest of them arrived. Did you think you'd make it?"

He shrugged. "They did a Circle K, and it worked fine. I took a chance." He was studiously avoiding my gaze. Ashamed? Embarrassed? Why?

Oh yeah. "I keep thinking about that punch, though." I rubbed my jaw. "It was a great punch, and you'd been waiting for me. You knew me. And you ran after me, almost got me."

He finally met my eyes. "Things are bad on Earth."

"Sure. But I think you knew you could have asked me for help. Instead you tried to beat me up. Good thing I have my special move."

"Running away?"

"Best move ever. I keep wondering why you'd get violent. And the answer is weird."

His brown eyes were wide. "Really bad on Earth," he said again.

"Harrigan and I talked the other day," I said. "He told me the same thing."

"He'd know. He thinks Humans are a done deal. He thinks we should wrap it up."

"I got the same speech from him. He also said I should try another thing. Do you know what he means?"

Friday nodded. "I think you should too."

"Why didn't you just ask? Fill out a support ticket?"

His eyes narrowed. He looked away. "We know about you back there. You hate Humans."

Oh I do not, I wanted to say. How perfectly beastly of you, sir. But I did tend to fling that kind of thing around, didn't I? And Harrigan used to have an actual file on me, one that said Use This Ingredient Sparingly.

"I just want to be left alone," I said. "I don't hate Humans."

"You could help us," he said. His eyes met mine, and they were unforgiving. "And you don't."

"What would you want me to do?"

"Doesn't matter, you won't do it." Bitter anger from him.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I'll have you know I stole a perfectly good alien dimensional-door-maker from an ancient ruin for this very purpose," I said.

He sat up straight. The IV drip clanked. "What? Really?"

I nodded solemnly. "So you don't have to kill me and take over my operation."

He dropped his gaze. I'd guessed right. It had been a very serious punch, after all.

It was a rotten idea and it never would have worked, but in a lot of ways it was interesting. This person had followed through on a crazy, almost impossible plan; it wasn't his fault I'd run off in my boat.

"Tell you what," I said. "I'll help with Harrigan's Operation Other Thing if you dish on everything you can. I have no idea what it's like over there."

"I'll dish." He looked…less miserable. Hopeful, even. "Real shit?"

"The realest."

I left him healing up, told him how to find food and a bed, and I had to go. Sean's memorial was going to be iffy and inconclusive.

"I'd do it but it really should be you," Mandy had said. "Think of yourself as a community leader."

"I am, just not for Humans. They want muscular, intimidating handsome guys who hurt people."

"You don't hurt people, Owen. You'll be fine."

I had thought of a speech. Not a speech, really, ust things to say. And I got on the formation the Humans called Pride Rock, named after the one in the Lion King, though it was only maybe six feet tall. The Radio boosted my voice.

"Hey everyone, sorry to interrupt lunch. I don't know what to say here so I'll just start in."

The Humans turned and looked at me. Trepidation. I was weird, with my tattoos and … actual weirdness. I tended to forget.

"Sean transcended," I said. "He's not going to be here any longer, as I understand things. He didn't die. He didn't become a ghost. I'm not sure what happened but I'll tell you what I know."

I told them the story of how Sean and I had fought for so long during the Harrigan years. Being reborn over and over again. How there were races who simply disappeared, but they didn't always go all at once. How Sean had merged his double soul. How he'd seemed relieved. How I'd found him gone after he'd spoken with his father.

I asked for questions.

Taylor, he of Team Big Three, asked: "How did he talk to Harrigan? The Radio?"

"Harrigan had some junk in that shark machine you messed up that let him do it," I said. I raised my voice. "You guys hear about how Taylor helped destroy a killer robot? It was badass."

Another question from an elaborately pretty girl, one with no access to cosmetics but who managed to look like she did. "When can we go home?"

"No idea. Do you want to? Knowing all you know? Earth is a mess, and time has passed here. I don't know what it's like."

She frowned. "I want to know what happened to my family. I want to talk to them."

Nods from everyone.

I'd expected her to demand a return to Earth because she was too pretty to live here, to not have the society she wanted to exist in, because everything Owen did pretty much sucked.

But she wanted her family. This was reasonable.

"Of course you want that," I said. "Of course you do. That's…really dumb that I didn't consider it." I frowned. "Sorry."

Of course they wanted to talk to their families. Not everyone had left earth an unemployable orphan (that's me, for my nonhuman readers). Of course they did. I'd been foolish.

Hmm.

"I don't know what to do about this," I said. "A funeral isn't right. There's a monument on the Obsidian Chorus to Sean, a statue of him. I'd never seen him that happy before. But he's just gone, like all the other people who'd built the ruins in this world. Like he…graduated high school, you know?"

They all looked thoughtful; nobody seemed surprised. I later learned that it was true. The Writing had been On the Wall, or somesuch.

Ezra popped into my field of vision, blurring free of the mass of Human faces. He raised his hand like we actually were in class. "Will it happen to all of us?"

"I don't know. The Radio thinks so. Fill them in, amigo."

"Yes," the Radio said. "If all goes well."

And again: nobody looked surprised. Maybe they were more on-the-ball about this than I'd thought.

Words came from my mouth. I tried to grab them back. I couldn't, and I kept talking, and I wanted to stop but here we are. And this is what I said:

"I want to do something for Sean, to remember him. We're holding Dinner and a Movie tonight. All of you are invited. Not a funeral. Just a … farewell party. Bon Voyage."

Many pairs of eyes had been on the ground. They lifted, met mine. It was the right thing, this awful thing I'd said.

Craaaap.

And you know what else? I came to wish I'd paid more attention to Taylor's question.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.