3
Scout sat on the floor of the space outside the airlock, a dog on a leash close on either side of her. One of the tribunal enforcers had fetched her when they had started their final approach to the planet that was her destination. To her surprise, when she reached the airlock, the rest of the ménage was waiting there for her as if to say good-bye to their guest.
Scout wasn’t sure what form that farewell would take. They were still all just standing and watching her, hands tucked inside their sleeves, faces as blank as ever.
Scout was slipping her glasses up and down her nose to look at the ship around her as she had grown used to seeing it, as a thing of living crystal, and then as it appeared in its unenhanced state, which was nothingness.
The crystal ship was more comforting, but
