She watched as the ship blasted away from the blue-gray dot that she had called home. Perhaps she would never see it again. All the better; the memories made there would stay there, forgotten, like the ancient buildings, the faces of old Empri carved into unyielding granite, the cities once desperate for more, now empty metal shells, abandoned in the hopes of something better.

She curled up in the space between the window and the storage unit she had placed on the bed, knees squished against her tiny chest in a familiar position from days long gone. She could enjoy this moment to herself before having to face whatever was to come.