Freyr did smile a tiny bit at Nirann’s deadpan humour. It didn’t last long though. “I’m just finding it hard to be optimistic right now. I spent my whole adult life so far trying to understand the next phase in synthetic life. Now we have the greatest chance I'm ever going to see, sitting in my lap, and all I want to do is find my family and get far away. Go live in the wild somewhere. As long as I have them, the rest of this galaxy can burn for all I care.” Even as she said it, Freyr was surprised by the vitriolic words emerging from her head. But she knew they were real, if buried deep down like white embers in a dying fire.