The rescue shuttle took two jumps to get them there, and he had no idea where that was, except that it couldn’t be the actual Solar System, because that would have taken four jumps from where they had been. The illumination for the room was the best simulated daylight he’d ever seen. There was also a long, narrow strip of window that showed the black sky and a single yellow star shining in the far distance. The carpet was soft and whole and clean. So were the blue shirt and black trousers he’d been given to wear. The bed had swaddled him comfortably for the ten hours he slept. The chairs adjusted to fit his contours. He had been extremely well fed, and for the first time in more years than he could remember, he was not thirsty. Their gravity was too heavy for him and he ached from it, but he was adjusting. Emiliya, you should have come with me. You’d love this place. He tried to ignore the way his good fist tightened at the thought. He’d figured her for smarter than that. He’d loved her.
