In order to escape the Imperium scrutiny he was getting, Brother Blue had decided to move down to Quint. I hid away at Reza’s at first, but it was a chore to evade Brother Blue. I saw him in town and on the road and every smile that he flashed made me miserable. He seemed to enjoy the growing town and the newly arrived Humans. He relished it. Looking in on people. Caring for them. As though he were actually the person that he always said he was—not the person who had lied to Earth, to the Imperium, to the Wanderers, and to the countless dead colonists of Children of Earth. “Why does he stay down here?” I asked. “Why doesn’t he just disappear?” “Things are strange up there,” Bitty said. “I don’t think he’s safe.” The only thing that comforted me about that was it meant soon I would be able to take him down for good. As more Humans started to trickle down to Quint, at some point we’d outgrow the small tract that could sustain us. We needed to go elsewhere, and I knew just where.
