“See that star there in the red?” It was a tiny speck next to the number and line. “They think they are subtle with it.” The lines of the star stretched out in six directions. I wanted to say it looked more like a flower than a star, but that’d be inaccurate too. I’d been spending so much time looking at stars lately that I knew they took on plenty of shapes depending on how I squinted my eyes. They had more points of light than five and more inconsistencies than straight lines. “That’s a Celebrity line,” Xavi continued. “They are faster and safer than Military transports.” “Why are they faster?” “Less cars to carry, and they get expensive fuel.” I nodded. It made sense. The faster the travel in between interviews, the more useful their genetic contributions would be to the Republic. The boys spent their entire viable years on the tracks, sharing their genetics with certain colonies the G.E.G. deemed in need. The girls were different. They only traveled between children.
