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He takes a deep breath

“But your decision will be yours ”

71

ELDER

AMY CORNERS ME IN THE KEEPER LEVEL AT THE END OF THE DAY

“You can’t be serious,” she demands

“I can’t force people to go ” I rollto ease some of the tension within them

“It’s suicide! Godspeed can’t last forever—in a few generations, everyone will die out!”

“I’ve talked to Bartie about this,” I say, collapsing in one of the blue plastic chairs I’ve pulled into the Great Rooer sustainable, they’ll”

“They’ll what?” Amy demands “Make a suicide pact? Drink the bad Kool-Aid?”

I have no idea what she’s talking about “Doc has an array of med patches The black ones”

“Kill?” She sounds disgusted

“As humanely as possible ”

A around the Great Room “This is ridiculous,” she says “You can’t let the themselves—”

I cut her off “I’ve talked to the scientists The ship isn’t going to disintegrate overnight There will be enough energy to last for a couple enerations at least ”