[Well, all right. Can't do much other than to accept that. She's fine, just been thinking, and doesn't that describe all of them here some days? He sure knows how easy it is to get stuck in his own head, reflecting on everything that goes on around them as they do their best to get these orbs back under control.

So he lets it be, then shakes his head.]

Not often, no. I just ask her things now and then in the hopes the answer that comes back shines some tiny light into the darkness we're always in. I asked her once about what defenses the station had in case we ended up under attack here in space, and she said that there's no need. That the station is impossible to find, and that we and the orbs are safe, and that she spoke from experience. And in other network conversations between her and other people, she admitted there were people here before us who were supposed to have their own regrets reversed by the orb.

[No, it's not a firm answer, but it's pretty damn close to one, and it raises lots of its own concerns. What happened to the people before them?]