They watched the explosion from the tree line, several hours later.

The huge fireball blossomed with a double flash of pure white that turned the landscape all around into day, burning upwards in a tower of flame and heat that reached the sky, billowing out in a vast umbrella of ember and ash across the land that fell hours later amongst them as soft, warm snow.

It expended its last reserves all at once, said Mead.

The machine had taken to talking only to Rial and Tala, almost exclusively within their heads so that others could not hear.

“But why...?” said Rial.

His eyes had the same glazed look Tala recognised from scouts who returned to the city alone, when they had set out with others.

The planet is on the offensive. There was nothing it could do, not after expending most of its reserves battling me. In the end, I think it wanted to go out like that. I would.

Rial and Tala stopped.

“You would, would you?” asked Tala.

Well, as I have said, this unit does not possess desires or wants, and therefore…

“That’s right, Mead,” interrupted Rial. “We know.”

They shared a smile that held little humour, and resumed their trek.

The days passed in a haze, Tala meeting the new faces yet hardly registering them. She forgot their names as soon as she heard them. They saw no wildlife themselves, but Mead kept them informed of developments far, far away.

They listened to the dry facts as the remaining slavers and slaves, those who had been outside the town for one reason or another, gradually disappeared between the jaws and claws of the planet. Villages hundreds of kilometres away finally gave up under the pressure of the wave of assaults that came non-stop now, their one loss making all the wins up until this point meaningless. The khiladri were everywhere, descending from the mountains and sweeping across the plains.

Tala would never know what sequence of events it took for the walls of the city to fail, but she listened as Mead dispassionately announced the numbers of those living there as they fell and fell. She made herself stop when she felt a single tear roll down her cheek.

The numbers only became more regular once they reached the ship, clambering through the hole besides which the dead man Rial had called Gryrne stood once more. Mead had access to the ship sensors here, some of which remained usable, and he answered the questions of those morbidly fascinated by the final collapse of humanity.

They didn’t seem able to stop listening, but Tala had had enough.

“Leaving?” asked Rial, surprised.

They were alone in the engine room, staring at the black monoliths that had once hurled this splinter of humanity across the stars. She didn’t know why the two of them had come here so often since returning, but something drew them to the heavy silence that pervaded the room.

Tala nodded.

Rial said nothing, but Tala could see he wanted an explanation.

“You spent twenty suns out there, right?” she said.

“Almost,” he replied.

“Well, I think that’s why you… are who you are. I can’t explain it with words, it’s just… what I need to do,” she said, shrugging.

“It’s dangerous. I nearly died too many times to count. And I had Mead.”

“And could Mead have helped you, really, if you weren’t meant to be there?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“I guess not. But… are you sure? We’re safe here.”

There was pleading in Rial’s eyes.

“We’re not safe anywhere, not for long,” she said. “Not if we simply hide.”

Rial nodded slowly.

“You know I have to go out there. We have to be a, a part of what’s happening out there or we’re finished.”

Rial nodded again, but his face…

“Oh, don’t look so pathetic,” Tala snapped. “I’ll be back, probably sooner than it took you.”

Rial’s crestfallen expression changed into a sad smile and, at her irritated look, turned into a low laugh.

“You probably will,” he chuckled. “If I could survive it, you won’t have any problems.”

“I will take a couple of the coilguns, though,” she said, nodding towards where they were once again stored, hidden behind the engines in the storeroom built secretly once long ago. On Mead’s advice and protection, they had been returned with no ill-effects.

“You’ll keep them away from you as much as possible?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Then I guess there’s not much more I can say.”

His hands twitched upwards for a second before he forced them back to his sides.

Seriously? She thought to herself.

Then she made herself think of his position, just this once.

“Fine,” she said, cheeks reddening.

They hugged goodbye, a few seconds trying to speak for everything that had happened since this lost, lonely figure had sat outside the walls in the night-time wastes a lifetime ago.

“Take care, Tala,” Rial said. The silence said more than words could.

She was already heading for the exit. No point wasting time, not now she was decided.

“You too, Rial. You too.”

Outside, the world waited.