Somebody spoke into her ear.
"Why did you do this to us?"
"I didn't do anything to you."
"You brought us knowledge."
"What knowledge?"
"You said you were not us."
"Well, I'm not."
"You should never have told us that."
"You wanted me to lie?"
Horrified confusion. "Falsehood. What a distressing idea."
The smashing noises were getting louder. Somebody was splintering a door with an axe. Explosions. Breaking glass. She heard wild laughter. Shrieks. "We've got to get out of here."
"Why did you send the messenger?"
"What messenger?"
"The star! The star! The star!"
"Which star?"
"There are two stars?"
"There are billions of stars."
"No more! Please! Stop! No more!"
* * *She was awake.
_"Hello, yes, I appreciate that the young lady is in extreme danger, but I really don't think she should have used the Lord's name in vain."_
"Greene," Lizzie said, "do we really have to put up with this?"
"Well, considering how many billions of public-sector dollars it took to bring us here ... yes. Yes, we do. I can even think of a few backup astronauts who would say that a little upbeat web-posting was a pretty small price to pay for the privilege."
"Oh, barf."
"I'm switching to a private channel," Alan said calmly. The background radiation changed subtly. A faint, granular crackling that faded away when she tried to focus on it. In a controlled, angry voice Alan said, "O'Brien, just what the hell is going on with you?"
"Look, I'm sorry, I apologize, I'm a little excited about something. How long was I out? Where's Consuelo? I'm going to say the L-word. And the I-word as well. We have