“I don’t like this overcast,” he told Anders. “Something’s brewing. Get everyone moved and at work helping build shelters as soon as you can.”

“I can have most of them there within an hour or two,” Anders said. “Some of the older people, though, will have to take it slow. This gravity⁠—it’s already getting the hearts of some of them.”

“How are the children taking the gravity?” he asked.

“The babies and the very young⁠—it’s hard to tell about them yet. But the children from about four on up get tired quickly, go to sleep, and when they wake up they’ve sort of bounced back out of it.”

“Maybe they can adapt to some extent to this gravity.” He thought of what Lake had said that morning: So many of them are so young⁠ ⁠… and when you’re young it’s too soon to have to die. “Maybe the Gerns made a mistake⁠—maybe Terran children aren’t as easy to kill as they thought. It’s your job and mine and others to give the children the chance to prove the Gerns wrong.”