“Last night she came to me with your note. I know⁠ ⁠… I know everything; don’t talk.⁠ ⁠… But the child is yours. I sent her over; she is already beyond the Wall. She will live.⁠ ⁠…”

I was back on the commander’s bridge, back in the delirious night with its black, starry sky and its dazzling sun. The hands of the clock on the table were slowly moving from minute to minute. Everything was permeated by a thin, hardly perceptible quivering (only I noticed it). For some reason a thought passed through my head: it would be better if all this took place not here but somewhere below, nearer to earth.

“Stop!” I commanded.