"Where are your shoes?" I ask, glancing down to Kira's feet. As if he had any say in how he popped over here. "We should see if anybody left some in one of these buildings you can use, you can't go on a hike like that." And if we can't find any, we'll just have to improvise.

"Well, I was in that group that went to find the lichen," I answer. "So pretty far. The whole way we never saw anything like this, though."

And it's only now, thinking about that journey, that I remember the wrist devices. "Jesus, I'm an idiot," I say, lifting my arm in demonstration. "We were able to send messages the whole time we were out before. If we're able to send some now, that'll be one big question answered."