"Maybe they did," she agrees thoughtfully. It certainly is the better theory of the ones she can come up with and she'll choose to believe that. Her idealism much prefers not imagining anything worse. "I guess it's mostly a matter of time before we find the same one, if it exists."

Whatever the case is, they apparently still have some time left to live here, for better or worse. And maybe she'll be taking a look at that board when she wanders in today.

"Still, the idea of people being here before us doesn't exactly make me feel better about this whole thing."