Last spark from the ashes

"It was." Bryn stops when he does and turns to look back at him; she's smiling at his surprise even though, really, it makes sense. "Did- did Ghost ever tell you about the Traveler? It's an alien that came to our system a couple of hundred years ago. It changed Venus into a place where humans could live. Fixed the atmosphere, put the oceans back... even seeded it with new life. It's covered in jungles there, now... and a few volcanoes. Okay, a lot of volcanoes. But they don't erupt very much."

Bryn loves her homeworld; it brings a warmth to her voice that doesn't quite fade when she comes back to the present. "I've read about Google, sure." They love social history around the Ishtar Academy. "And a Space Needle definitely sounds like my kind of thing..."

She's trying to put some enthusiasm into it, encouraging him to share, but that last part quietens her. She shoots him a sidelong glance. "So you... you don't remember much from before, either?"