Healed and in perfect health once again and back at their training base in some galaxy neither of them knew anything about, Trevor and Niki sat together in their shared living space and watched footage of the day's news on a feed from Earth provided by the Azure. They watched shot after shot of dead people on a sidewalk, of Egoneg floating through the sky, and of witness after witness relating their tales of terror. President Bellford came on in an effort to calm everyone down and to condemn anyone who had anything to do with it.

     Neither Trevor nor Niki said a thing. Neither of them moved, really. 

     They both just sat there watching the screen. 

     Two hours of that, and Niki got up to go into her room. 

     She'd closed her door, yet Trevor still heard her voice inside her room speaking, then arguing.  

     Talking to the Azure, obviously. 

     Then, silence. 

     He didn't even bother to check to see if she was still in her room because he knew she wasn't.

     Niki wouldn't talk to the Azure unless she intended to quit and go back to Earth.  

     So, he was alone.

     A zillion miles and a couple of dimensions from his home planet and after a day that was the most traumatic he'd ever known, (and he'd known more than a few fiercely traumatic days since joining up with Adam Forwwarder and the Azure), and now he was alone.  

     He'd lived in the training facility for two years, and, although completely alone for the first year and with only Niki as any real human company the second year, he'd never really felt lonely.

     But he sure felt lonely now. 

​     It got him in the throat and it got him in the heart. The physical wounds were gone, erased by the healers, but the emotional gashes were fresh and raw. 

     He never felt so alone. 

     He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, for some reason. 

​     Damn it, he couldn't.

                                                       CONTINUE