Camera flashes filled the Grand Hall while the applause rolled over the stage. The President fastened the National Medal of Science around my neck.
The medal rested cool and heavy against my chest.
Gabriel squeezed my hand. Over fifteen years of shared silence and discovery, we had learned to understand each other without filling every pause.
He was my husband now, as well as my partner on the mission.
For fifteen years, people had called me Lead Engineer Aster and waited for my answer before touching the systems I designed. I no longer needed my brothers to notice when I entered a room.
When the ceremony ended, two men waited near the main exit in the shadow of a marble column.
I recognized them before I wanted to.
Arthur sat in a wheelchair. His dark hair had turned brittle white,
