Chapter 29Even if the aliens are short, dour, and sexually obsessed—if they’re here, I want to know about them.
—Carl Sagan
8:00 a.m. GMT+3, May 11, 2022
Highway D370 west of Batman, formerly Turkey, now Anatolian Kurdish State
The hot, dry air outside predicts searing temperatures, deadly for those who did not come prepared. But the silence in the car is far deadlier, as Zara fumes, peeved at her family, the family secret that they withheld from her, and this silly little boy next to her, who charmed them. Putty in his hands, silly little hands.
Peter, sensing the extremely dangerous tension and seething fury in the woman next to him driving the truck, sensibly looks out his window, avoiding her gaze and reflecting on what her family said to him this morning. While Zara and Jean-Paul
