She floated. In warm darkness. A womb, a bath. She was comfortable. An itchy soreness between her shoulderblades felt like a very mild radiation burn.

alice.

A voice she thought she should know. She tried to speak; her mouth gnashed, her teeth ground.

alice. talk here.

She tried again. Not with her mouth, this time.

Talk... here?

The buoyant warmth flickered past her. She was. drifting. No, swimming. She could feel currents on her skin. Her vision was confused. She blinked and blinked, and things were shattered.

There was nothing to see anyway, but stars.

alice talk here.

Where am I?

eatalice.

Vinnie. Vinnie's voice, but not in the flatness of the heads-up display anymore. Vinnie's voice alive with emotion and nuance and the vastness of her self.

You ate me, she said, and understood abruptly that the numbness she felt was not shock. It was the boundaries of her body erased and redrawn. she said, and understood abruptly that the numbness she felt was not shock. It was the boundaries of her body erased and redrawn.

Agreement.Relief.

I'm... in you, Vinnie?

Not a "no." More like, this thing is not the same, does not compare, to this other thing. Black Alice felt the warmth of s.p.a.ce so near a generous star slipping by her. She felt the swift currents of its gravity, and the gravity of its satellites, and bent them, and tasted them, and surfed them faster and faster away.

I am am you. you.

Ecstatic comprehension, which Black Alice echoed with pa.s.sionate relief. Not dead. Not dead after all. Just, transformed. Accepted. Embraced by her ship, whom she embraced in return.

Vinnie. Where are we going?

out, Vinnie answered. And in her, Black Alice read the whole great naked wonder of s.p.a.ce, approaching faster and faster as Vinnie accelerated, reaching for the first great skip that would hurl them into the interstellar darkness of the Big Empty. They were going somewhere. Vinnie answered. And in her, Black Alice read the whole great naked wonder of s.p.a.ce, approaching faster and faster as Vinnie accelerated, reaching for the first great skip that would hurl them into the interstellar darkness of the Big Empty. They were going somewhere.

Out, Black Alice agreed and told herself not to grieve. Not to go mad. This sure beat swampy h.e.l.l out of being a brain in a jar. Black Alice agreed and told herself not to grieve. Not to go mad. This sure beat swampy h.e.l.l out of being a brain in a jar.

And it occurred to her, as Vinnie jumped, the brainless bodies of her crew already digesting inside her, that it wouldn't be long before the loss of theLavinia Whateley was a tale told to frighten s.p.a.cers, too. was a tale told to frighten s.p.a.cers, too.