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When we pierced the outer hull of the little ship and slammed the airlock into place, there was no puff of silica insulation, and I thought the ship was a real junkheap.
We didn't figure out that the ship had already been popped by Runners for quite some time, as the family inside spoke very poor English. It took a long while to convince them that we were not going to hurt them, but instead find some way to help.
The last Runners, who had hit them a day or so ago, had not left enough of anything for the man, woman, and two pale spacelings, they had less than us. We still have enough alcohol and random cooking spices to pretend, and our water supplies have not been stolen either.
I'll never know if we would have been kinder or better than those other Runners, but there is no way I can convince myself that the family had no reason to fear us. We gave them water and repairs and set them on a faster Nav course, but just as easily we might have left them spinning.
The woman looked at me with tears in her eyes, and I tried my best to feel nothing at all.



The ship that popped them is only hours away from us now, holding steady toward Miklund. We're off course to intercept them, but we'll get there before we starve. We've all made so many mistakes already.