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Despite all her crimes, the cell was still nicer than how hundreds of millions were living. She still got a TV and the news: today she learned that the final few emperor penguins passed on… riddled with cancer, and starving. Even with modern hydrogen bombs, there was still enough radiation to scramble their genes to the point of failure. Of course, had those very same bombs not been used the creatures would still have died. An inevitability of their predicament, but yet she was still blamed for their extinction. Though the anchors did not cast the blame with any malice or anger in their voices, only resigned misery. A necessary evil.
In a few minutes food would be brought to her. She got more than the other prisoners, so they didn’t let her eat with them. Where they got scraps of bread, rice, and boiled vegetables – taken from what the International Preservation Aid Program left behind – she got a consistent set of meals. Nothing super fancy, but genuine prepared meals nonetheless. Today it would be pasta, no telling what kind, but Thursdays always had pasta for her. Stratt had initially protested this, but for some reason to them she was still a hero.
An American Southern accent bounced lazily into her room (Texan? Appalachian? She couldn’t tell yet.) “Director Stratt-”
She decided to correct the man, it wouldn’t work, but it was on principle at this point “I am not a director of anything anymore. Miss Stratt, Eva, Eva Stratt, or just Stratt are all fine.”
“Apologies ma’am, I have your dinner, uh, fettuccine alfredo.” He pushed the meal through the slit “Oh and, a letter from the Petrova Task Force and one from the ICC.”
“Thank you.”
The man’s boots clicked down the hall. A smart cadence, always in rhythm. She set the tray of food on the small table in her room. Pushing aside several items that she had been allowed to have. She looked at the two letters. Both were marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. Her mind hovered on the Petrova Task Force letter, it wasn’t in an envelope, probably E-mailed and printed out here in the prison. It was likely more important. But, she was also supposed to be a prisoner. Millions had died because of her decisions. What could they possibly have to say to her? She would still have to look at the paper, but it could wait a few minutes. The envelope tore open messily, the emblem of the International Criminal Court split in two. Stratt hastily unfolded the paper, listening to it crinkle and watching it crumple.
Addressing Eva Stratt,
Japan has confirmed their decision to use their detention facilities for your confinement in the year 2049 after your confinement term in the United States has ended. Expect to be relocated by January of 2049 at the latest.
Alice Campbell, ICC communications staffer.
Just more useless moving around. She hesitated and then delicately opened the paper from the Task Force. Not so much as a wrinkle was left by her touch.
Addressing Former Director Eva Stratt,
We wish to inform you, before we inform the World, that 4 interstellar objects with infrared radiation outputs matching that of Spin Drives and cross sections the same as the Beatle probes have been detected entering our Solar System. With luck, the data onboard will be our salvation. We will pursue annulling your sentence and reinstating you as director for the upcoming retrieval and response, as quite frankly, we are in no shape to save humanity as it stands.
Interim Director Neil Nelson, Petrova Task Force
Stratt stared at the paper, perhaps it was some kind of joke? Americans had that… no that was only once in a year. Taikonout Yao Li-Jie, Cosmonaut Olesya Ilyukhina, and poor poor Ryland Grace who was no Astronaut had done it. Maybe not saved humanity, they still might have found there was no solution. No cure for the Astrophage. But they had survived the comas, then they survived being alone together, Grace hadn’t sabotaged the ship – it was always a bluff, he was too good of a man to do that –, they made it to Tau Ceti in one piece and conducted their research, put it into the Beatles and sent the things on their merry way. And just maybe survival, for what was left of Earth and Humanity, was waiting inside.