The shuttle exited its dash with just a slight tremor. It had been the smoothest trip Apollonia had ever taken, but she felt worse than she had after any other trip.

Brooks had not missed that, and inquired about her, but she'd brushed it off.

So now he sat, clearly aware that she was wanting to vomit, but saying nothing. She appreciated it.

Apollonia couldn't be mad at the man for having told her the truth. For him, it struck infinitely closer to home.

But it didn't make it suck any less.

Her greatest wish in life couldn't ever be fulfilled. To walk on the world her people had come from, to appreciate it in its natural glory.

Most people lived in self-contained Ark Towers now. They tried not to disturb what was left, aside from a few rangers who guarded against poachers - or tourists who thought they could skirt the rules.

Brooks had suggested some of the nature preserve stations that held well-made reconstructions of what Earth had once been like, using real fauna and flora, cloned if necessary.

But that wasn't the same. She wanted to feel the dirt under her feet. Real dirt.

"Prepare for docking in approximately thirty minutes," the pilot called back.

Brooks stood up. "I need to make a call. Will you be all right, Apollonia?"

"I'm fine," she replied, trying to make herself sound normal and failing righteously.

After he disappeared, she took out a small bag and threw up her corn dog. She'd had another during their flight. Popular food, Brooks had said.

He probably knew - it was probably all recorded for everyone to peruse if they wanted, but by the time he returned she thought she at least looked normal again.

They docked, and upon leaving the shuttle she noticed that this was not a tourist station, but an austere and functional design for the voidfleet. Their logo was displayed prominently, six large stars and a dozen or so smaller ones, to represent the member species of the Sapient Union.

Nothing was comforting or particularly welcoming, it just served its purpose. She was glad for that, she didn't want a happy welcome right now.

The halls were all busy, with personnel moving in a steady stream, and a constant flood of drones above. Some even had visible weapons, guarding certain doorways, sometimes assisted by human soldiers - though once or twice she saw alien guards. It made sense; this place was in the Sol system, but was still part of an interstellar organization.

"So what now?" she asked Brooks. She felt highly conspicuous in her unmarked outfit. Everyone around her seemed to have insignia and rank markers and a colored stripe that indicated their branch of service. A veritable rainbow of efficiency.

"This is Gagarin Station," Brooks said. "We're in the fleet ring. We need to head out into the general station - and then we can go wherever we want."

She followed silently. They got onto a tram that took them to an area teeming with even more people, mostly human civilians, though she did get to see more aliens.

She stopped as she saw a Sepht, a squid person, a full head shorter than her looking around.

It looked like a child, and she wondered if they were lost, but then it suddenly began moving towards her on its three thick leg tentacles, and she stepped back.

"Please excuse me, you're on my tentacle," a voice said from behind her.

"Oh Dark, I'm sorry," she said, jumping forward and turning around. An entire group of the short Sepht were there, watching her oddly.

"I . . . ah . . . sorry," she said.

Brooks stepped up. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no . . . I mean, I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked the small being.

It seemed to have already forgotten it, turning away to leave.

"She's fine," Brooks said to her. "Their tentacles are very durable and don't feel much."

He began to walk away, and she hurried after him.

"How do you know it was a she?" she asked. "They all looked the same . . ."

"Ninety-five percent of Sepht are female," Brooks replied. "Males are only born rarely to fertilize the eggs."

She had never known that. "I didn't know they were so small . . ."

"There's three species of them. They're all about as closely related to each other as we were to Neanderthals," Brooks said. "Those were Vem em, who are smaller than the other two species."

She glanced back, but Brooks was in a hurry and she had to scurry to catch up to him.

"Hey, slow down," she said. "You're taller than me."

"We don't have a lot of time," Brooks told her.

"I thought we had days?!"

"Yes, but you're getting on a different flight, and it's a rare flight, and you can't miss it."

"What? You mean we're splitting up?" she asked, feeling a sudden swell of panic. "I don't know my way around."

Brooks looked back to her and smiled. "Neither do I - but your tablet will tell you where to go. It's smart - you just ask it for directions. You've still got that card I gave you, right?"

"Yeah . . ."

"That's got more than enough credits to cover any expenses you might have. Even if you run out, it will be honored. So you have nothing to worry about."

"Unless it gets stolen," she muttered.

He stopped, turning fully to look at her. Meeting her eyes, he smiled. It was a warm, knowing smile, as if he knew a funny secret he was about to tell.

"I know how you're thinking, Apple," he said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Apple, she thought, shocked at the nickname.

He kept talking. "I grew up in tough times, and I saw the frontier of space where people steal to live. But it's not like that here. I promise you - no one will try to hurt you on Earth. No one will try to run a scam on you or rob you. If you lost that card, you'd just be issued a new one at the next Credit Terminal. If anyone found it, they'd just put it into the recovery system without a thought."

He paused and took a breath. "Everyone here has everything they need. They don't want or need to take from others. I know you'll never be able to let your guard down, not fully. I still can't. But here, now? You could. And it would be all right."

She didn't know what to say to that. She just stared at him, and he gestured ahead. "Now, let's go - and keep up."

He started off again, moving even more swiftly, his strides long, and she had to jog to keep pace.

They took some twists and turns, even going down steps - he insisted it'd be faster than waiting for an elevator - and she soon found herself staring at a very elite-looking boarding area.

The people ahead of her all had on very official uniforms, diplomatic personnel from the look of them.

"Get in that line, they know who you are," Brooks told her.

"Okay, but - where am I going?" she asked.

"To Earth," he told her, stepping away. "There will be a drone to help you when you get to Lundgren Tower."

She didn't even know what that was. Her stomach twisting, she got in line to wait.

*******

Ten minutes later, Brooks found himself waiting. He'd missed his shuttle, but that was all right. He could take another.

Right now, he decided to take a moment just to appreciate the view.

The Earth was small from here. Still over 300,000 kilometers away, Gagarin station orbited at Lagrange 1, the point of rough gravitational balance between the planet and its moon.

From here he could see the blue oceans, the wisps of clouds. A thin line seemed to intersect the planet, which he knew was the new planetary ring, constructed in the decades since the catastrophe.

For nearly ten years the Earth had been cut off from the outside. Now, it was almost like it hadn't happened.

Once he was closer he'd be able to see the scars on the surface from the big impacts. Mostly centered around the equator, many had been smoothed over, reclaimed. But the badlands, areas of environmental collapse, wrecked by the savage swings of climate in the last thousand years, had not been erased.

Not all of them were dust bowls, either, he knew.

"Now boarding Flight 1016, bound to Southern Polar Regions," the call came, and his system helpfully reminded him that this was his new flight.

He dawdled a moment, appreciating how beautiful Earth looked from here. It was nice not seeing the scars.

Tearing himself away, he moved to board his flight.

"Call ahead and arrange all the gear," he told his system. "And rent a piloted crawler. I know the way."

"Destination?" his system queried.

"Perry, Antarctica."

*******

Apollonia boarded the shuttle when bidden. She'd wanted to ask someone questions, clarify just where she was going, but she couldn't think of how to phrase it - or get the attention of any staff.

She was going to Lundgren Tower, apparently, whatever it was.

It occurred to her that her tablet should, as Brooks told her, have her answers.

"What is Lundgren Tower?" she asked it.

It immediately answered back that the likely answer based on context was one of the Space Elevators that connected to the new - and still under construction - orbital ring around Earth.

"Where will the drone take me when I get there?"

The answer came back; "Wherever on Earth you want."

Her heart thudded in her chest. Brooks was giving her a ticket to anywhere?

She wondered, though, if there was still anything left to see.

"Are there are any forests?" she asked.

A list of forests whose names she did not even recognize came up. "Are these natural forests that have been around a long time?" she asked.

The system seemed to ponder that question.

"Nearly all forests were planted since the Orbital Ring Collapse," it finally said.

She asked for pictures, scrolling through the images of trees. They were small, not having had time to grow into the giants she'd always heard of and dreamed about.

She didn't even notice when they took the dashgate, nor when they exited. She was just looking through all the images of trees.

"Please prepare for docking," she heard, looking up. She had lost track of the time in her interest.

None of the forests were quite what she'd hoped for, and she didn't know if she could get her tablet to really understand what she actually wanted. But if she had to she could just pick one of them.

The ship docked, and she tucked her tablet into her pocket, confirming that the card Brooks gave her was still with her.

With the others - none of whom seemed to pay her much mind - she exited the ship and got onto the station.

She found some amusement with the fact that she was more adept in the zero-g than most of the others, and flipped herself onto the ceiling easily to pass some of the slow-movers.

"Tourists," she muttered, amused.

Outside of the docking area, she saw a drone waiting. It obligingly flipped over to be on her plane.

"Greetings, Ms. Nor," it said in a pleasant voice. "If you would follow me, I will guide you to the elevator."

"Thanks," she said, then felt stupid for thanking a drone.

It floated away, and she pulled herself along the ceiling after it, moving more fluidly than most.

They moved past a window and she stopped.

Down, below, she could see part of the Earth.

It was blue, just ocean, with wisps of streaky clouds hiding some of the darker water.

It was the closest view she'd ever had of a planet. And it was the homeworld.

She lingered, the drone stopping and waiting patiently.

"What am I looking at?" she asked.

"You are viewing the Pacific Ocean," the drone told her. "Lundgren Tower is anchored to the Earth at the equator, approximately 100 degrees West of South America. At its base end is a floating platform. It is not technically a tower, but rather a tether-"

"Why is it all so dark?" she asked.

"It is night time," the drone replied.

She craned her neck to see if she could see the tower - or tether, apparently - itself. But she could not.

"Your elevator will be departing soon. If you wish to catch it, we should be moving."

"All right," she said, stepping away. "It's just the first time I've seen it. I . . . I guess it means something to me."

"Please follow me," the drone said, oblivious to her words.

The space elevator was large, but not as impressive as she'd expected. The trip, her tablet told her, would take around seven hours.

She didn't like that. It should take two-three minutes for re-entry, tops, in her mind. She'd heard of space elevators, of course, but in most thing she saw the people going down to a planet opted for an ablative re-entry, with all the dramatic plasma and glow that entailed.

Though, she reasoned, considering how often those went wrong in the shows, she was glad to take something that was perhaps safer.

A message appeared, from Brooks. Surprised, she brought it up. It was only a few lines of text.

"There's no Rafflesia flowers, but there's a forest I think you'll like. Show the Guide Drone and it will get you there."

An image came up, and she saw the forest. There was no name - only an image.

Oh yes, she thought. She liked that.

"Hey, drone?" she said.

"How can I help you?" it asked.

"What is this forest called?"

"It is the Sequoia Cloud Forest," the drone told her.

She felt a tingle go down her spine. "Take me there."