That's disappointing for Adia to hear. Earth is supposed to be a utopia, according to the Sacred Scrolls, a colony dedicated to art and the sciences. But every Earth she learns about seems to have the same problems the colonies did, if not more.

"Maybe," She says, not agreeing with him exactly, but wanting to be polite. "There are a lot of things in our nature that worked so well for our ancestors that we keep doing them, even when we should know better."

"Sure. We can learn about the Nexus together." It's comforting that there are places in the Nexus that even someone as confident and resourceful as Red has not seen. "It's probably safer, too. I wouldn't want to get lost."