Interlude 3
One minute Lexa was in Lunar Lakes, explaining the logic of underfloor gravity to her daughter, the next she was... here. Except where was here?
"That's classified information," said a voice behind her.
"What? Who are you?"
"I'm Hazel. Your grandmother. You met me a few times when you were young, but I was old back then."
Lexa stared around her. It was some sort of garden. She'd always imagined the afterlife to be slightly less, well, pink.
"Sorry," Hazel said. Lexa didn't think she'd said that out loud. "It's an odd quirk of where we are, that we can set our own environments. I like it leafy. Ben, your dad, disagrees. Whenever he calls a meeting it's in some stuffy library."
"What?"
"Sorry," Hazel repeated.
"What is this place? Setting our own environments? Classified information? Flowers?"
"Beautiful, aren't they?" said Hazel, which Lexa felt was avoiding the point.
"Carry on..."
"Yes. Sorry. We're in a strange place, as you might have gathered. I think I'd better start at the beginning. And back at the base. It's safer there."
"Safer? I don't fear danger!"
"You'll want to fear this. Trust me."
Hazel led her towards a road, which Lexa was sure hadn't been there before. For the first time in her life, she was a little bit scared.
