"Maxwell?"

Maxwell's head rose. "Hm? Oh." She laughed. "I must have fallen asleep. I'm sorry." She quickly looked over the panel she had opened up, and was glad to see that everything still looked in place. "I'll finish updating your systems."

"It's fine, I understand you're tired," Hera said, voice echoing faintly.

"Thank you for waking me up." Maxwell didn't want to think about Kepler's reaction if he caught her. Her coffee thermos was nearby, tangled in some of the defunct wires, and she grabbed it gratefully to take a sip.

She sighed. Kepler was getting increasingly demanding as the contact event drew closer. Maxwell knew better than to complain, but the facts were that she and Jacobi were exhausted.

"Hey. I was wondering if we could -" Hera hesitated. "Can I ask a question? A quick one?"

"Of course," said Maxwell, rubbing her eyes and then squinting over at one of Hera's optical monitors.

Hera's next sentence was full of stutters and glitches, so much so that it took a moment for it to register in Maxwell's mind.

"What's it like to be in love?"

Maxwell blinked, wondering if she was still dreaming. "I'm sorry?"

"I - I just wanted to know. It's something that a lot of humans experience, right?"

"It's pretty common, yes," Maxwell said slowly. "But if I'm being honest, I think it's overrated."

"Oh. Why?"

"It's not guaranteed to work out, and it's terrible when it doesn't," Maxwell said. Normally she wouldn't be so frank about something so personal, but having just woken up, the words were coming much more easily. She found she didn't mind so much. Hera was easy to talk to, and could be painfully earnest besides. She deserved a proper answer.

"What do you mean?" Hera asked.

Maxwell stifled a yawn. In the past, she had only discussed this with Jacobi. No one else had ever shown much interest in her personal life. "I had a girlfriend in college, but as much as I loved her, she couldn't understand why my work was so important to me. It . . . did not end well. We had a fight, and I haven't seen her since."

"I'm sorry," Hera said.

"It was a while ago. Don't worry about it." Maxwell smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "Heartbreak isn't worth it, Hera. You can be a perfectly happy person without going to all that trouble."

"I don't know." Hera sounded wistful. "I think it could be nice."