"Take me to the recruiting office," said Victor. "That's why we came back. So I can join in the fight."
Yanyu looked surprised. "But what can you do? You are not Chinese. My country is not letting in other soldiers, and the fight out here is over."
"My family's ship was destroyed," said Victor. "My father and half my family were killed. The Formics did that. I'm not going to watch them do that to someone else. I'm going to stop them."
Yanyu reached across the table and took his hand. "I am sorry for your loss, Victor."
It was her touch and the gentleness of her voice that nearly pushed him to tears. For days he had buried all thoughts of Father. It was too much to think about, too painful to dwell on. Father was dead. The most constant person in Victor's life was gone. Day after day they had spent every waking hour together bouncing around the ship and making repairs, learning together, laughing together, arguing at times yes, but always apologizing and feeling stupid together afterward. Always together. Not even Mother spent that much time with Father.
And now Father was gone.
Victor wondered how Mother was taking it. A part of him felt guilty for not rushing back and looking for her and the others on the WU-HU ship. Wasn't that his duty as the last surviving male? Not going back was like abandoning Mother, wasn't it? She needed him. She would be broken inside without Father.
And yet Victor also knew that Mother's spine had more iron than his. If anyone could survive and keep all the women and children together, Mother could. She didn't need Victor's help for that. In fact, he would only add to her burden because she would be consoling him, not the other way around.
That was Mother's gift. Father fixed broken machines, Mother fixed broken people.
"Come," said Yanyu. "I will take you."
They took a track car to the center of Old City where the recruiting offices were located. They got out at the NATO building and stood in the artificial sunlight.
"You want me to come in with you?" asked Imala.
"No," said Victor. "I can do this."
"We'll wait here," said Yanyu. "I'll take you both back to my place when you're done. They won't ship you out for a few days at least."
"If they ship me out, you mean."
"Think positive," said Imala. "The world is desperate. They'd be insane not to take someone with your talents."
Victor entered the building and told the woman at the counter why he'd come. She directed him to a room where a handful of other men around Victor's age were waiting. An hour passed as more men trickled in. They were from all nationalities. Some were nicely dressed. Others wore mismatched hand-me-down garments as was the norm among most free-miner families.
Eventually a uniformed soldier entered and addressed them. "NATO does not take walk-ins," he said. "We take trained soldiers only. Our forces come from the existing armies of our member countries. So we can't enlist any of you into our service. However, through that far door we have recruiters from every member country. You can enlist in their army, and once you've received training, you can request a transfer to a NATO force. If you are not a citizen of any country, if you don't have a birth certificate, I'm afraid no country is going to take you. Please exit back this way." He pointed to the door they had come through. "Give your contact information to the woman at the desk. If our policy changes, we will make an effort to contact you."
"How?" said Victor. "How will you contact us? My ship was destroyed, and how would you contact a ship anyway? Most communications are down."
"Sorry. That's what I've been asked to say."
"You mean that's what they told you to tell us space borns to make us go away."
The room was quiet. The soldier said nothing.
"What difference does citizenship make anyway?" said Victor. "People on Earth are dying. Do you think they care if their rescuers have a birth certificate?"
"Look, I don't make the policy," said the soldier.
"No, you just follow it. You'll let the world be destroyed because of a policy."
"With all due respect, friend, one person can't stop the world from being destroyed."
Victor was on his feet. "With all due respect, friend, you're wrong."
He went through the door and passed the front desk without stopping.
Outside, Imala and Yanyu instantly saw that it hadn't gone well. "You okay?" asked Imala.
All the rage and disappointment in Victor fizzled out, replaced with embarrassment. "I'm not even a second-class citizen, Imala. I'm nobody."