Committee Of The Awake
They did not move Kati. Anneli had a number of reasons for this that she did not articulate even to herself, but the first reason was that Kati had asked to stay, and the second was that Kati had said she had a routine, and the third was that Mihkel had looked at the nest and nodded in the particular way that meant *this person is all right for now, do not disturb her*. They left her a second thermal sheet from their own pack and a fresh water can and the small comfort of Anneli's promise that they would be back within the cycle. They climbed back out through the inspection lock. They did not speak until they were back on the ring.
Mihkel called the committee. He did this the old way, on the ship's internal paging, because the formal protocol for a committee of the awake was one of the few protocols older than Mihkel, and the formal protocol said that you called it in voice over the all-ship so that nobody who was awake could pretend afterwards that they had not heard. It was a protocol meant for emergencies. It had been used, in the eighty-six years of the Kaleva's voyage, eleven times. Mihkel's voice came out of the speakers in the ring and the galleys and the cupolas with the old solemn weight of a thing being done seriously.
"All awake personnel, all awake personnel. Committee convening in the ring ready room in forty minutes. Pärn, M., calling. Vask, A., concurring.