None of those answers were great! Though Luka had been bracing himself to hear something awful, the idea that every previous planet that had harbored life was lost was still nothing he could brace himself for. His stomach twists and he feels as though he might be sick, tightening his hold on Gyre desperately.

"Were any of those populations able to be saved, even if the planets weren't?" He follows up Gyre's question with another. He wants something hopeful to cling to - something to reassure him that their own people wouldn't be lost.

His mind circles back to the override function. They didn't have access to an AESS Director, obviously, even if any out there are still alive.

"Are you able to send any kind of messages? Can you communicate with your home base or... something?" How does science work? Luka doesn't know.