I never lived anywhere that wasn't all patriotism all the time. [ She snorts and rubs her eyes tiredly. ] My country was real big on it. When we're kids, they made us say the pledge to the flag every mornin'. And we sing the national anthem all the time. It's been years and I still know 'em both by heart. Even other countries in our world thought it was super fuckin' weird, but that was just what we did.

[ So she recognizes that shit when she sees it in Cadens. It would be almost funny, if she weren't so scared of it.

Her face shows a sort of grim disagreement. She understands where he's coming from, she really does, but she also believes that the strength of the Singularity is larger than anything the factions can do to them. It wants them to be here with it, it helped heal them when it could. Julie was raised to believe in miracles, in dei ex machina, in the idea that there is something bigger than them that cares. Her people just picked the wrong one to follow. But she had never felt God or Jesus like she feels the Singularity. The Singularity is real, and it cares about her. Loves her, the kind of raw, overwhelming love that babies have for their parents, because that's the only kind of emotion Julie ever seems to feel from it.

She takes another drag and holds her breath for a long moment before she exhales a cloud into the air. ] And what's your idea for that?