"We are time travelers from ancient history. If we're not outright from an alternate universe."

"Histories from before the Radch are profoundly unclear and in many cases fabrications, but I would have expected something referencing magical girls to have survived if they once represented two percent of the population."

"Two percent of girls. Boys don't get magic. So one percent of the total population. And I'd expect that too but I'd also expect you to know who Jesus was, so I'm not so sure - have people lived continuously on Earth?"

"It has never been entirely uninhabited. The populations of many worlds was dramatically reduced at some point shortly after the founding of the Radch, with the more populous worlds affected more, and I think Earth's population may have fallen as low as 50,000 people at that time."

"That's still enough to have plenty of magical girls even if we only crop up on Earth. Do you not have swarms and kaiju either or do you handle them with nonmagical methods?"

"The words would be unfamiliar either way - can you describe -"

"Swarms are little black shapeshifting creatures that appear a few hundred at a time, and if they go long enough without being destroyed, they'll merge into each other until they're bigger creatures, and the really big ones are called kaiju. They're really dangerous and mostly fought by magical girls because we can sense where they are and often have powers suited to combat them."

"There is nothing like that known to the Radch."

"Is Earth part of the Rach? This might only happen on Earth."

"The world where humans originated is part of the Radch."

"Okay. Alternate universe."

"How do we fix that?"

"Not sure we do, considering there's not going to be any cryptids here to - eat us home or - whatever -"

"I have the results of the request to this system's Station computer. They think that humans left Earth between seven and ten thousand years ago and that you should travel to the planetary capital for an audience with the Lord of the Radch."

"Uh. Okay. Right now?"

"At your convenience."

"Might be a good idea to sleep first unless it'll be convenient to sleep on whatever'd take us there."

"I have no information about the quality of the transit services in this city but I think comfortable ones might take time to arrange."

"We'll sleep here then if that's okay - I think this is some kind of shelter?"

"All citizens of the Radch are entitled to tea, food, shelter, medical care, permits to travel, and an audience with the Lord of the Radch on matters of import. - you aren't citizens but the system station will have communicated its instructions and they will agree to host you."

"Well that's terribly lucky then isn't it."

"I suppose it is!"

They get assigned a bunk against a transparent plastic wall. The day staff is replaced by a night staff that seems less wary of the wings but still not thrilled about them. This shelter does not segregate people by gender, apparently. They do forbid sharing beds.

They do not wish to share a bed. Xander asks if there are earplugs.

"If my wings are going to bother people I can do something else but I can't do normal human, the subtlest it gets is spinal tweaks."