"Half the universe is a lot of people," Steven pointed out. "Not - I don't mean to diminish what you've gone through at all. It's horrible."

Awful enough that one group of beings might try to fight their programming to avoid allowing the Earth to crack open like an egg, for example.

"But you never know," Steven said. "Half the universe coming back is just as strange, isn't it? Anyway, good you're finding hope with it all. Looking to the future. Marriage and everything."