It does sting in places, but at the moment Sam is too upset, too angry to care at the moment. Every time he learned something more about this future the worse it got. It takes a moment of Sam taking deep breathes before takes a seat again, apologizing quietly for spilling on the table, rubbing his hand softly.

"So you and Kirk-?" Five years would put Iskandar at that time threshold, and Kirk would be a year past that. He had been relieved to know that both of them were still alive, and now finding out that the shard was killing them? He suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.

"... was there anything about slowing it down?"