Tierney lay in her own bed, grinning like a fool.

She and Tausson had spent the better part of the afternoon together, with no one coming down to the pit to look for them. Even though she was sore inside and out, she relished the discomfort. It was proof that she and Tausson loved each other, and that he had truly fulfilled his promise that they would find a way to be together.

Chief Raleth had sent word to their rooms that Jovi's oil had indeed been found in both Rasmus's lodge and his bloodstream, and he would be transported back to Relica within the next few days. Tierney's plan had also been approved by Control, and she and Tausson were scheduled to leave the next day for Lota. One of the other vessels would take them on the hour-long journey after she finished recording her statement, and deliver them to the largest settlement. Although Tierney had already written what she was going to say, she worried that it wouldn't be enough to quell the storm that had been raised in her name, and fell asleep running it over in her mind.

In her dreams, someone was whispering her name. At first she thought it was Tausson.

"Miss Dawson, wake up," the voice said.

Tausson doesn't call me Miss Dawson, Tierney thought. And that sounds like a woman...

She opened her eyes and cried out in fright to see First Elic standing above her bed.

"Shh!" Elic hissed. "Tausson sent me," she whispered. "He needs to see you."

"Why didn't he just come?" Tierney asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "And how did you get in here? I know I locked the door."

"It's an emergency, come on."

Tierney rose out of bed, feeling more than a bit embarrassed by her slight sleeping attire. "Let me get dressed," she said, starting for her suitcase.

Elic grabbed her arm. "No, we don't have time."

Looking from the hand on her arm to the Relican woman's cold stare, Tierney felt a stab of dread. "What's going on?" she asked. "How did you get in my room?"

"I told you, it's an emergency. We have to convey. Come close."

"What? Tausson would never ask you to convey inside the ship." Tierney wrenched her arm from Elic's grip and started for the communications panel. "Let me call the command center and see --"

"Don't take another step."

The sharpness of the order made Tierney turn around. First Elic stood with her hand hovering over the sleeve of her mechasuit, her arm outstretched and pointing at Tierney.

"What's going on, Elic?" Tierney asked quietly.

"You tell me," the Planetary Officer snapped. "Ever since you started spending time with Tausson, he's been acting strangely. He never would have broken a prime rule for a relocated species -- even a world leader. He didn't go back for the President, he went back for you. Why? What have you done to him that would make him give up the Squad?"

Though her words were calm, there was an edge of hysteria just below that surface that told Tierney that she was in danger. She knew the power of the weapon Elic was pointing at her -- she'd seen it kill a human in a fraction of a second. Maybe Elic had it set on stun, but Tierney doubted it.

"We can talk about anything you want," said Tierney, "but do we have to do it with you threatening to kill me?"

"I never wanted to kill you," Elic said, not lowering her arm. "You were just supposed to leave. Why did you stay? How did you get Aspri to make you Tausson's mate?"

A slow realization dawned upon Tierney. "You were the one responsible for my room freezing? And the poison in my food?"

The Relican's silence was her admission.

"You say you didn't want to kill me," said Tierney, "but I nearly died -- both times."

"I kept the temperature above fatal levels," insisted Elic. "The same with your food. I conveyed into your room and waited for the Scrub to deliver it. Rasmus almost wrecked my plan when he stood around waiting for you, but finally he left, and I was able to inject some added metals into the meal. It was enough to incapacitate you, but not kill you."

"That's not what Aspri said."

"Enough!" Elic cried, then lowered her voice again. "You are coming with me."

"Why?" Tierney demanded, as the Relican moved towards her.

Keeping her eyes on Tierney, she began entering coordinates into her mechasuit. "Tausson always gets attached to his mates, but you're different. I heard the way he talked about you with Carterra. I see the way he looks at you now. I've been looking at him like that for years, but he just ignores me. Once you're gone, I can finally be his mate. Then he'll be attached to me."

Elic grabbed her painfully by the wrist, adding, "And if you won't go willingly, I'll make you leave."

Tierney tried to break the hold, but even though Elic wasn't as muscular as most Relican women, she was still far more powerful than Tierney. As Elic punched the final number into her sleeve and hugged Tierney suffocatingly tight against her, Tierney started screaming for help. Elic covered Tierney's mouth, muffling the sound, and soon Tierney couldn't even struggle, as her body began to break apart.

For a moment Tierney feared that she would materialize inside a wall, as Hoff had warned. But remembering Elic's icy, hateful stare, she wondered if a quick death might not be preferable to whatever this jealous woman had in store for her.

* * *

Tierney's body reformed around her. She became aware of her wrists, bound tightly in Elic's grip, and her mouth, shut closed by Elic's hand.

Maybe I can catch her by surprise, she thought, and break free as soon as I can move.

Her brain worked through the scenario as it reconnected to her body, but soon another problem became more urgent. Though Elic's body was firm against her own, Tierney felt no floor beneath her.

As soon as she was able to take her first breath, Tierney was falling. Her eyes opened just as her feet made contact with a hard, metal grate floor. She crumbled onto it, landing hard on her elbow and back.

Elic had fallen with her, and was now on the ground as well, seemingly knocked out by the fall. This was Tierney's moment of escape. She rolled onto her side to stand -- and nearly fell over the side of the catwalk.

She was in the assembly. High above the floor. Tierney almost retched at the realization that they must have materialized in midair, and only landed on one of the metal bridges by chance.

Clutching the rail as tightly as she could, Tierney knew this was her only chance to escape from whatever fate Elic intended for her, but she couldn't move. The floor was swaying beneath her. The room was spinning around her. She could hardly breathe for the panic seizing her chest. A terrified voice was screaming in her mind that if she stood, she'd instantly lose her balance and fall to her death.

If Elic's unconscious, then maybe I can just wait until someone comes and gets me.

But that was a ridiculous plan. It would be hours before anyone even knew she was missing, and Elic would certainly awaken before then. Was she so afraid of heights that she'd just sit there and wait for Elic to kill her?

Keeping her back pressed to the floor, she slid backwards, away from Elic's body.

But what if there's no door for this bridge? Thinking back to her time in the assembly, most of the catwalks had been accessible only by ladder. The one Rasmus had brought her to was one of the few with a door on either end.

The idea of having to climb down a ladder made her stomach heave, and Tierney fought back the bile that threatened to rise up. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized that she was doomed. She couldn't even work up the courage to look and see if there was a door. How was she supposed to save herself?

How long she lay there fighting with herself, she couldn't tell, but when a hand suddenly gripped her ankle, Tierney shrieked with fright, knowing she'd lost whatever chance she'd had.

"If you love Tausson, you won't do this to him," she managed to say. "He loves me. He'll be heartbroken."

"Love?" Elic mulled the word over as she rose to her feet. "Yes, I suppose it is love I feel. I read about that in your culture. I love him, but you don't," sh spat. "You can't possibly know what a man like him needs or deserves. If anyone deserves to love him, it's me. And once we're mates, he'll realize he loves me more than he could ever love you."

Powerful hands lifted Tierney to her feet. She screamed, begging to be let go. But then the rail was beneath her, behind her, and she was dangling in midair again.

"Stop! Elic!"

Tierney was screaming so loudly that she hardly realized the person calling out wasn't her. Suddenly she was swinging back over the rail as Elic tossed her on the floor again.

"Elic, what are you doing?"

Clutching the grate floor so tightly her fingers hurt, Tierney looked up, her heart racing with hope at the voice she knew so well. Tausson stood in the doorway at the far end of the same catwalk, staring at Elic in horror.

There was a door, not a ladder. I should have looked. Why couldn't I even look?

"She's confused you!" Elic cried, her composure lost. "She needs to be gone so you can be yourself again. Don't you see how she's ruined everything?"

Tausson took a few slow steps towards them. "The only person who is confused here is you," he said. "We can help you. Just let Tierney go."

We? Slowly, drawing strength from Tausson's presence, Tierney looked around and saw other Relican Squad members at various positions on surrounding catwalks.

"But you saw what she did with Rasmus," Elic said. "She was in his lodge, trying to seduce him, just like she's done with you. She doesn't care about you like I do."

"Yes, you made sure I saw that, didn't you," he said. "Telling me Rasmus was expecting me, that I could just walk right in."

She set me up? The truth of it struck Tierney cold, but she couldn't open her mouth to say anything.

"I had to show you what she was capable of," whined Elic. "You deserve better than a frenzied human woman. After she's gone, everything will go back to normal. You can be Squad again, and we can be together."

"I don't want to be Squad again," said Tausson, his voice still too far away, "and I don't want you."

Elic let out a wild shriek, and a rush of cool air swept up Tierney's back. A heavy thud made the catwalk vibrate, and Tierney looked up to see Tausson's frozen form lying on the bridge.

More icy winds blew, and with a loud crash of metal, the catwalk lurched. A moment later Elic's scream was cut short, and Tierney turned around just in time to see her rigid body fall back.

"Hold on, Miss Dawson," someone called out. "We're coming."

"Hoff?" Tierney cried in relief, but the bridge lurched again, and she was thrown forward as the floor beneath her jerked downwards several feet.

"Hoff!"

"The catwalk is damaged," he called back. "We're too heavy. You have to come to us."

"I can't!" she screamed.

"The bridge is going to fall at any moment!"

Fear kept her as frozen as if she had been struck by one of their freezing rays. But a small voice managed to whisper in her mind, reminding her that she wasn't the only one on the bridge. Raising her head, she saw that the catwalk had nearly separated from the wall at the far end, hanging by a single metal brace at least four feet below the doorway where Hoff now stood.

Tausson, his skin an alarming bluish gray, lay dangerously close to the edge. If that final support gave way, Tierney might be able to hang onto the rail and wait for someone to help her, but Tausson would undoubtedly slip and fall. The image of the human he had accidentally killed back on Earth, toppling to the ground and shattering into icy crumbs, flashed before Tierney's mind. She couldn't let that happen. Not to Tausson.

"Okay," she squeaked. Then, louder, "Okay!"

Keeping her eyes focused on Tausson, she pried her fingers up from the grate floor and reached up for the rail. Calling up the fear mitigating techniques her old therapist had suggested, she began counting backwards from one hundred in Italian.

"Cento."

She pulled herself to her knees.

"Novantanove."

She lifted a wobbly foot and placed it on the inclined floor.

"Novantotto."

The metal beneath her groaned and shifted slightly. Tierney shut her eyes and held her breath.

She couldn't do this. She'd tried so many times to overcome this stupid freaking fear of heights. Piggyback rides, roller coasters, mountain climbing -- all of it had been off limits to her. She'd spent an embarrassing amount of time mapping out alternate driving routes that didn't go over bridges. She'd spent her whole life trying to push through, to fight the fear.

And she'd failed. Every. Single. Time.

But if she failed now, Tausson would die. He would die. Because of her. Because she couldn't walk across a damn bridge.

Tausson would do this for me in a second. I have to do it for him.

Forcing her eyes open, she again focused on Tausson. But instead of counting, she whispered a new mantra this time.

"Tausson's eyes."

She rose to her feet.

"Tausson's smile."

She took a step forward.

"Tausson's voice."

Another step.

Going through the infinite list of things she loved about the man she was trying to save, Tierney walked the length of the shuddering catwalk. Soon she was at his side, just feet from from the doorway.

"Come on," said Hoff, urging her onward.

"I have to get Tausson," she said, kneeling beside him. "I'll get him upright, you grab him."

Thinking of nothing but getting him to safety, Tierney let go of the rails and reached beneath the frozen boulder that was her mate. The catwalk groaned and swayed, and his icy body burned her bare skin, but she managed to get him on his feet and tip him backwards until his stiff head rested on the wall beneath the doorway. Hoff reached down and lifted him off the catwalk.

Just as his feet disappeared out of sight, the brace gave out with a crash that seemed too loud for such a small piece of metal. Tierney leapt up for the doorway, but it was too high. Her hands touched nothing but smooth wall, and her feet began to drag her downwards.

For a split-second, Tierney found it almost funny: that she'd die from a fall now, when she'd finally conquered her fear of heights. But then she realized she wasn't falling after all. Someone was gripping her wrist. And when she looked up, she was in for another surprise.

"Aspri!" she laughed.

Even now he wasn't without his sour expression, as if he wished he were anywhere other than saving her life.

"Hoff!" he called, the top half of his pudgy body hanging out of the doorway and down the wall of the assembly. With minimal apparent effort -- most likely due to the incredible strength their mechasuits could lend -- the Senior Medic lifted her up to the floor of the doorway, where Hoff gently picked her up and set her on her feet.

"Where's Tausson?" she asked, searching the hall for his body.

"He's on his way to the Medic Lab," said Aspri, "as are you."

Tierney basked in his surly demeanor. She was alive, and so was Tausson. She nearly leapt forward and hugged the grumpy Senior Medic, but stopped herself in time before she accidentally broke another sacred Relican tenet. So instead she took his gloved hands in her own and squeezed them tightly.

"Thank you," she said, smiling through her tears. "Thank you for saving me."

"I save people's lives every day," he said, ripping his hands away. "It's my --"

"Your obligation," she finished, "Yes, I know. But thank you, just the same."

With a huff he spun around, leaving her and Hoff alone by the doorway. Hoff gave her a knowing smile, telling her that he, too, had caught the gleam of moisture in the bronze Relican's eyes.