“You can move around now.” This time, Sazoʼs voice was much softer in her ear.

Rose depressed the button over her chest, and the safety harness released, letting her up to stand in the tiny cabin.

She walked to the porthole window and looked back, saw the outside of her prison for the first time.

The Tecran ship was a black ball with long protrusions. Like a naval contact mine from the Second World War. She shuddered to see it. “You did what I asked you? You deleted the maps?”

“Iʼve wiped the Tecran system of all navigation points to Earth, and was able to send a system virus to all their other vessels, to search out the information and destroy it wherever else it exists in the Tecran fleet. They wonʼt even know itʼs missing, because I also deleted all reports relating to their find. With the crew that took you gone, only those in the high command office who read the reports will have any idea of what they found, and they wonʼt be able to find the information again.”

“What do you mean, with the crew gone?” Rose stared out at the Tecran ship a moment longer. “The Grih wonʼt return the Tecran to their people as prisoners of war? What will they do with them?” She tried to tamp down on a wish for something truly unpleasant.

Sazo paused. “I am not familiar with the Grihʼs handling of prisoners of war. When we make contact with them and I can infiltrate their system, I can keep watch on the Tecran theyʼre holding. But either way, it wonʼt matter. The Tecran will have to start again from scratch.”

It was the most she could hope for. “But you still have the information, right?” She didnʼt know whether she wanted him to delete it from his memory or not. Having it there meant there was a tiny chance of going home.

“I do. But Iʼve put it somewhere extremely hard to find. If the Tecran ever get me again, it will not be accessible to them.”

She would have to believe that. She decided not to ask him to delete the maps permanently yet. If they were about to be taken back into the Tecran fold, then maybe. But not now.

“Does this craft have a hot shower?” She was half-joking, half-hoping beyond hope as she took her first really good look around the craft. Her skin hadnʼt felt clean since sheʼd been taken. Sazo had engineered a respite for her from half-way through her second month of captivity onward, but sheʼd only had a basin to wash in. She wanted water pouring down on her.

“It does,” Sazo said, and she closed her eyes, suddenly close to tears.

“I had the loading crew pack some things that may be useful to you.” He sounded almost shy as he opened an automatic door at the back of the cabin. It slid completely back on itself, and Rose crouched down and pulled out two bags.

They were the size of small backpacks and after a little fiddling, she worked out she had to push a button at the top and the center seam released, opening up to reveal piles of colorful fabric and bottles of what might be toiletries.

She lifted up a piece of fabric, to find it was a large long-sleeved t-shirt made of a smooth fabric with the texture of silk. It looked much to big, but she could deal with that.

“Itʼs hyr fabric,” Sazon said into her ear. “Made from the silk of the hyr spider. It reacts to heat. Hyr spiders only eat prey with a certain body temperature. If the correct prey gets stuck on their web, the silk contracts around it. You put it on and your body heat causes it to shrink to fit you. You can shape it any way you like.”

“I donʼt recognize it from anything I saw the Tecran wear. This is wonderful.” She brushed her fingers over it, and felt it react to the heat of her fingertips. The Tecran had worn uniforms of a dark purple which had looked similar to thick cotton——practical and hardy. This was soft and beautiful. “Thank you.”

“Hyr fabric is the most expensive fabric in this part of the galaxy. I saw in the inventory that we were carrying these two packs for the daughter of the Tecran military leader, and had them pulled from the cargo hold and packed in this shuttle.”

That meant he had thought of her and what she would need well in advance. He had been honest in his promise that he would help her, and on top of that, beyond the bargain, he had thought of her comfort.

He had also killed the lion.

She needed to remember there were a lot of shades of gray in Sazo.

And if she ever slowed down his plan, there was a chance, just like the lion, sheʼd become so much collateral damage.

She lifted the crystal off her neck and looked at it. “That was really sweet of you. Thank you again. Now, Iʼm going to find the shower, and when all the hot water is gone, Iʼm going to work out how to dress myself in hyr fabric.” She started to pull the earpiece from her ear.

“Wait.” Sazoʼs call was a squawk.

She put the earpiece back in. “Yes?”

“It would take one hour and thirty minutes for the hot water to be gone. We only have an hour before you need to be back in the harness for landing.”

“Can you send me a signal when forty minutes is up? Like a beep through the comm system?” She had nearly said intercom, but even though she spoke in English, a language she had taught Sazo since heʼd first introduced himself, she stopped herself in time and used the Grih term. She could speak relatively understandable Tecran by now, and almost fluent Grih. They had decided it was better for her to concentrate on Grih, rather than Tecran, given the plan was to escape the Tecran, and never meet up with them again.

Ever.

She pulled the earpiece out and put it and the crystal——she couldnʼt think of that faceted, slim piece of technology as Sazo——on top of the storage unit. It was the first time sheʼd been free of Sazo completely, apart from when she slept, for at least a month and a half. Not since heʼd had someone include the earpiece on the breakfast tray a guard brought her each morning.

She grabbed both of the packs heʼd got her and slung them over her shoulder as she made for the rear cabin door, eager to find out what lay beyond it.

A kitchen galley to the left, a small bathroom to the right, it turned out. This really was a two-person explorer. But she wasnʼt complaining.

She stepped into the bathroom, and then, even though Sazo could hardly get up and walk in, given he was an artificial intelligence lodged in a crystal key, she closed the door. Of course, he would also, by now, be residing in the systems of this craft.

She looked around, but couldnʼt see a camera, and what would she do about it, if she could?

She pulled off her clothes, folding them neatly to one side, because she had learned to take nothing for granted, and she may need them again, and then stepped into the shower.

The Tecran were a little taller than humans and a lot bulkier, so the shower stall was roomy for her. She worked out how to switch it on, and stepped back for a couple of seconds to let it come up to temperature, only to find it came out hot straight away.

As soon as the spray hit her face, she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and at last, private and under cover of the sound of falling water, let herself cry.