Raisa furrowed her brow as she stared at the puzzle in front of her. The broken handheld in Rick’s box of treasures proved to be a challenge. The other crates were food packs, miscellaneous clothing and lab equipment. The broken unit kept her mind busy while Jackson sat in the corridor watching the door, and Alexis went through her strange mental process.

“Mysteries of the Galaxy. A warning guide for space explorers,” Alexis said.

Raisa sighed and mouthed along with the woman, “Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

It was becoming a bad song she couldn’t get out of her head.

“Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

She had heard of a torture technique that involved repeating annoying sounds or songs to break the subject’s sanity.

“Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

Raisa was there. She was on the edge of saneness. Stress didn’t help. Fear didn’t help. Isolation didn’t help. It was impossible to tell time, but it felt like she’d been in the room for a week. Jackson swore it had only been a couple days. They’d slept on the hard floor. Raisa wasn’t a princess who needed a luxury suite, but a white tile floor and thin bedroll had taken their toll on her hips and back. She considered lying on the medical chair, but they had all been avoiding it, afraid lying on it would activate another device.

“Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

“Ahhh,” Raisa silently screamed, holding her head as she shook in frustration.

“Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

Grabbing the handheld, she went to the corridor to join Jackson. Alexis didn’t move. As she stepped through the door, Jackson looked at her in surprise from the floor.

Raisa gave a humorless laugh, and said, “Irrelevant to the situation. Reexamine.”

Jackson chuckled and nodded in understanding. “You get used to it, especially when you see the information she comes up with. That brain of hers has saved our asses more than once.”

“I know, she’s great. I’m just irritable. I didn’t sleep well on that floor, and not knowing what is happening out there is just… Well, you already know this. You know as much as I do.” She looked at the image of the corridor. “Anything new?”

Jackson shook his head. “No one has been by. The lights went off for about an hour.”

“That’s a long time,” Raisa observed. She sat next to him on the floor. The reminder of what happened between them in this corridor caused a shiver to work its way over her.

“The power situation could be getting worse.” Jackson slid his hand close to hers, letting their pinkies touch.

She closed her eyes, wanting to do more and knowing they shouldn’t start. Pulling her hand away, she lifted the device from her lap. “I think I fixed this.”

“Really?” Jackson straightened. “Will it turn on?”

“We’re about to find out.” Raisa pushed on the cracked casing to get it to latch somewhat into place. “It’s a face scanner.” She lifted it toward his face, and he instantly placed his hand up to stop her.

“Don’t.”

“But…?”

“It’s Federation Military,” he said.

Raisa wondered if he was worried that she would find out something about his military career. “It’s a manual sync. It has to be docked to get new information. Without a docking port, it’s only as good as the information already stored on it.”

“So it won’t send a signal?” He slowly lowered his hand.

“No.” She lifted it toward her face and pushed a button. The unit flashed three times and then she read the output. “See. Subject not identified.”

“What does it say about me?” he turned to face her so she could take his picture.

She lifted the unit. It flashed and then instantly, a red indicator light on the top of the unit lit up. She turned the small screen so they could read it at the same time.

“Soldier J-67114, specialized operations. Detain upon contact. Reason classified. Return immediately to Federation class A base. Notation: Subject might be resistant. Highly trained and dangerous. Proceed with caution.”

“What is this?” she asked.

“Something I want no part of.” Jackson took the unit from her and turned it off.

“This is why the Federation is coming after you? Someone used a unit like this and located you on Torgan, didn’t they? And you were safe until I came along.”

“They used that unit,” he corrected. “I might have slapped it out of their hands, breaking it, before I…”

“You…?”

“Knocked them unconscious.” Jackson averted his gaze toward the blue woman.

Raisa felt there was much in his past he didn’t want to talk about, and for some reason she felt no need to pry. She lifted her hand to his stubbled cheek and turned him to face her. Dark circles had formed under his eyes. “You haven’t slept, have you? You were up all night watching over us.” It wasn’t really a question, but a statement. She sighed. “You can’t keep doing that. You need to rest. Why don’t you lie down and I’ll take over watching the door?”

He looked as if he wanted to protest. To cut off his words, she leaned forward and kissed him. It was the first intimate contact they’d allowed since being locked in. The feelings which erupted inside her were hard to contain. There were so many emotions—uncertainty and fear, hope and promise.

Somewhere along the line, she had become invested in Jackson and his crew. Logically, she could have grabbed her molecular gastro-spectrometer, walked off the ship, and found another ride at the fuel dock—one that had a working electrical and propulsion system that wasn’t being cobbled together. Yet, she found she couldn’t just walk away from them. It never occurred to her that she should leave.

Jackson broke the kiss. His breath heavy, he whispered, “I’ll do as you suggest and rest. Wake me if anything happens.”

Raisa leaned her head against the wall and waved her hand in dismissal. “Go. Don’t worry about us. Blue, Greg, and I have guard duty under control.”