Raina tried to concentrate fully on dismantling the ceiling - she really did. The vigorous exercise was a good release for her frustration, and the lack of gravity should have been enough of a distraction to occupy her mind.

Instead, she mostly just raged about Nick.

That beefy alien had a lot of nerve.

Raina was trying to do the right thing. You couldn’t just abandon your friends and steal a baby. You couldn’t just run off with a luxury space cruiser that you had only boarded because your employer dropped you off on it.

She managed to get her screwdriver under the next section and shear off about a foot of ceiling panel. It reminded her of watching her dad slide scissors through wrapping paper.

Now there was a man who knew how to remain calm. No matter the circumstances, Raina’s dad never broke a sweat. He never raised his voice. He never cursed or hurried. She literally could not imagine him storming off like Nick kept doing. Dad was a man of routine, everything in its place, neat, tidy and dependable.

As she hacked away at the next section, Raina thought about her life before. There had been quiet weekend mornings, her parents sharing sections of the newspaper across the small breakfast table that had belonged to Grandma Diane, and sunlight gleaming on the freshly washed glasses on the ancient draining board. There was a sweetness to their quiet routine, a peace in the rhythm of their repetitive conversations about the neighbors and the mailman and the weather.

It had driven Raina up a wall.

She’d been bored to tears. Some days she imagined that her parents were going to fade slowly away in the sunlight at the table like the pattern on the tablecloth that had adorned it for decades.

It was why she had joined the Space Cadets in the first place.

Raina wanted adventure. She wanted to explore new worlds and find new things.

I’m nomadic. Do you know what that means?

Nick’s words echoed in her mind. Even his suggestion that they take off with the baby sounded fantastic.

Raina had obligations to her friends and to Mama, but when push came to shove, if she were being honest, once those were honored, she would like nothing more than to head for the hills with Nick.

If only he would stop storming off.

And if they didn’t have to leave Tesla behind.

She shoved her screwdriver in her pocket and wrenched at a sheet of the ceiling panel with her hands as she finally let herself face the feelings she had for the baby.

He was not hers.

He was asleep in a stasis pod. She had never even seen his eyes.

But in Raina’s heart none of that mattered. She felt a bond to the baby that was irrational and intense. She wondered what would happen if she wasn’t permitted to stay with him in some capacity.

She pulled hard enough that something came loose in the ceiling and she nearly fell as a huge chunk of the section came down.

She blew out a breath and was surprised to see it fog in the air.

It was cold again in the suite, very cold. She hadn’t even noticed between her exertion and the tempest of her emotions.

“The heat is off again,” BFF20 announced, flying in. “I checked the thermostat and it’s operating properly.”

“Then why is the heat off?” Raina asked. “Is it broken?”

That didn’t seem possible. The heat on spaceships was normally just runoff generated by the systems that powered the ship.

“Something’s blocking the airflow,” BFF20 said.

“What would be blocking the airflow?” Raina asked.

“I… have no idea,” BFF20 admitted. He wasn’t often stumped - the little robot usually had an answer for everything.

“What do we do?” Raina asked.

“I think you should do what you’re already doing,” BFF20 said. “But faster.”

“I’m here,” Nick said, coming in. “I’ll help.”

Raina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“You’re back,” she said, deadpan.

“She’s got nearly the whole sheet down, Nick,” BFF20 told him. “She can probably use a hand on the side near the chandelier to catch the thing when it falls. In this gravity you should be able to lower it slowly.”

Raina watched in wonder as the little drone interacted gently with the big alien. All the jealousy was gone from his voice. The droid seemed… sympathetic.

She shook the feeling away and focused on loosening the last corner of the ceiling panel. It was good to have Nick here. In the low gravity, she could have probably balanced the whole thing, but if gravity had kicked in even a little, it would have been a disaster.

“I’ve got it now,” Nick said.

Even though he was obviously still mad at her, his deep voice sent shivers down her spine.

She ignored them and kept working on the ceiling - just a few more minutes and she should have the access she needed.

BFF20 hovered in the air at her side, humming and whistling nervously to himself.

She tried her best to focus on the task at hand - not to think about the dropping temperature in the room, or the baby alone in the secret chamber behind the closet.