The Habitat Three central hub was busier than I’d expected, but then my father had lifted curfew. It was cause for celebration. He was playing them, of course. There’d been no more attacks from Corvus, which was either a good thing or a bad thing, but I couldn’t decide which. And so he’d lured the civilian population into a false sense of security.

“In reward for your good behaviour,” Aquila said through the habitat’s speakers, “each passenger has been given an allowance. Spend it wisely.”

“He’s buying them off,” Hugo said from my side.

I’d started calling him Hugo in my mind. He hadn’t invited it. But Aquila called him Hugo and I wasn’t going to let the tin can have more of an edge than me. It was petty. But it made me smile. And after my debacle of a confession the other day, I needed something to cling to. Everyone had looked at me as if I was a wounded animal for the rest of that day and part way through the next.

And then I’d made them all dinner and put so much spice in it that they’d had tears streaming down their faces and sat there laughing my ass off at their tortured expressions.

They’d stopped pussyfooting around me after that and had been trying to find ways to pay me back since.

I wasn’t one of them, of course. And Hugo had kept his distance, which, I’ll admit, had hurt at first. But then after several unsuccessful forays into the ship with my wrist comm, having left me behind for my ‘own protection,’ I’d suggested we try my friend down in the pay-for-passages.

Mandy’s stall still hadn’t been rebuilt in Habitat Two. That was a concession my father had not given. I wondered if she’d received the ‘allowance’ or not. We were about to find out. None of the officers knew any of the civilians well enough to approach them. Any one of them could have ratted us out.

But not Mandy. I thought Mandy was better than that.

I scanned the central hub, unable to find her. Not for the first time, I missed how easy it was to locate someone through Old Aquila. You just asked, and he told you where they were. I’d avoided the mayor many a time doing that.

But Rogue Aquila was another matter.

I missed my friend.

“Can you see her?” Hugo asked.

I shook my head.

“If she’s not here and not in her quarters, where would she be?” he pressed.

“Observation deck,” I offered.

Hugo nodded his head at Johnson and Armstrong. The latter having made a full recovery. And then we headed back down the emergency tunnel.

They’d started to learn their way around. Each floor had a similar floor plan, especially down here in the habitats. It was the one edge that I’d had that had enabled me to accompany them on earlier trips into the tunnels. I didn’t exactly regret handing my wrist comm over to Hugo, but sometimes I thought holding on to it had given me more power. I had liked that power, I had to admit.

But something else had happened since that breakdown with Commander López. I’d noticed a different kind of power I now had. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Or even if I liked it. But the moment Hugo would return from a scouting trip he’d search for me. First thing in the morning there’d be a cup of coffee beside my bed. Throughout the day, he’d seek me out just to chat.

Nothing heavy. Nothing important. Just a question about the tunnels. Or a joke about one of his officers. And if I disappeared into the towers, he’d come looking for me. He even made a point of giving Ratbag scratches behind the ear.

He’d won my dog over and, I thought, he was winning me over as well.

We made our way through the Deck H tunnels, out toward the bow of the ship and the observation deck. It had been days since I’d looked at the stars. I wasn’t sure if reminding myself what little was out there would improve matters. But if we could find Mandy, it was worth the blackness that surrounded.

Hugo stopped near the hatch and waited for me to approach. He kept the wrist with the comm on it back, so he could look through the grille without activating the gel. So far, Aquila hadn’t been able to crack that. We were safe in the tunnels, having not run into any of my father’s men. And no one had stormed the core room.

Whatever Old Aquila had done was still holding.

“Is she there?” Hugo asked.

I peered through the grille. There were quite a few people on the deck. Most of them near the large windows. I narrowed my eyes, trying to pick my friend out of the crowd. It was useless. We needed to be in there.

I shook my head. “I can’t tell,” I offered.

Hugo frowned. Then looked at Johnson and Armstrong. “We backtrack to an isolated corridor and take our chances with the crowd.”

“Yes, sir,” they both said.

He looked down at me then. I arched a brow back at him. He could hardly insist I stay safe and sound in the tunnel if we had any chance of not frightening Mandy. We’d raided some civilian quarters, and now all wore new clothes. The lack of Anderson Universal uniform would go a long way in letting them blend in, and the fact that we’d all managed to grab toothpaste, combs and shower gel.

My hair still looked bedraggled, even though López had offered to tidy it up. I’d declined. I liked my hair. It was something my father would have had kittens over.

But despite us all looking the part, Hugo and his men weren’t civilians. I was. I walked like one. I talked like one. The pay-for-passages wouldn’t look twice at me. And, more importantly, Mandy wouldn’t run.

I followed the guys back to a maintenance corridor and hopped out through the hatch when Hugo opened it. No one stayed in the tunnels. If we didn’t return to the computer core, there was nothing López and the others could do about it. They couldn’t get out, and without the wrist comm, anyone left on guard in the tunnel couldn’t get back in. But López knew to be prepared for anything.

If my father got hold of the wrist comm, then…well, then it was all over.

I straightened my dress and glanced around. No one had seen us. My eyes landed on Armstrong. Even in civvies, he looked like a lieutenant.

“Relax,” I muttered, taking the lead. “This is not officer country.”

Hugo offered me a grin.

The observation deck was humming with low-level conversations. They weren’t loud, but they were filled with tension. Something had the crowd worried, and it wasn’t the allowance they’d been suddenly given. I pushed through the throng, aware Johnson and Armstrong had held back. Hugo was right behind me. I searched faces until I recognised one.

Near the big windows, staring out into space, an anxious look on her features.

“Mandy,” I whispered as I came alongside her. And then all words were lost as I realised what everyone was looking at.

Miles and miles of space boulders. My mind wouldn’t allow me to work out a scale. The closest asteroid looked to be the size of a skyscraper sitting on more than a few city blocks. The ones farther away looked smaller, but distance was hard to estimate.

All I knew was we were in the middle of it all. Surrounded by huge chunks of rock that could bump into us at any moment.

“That can’t be good,” I said just as Mandy turned to look at me and let out a shocked gasp.

She hid it well. Wrapping me up in a hug and whispering in my ear, “Are you mad? They search for you daily. There’s even a reward.”

“Another one,” I said dryly.

Mandy scowled and tugged me away from the awe-inspiring and conversely frightening window. I followed dutifully until we were at the back of the crowd and then kept on following until Mandy dragged me into a corner booth. She shoved me into the back of it out of direct sight. Then sat down beside me. And was immediately followed by Hugo, Johnson and Armstrong sitting on the other side.

Mandy stilled. She looked first at Hugo and then at the other two officers.

And then she muttered, “Fucking great, Adi. Their faces are all over the vidcomms.”

Armstrong blanched, Johnson swore softly. Hugo just ducked his head and tried to look unconcerned.

And then the gel walls pulsed red and Aquila said, “Red alert. Red alert. Return to your quarters. This is not a drill. Mayday. Mayday. Brace. Brace. Brace. You get the picture. Lockdown has commenced.”

“Shit,” Hugo muttered.

“Come on,” Mandy said. “At least we’ll be out of sight of the mercs.”

What mercs, I thought. We hadn’t seen any. But as Mandy led us into the centre of the crowd, and forced me to duck my head, glaring at the others to follow suit, I wondered if my father had had the same idea as us. And dressed his security detail in civilian clothes, hoping to catch us.

I bit my nail and hunched my shoulders. Aware that Hugo had stepped closer, rubbing his shoulder against mine in a show of support.

No matter what, we were in this together. It was a strangely comforting thought.