The captain was gone when I awoke. I wasn’t sure if that made me happy or uneasy. The fact that I’d slept like a log while he was in the cabin was astounding. I hadn’t thought I would have gone to sleep. Not with him there.

I tried to tell myself it was because he was the captain. Because he didn’t trust me. But in the end, I had to admit it was because he was him. Jameson. It wasn’t the rank, although that did make us both behave ourselves. It was the man.

I liked him.

And I couldn’t trust him.

And I needed him to help me get Aunt Mara back.

I walked onto the bridge for the start of my shift and found the captain already in discussions with senior officers around the ops table. He didn’t wave me over, so I made my way to the station I’d been assigned the last time I was here.

Lieutenant Marshal was at the communication console. She glanced up as I sat down and then turned an alarming shade of red.

Oh, I knew where this was going.

“Morning,” I said.

“Um, morning. Sleep well?” If she could have blushed anymore, she would have.

I’d never been the shy type. Sam and I had hidden what we’d meant to each other from those outside of our squad. And we sure as hell hadn’t shoved it in our teammates’ faces, either. But we’d been a family, and it’s hard to truly hide that sort of thing. Sam had been good at being diplomatic. Fair. He never favoured me over any of the others when dishing out orders. He’d respected me enough not to avoid giving me the hard tasks. But they’d known. A look here. A word there. A touch of the fingers as we’d passed.

Stupid, idiotic emotions that tied you to someone else so completely. That made you act before you thought. There’s a reason why they discourage relationships within an active unit. I was the poster child for falling in love with a senior officer and fucking it all up because of that love.

Marshal went back to her comms station, and I stared at my console and tried to suck it all up. To bury it all behind a wall of bricks that somehow kept crumbling.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” I whispered to Pavo.

“What do you mean, Ana?” he asked in my earpiece.

“Emotions. Feelings.”

“You would rather be like me?”

“Maybe it would be easier.”

“Yes. But it is lonely.”

That didn’t make any sense at all. If Pavo didn’t feel anything before the solar flare hit, then how could he have felt lonely?

“Captain!” Marshal suddenly said. It was loud enough to garner the attention of those at the ops table and to make me jump. For a second, I thought she was going to tell on me. But she’d only been able to hear one side of the conversation. If she’d been listening at all.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Jameson said as he walked across the bridge towards us.

“I’m picking up unusual comms on deck H,” Marshall said.

“Pavo?” the captain asked.

“Verifying now.”

We waited. The captain looked towards me. Our eyes met. He didn’t say a word. I could barely breathe.

“Lieutenant Marshal is correct, Captain,” Pavo said, interrupting whatever the hell that had been. “There is significant chatter on the public communications channel masking a secondary message.”

“Good work, Marshal,” Jameson said. “And the message, Pavo?”

“‘Will you walk into my parlour?’”

Which was met with a healthy dose of silence.

Then Lieutenant Taylor said, “Well, that isn’t creepy or anything.”

“He’s ready to talk,” Jameson concluded. “He can’t find Pavo.”

“I am constantly moving, Captain. He will not find me.” The unsaid being, no one will.

I smiled to myself.

“It’s a trap, sir,” Commander Torrence said.

“What gave it away?” the captain asked, grinning.

“Very funny, sir. But this is no joking matter. He’s insane.”

“Well aware of that fact, Commander. But as yet, we’ve not found him, either. And I don’t like a renegade running around free on my ship. Do you?”

“No, sir.”

“Deck H,” Jameson said. “That’s Habitat Three; pay-for-passage berths only. Not much down there but shops and quarters.”

Jameson met my eyes again. Was he remembering last night? The walk through Habitat Two’s hub and to my cabin. We’d been one deck away from Aunt Mara.

“Lieutenant Chan,” Jameson called.

“Yes, sir?”

“Time to put our plan in motion.”

“Yes, sir.” The security chief sounded eager.

I also had no idea what the plan was. Clearly, something Jameson had cooked up after he’d left my cabin this morning and before I’d arrived here. That feeling of distrust swelled up inside me again; my head practically ringing with alarm bells.

Chan left the bridge in a rush as Marshal played the message, now decrypted, for the captain. I watched on feeling removed from the situation and not quite sure how to deal with my anger.

Without a backwards glance, I stood from my station and made my way off the bridge. Just outside, down the hall, was a bathroom. Cliched, of course, but I ducked inside and checked under the stalls. It was empty, so I shut myself inside one, closed the lid on the head, and sat down.

“Pavo,” I whispered.

“Why are you hiding, Ana? The captain is concerned.”

“Is he coming in here?”

“No. He is busy giving orders.” Then how did the AI know the captain was concerned?

“What orders?” I asked instead.

“All access ways to Habitat Three are being cut off. Security is converging on the location from various directions. Including the maintenance tubes.”

“They’re tightening the net.”

“Yes. That is the plan.”

“Is Jameson going to meet Archibald?” I asked.

“He has already left. Also part of the plan.”

“Security’s for his back up,” I guessed.

“Yes.” OK, nothing suspicious there at all. And I suddenly felt stupid for hiding away in the bog. I needed to be on the bridge so I could see what was happening. And keep an eye on the captain as he met up with Archibald.

I took the opportunity to relieve myself and then washed my hands. I checked my reflection in the mirror, trying to settle my heartbeat and look like the unflappable soldier I once was. And then I walked to the door and pushed against the gel wall.

Nothing happened.

The gel coating turned red.

“Pavo?”

He didn’t answer.

But outside I could hear plasma fire and shouting startup; loud thumbs against the wall followed. And the distant sound of a klaxon blaring overrode it all.

“Pavo!”

“Stay hidden, Ana. They are taking the bridge. Commander Torrence is dead.”

Oh, God.

“The captain. Where’s the captain?”

Silence.

I kept calling him. I kept talking to him. But Pavo didn’t reply.

The shouting stopped. The plasma fire ceased. The walls stayed red.

And Pavo remained quiet.