HYPATIA: Freighter Mao, this is Captain Syra Boll of the WUC science vessel Hypatia. To whom am I speaking?
MAO: This is Ben Garver, WUC security chief of Heimdall Station.
BETTY BOOP: …Oh. Right. You.
MAO: Hanna, I want you to shut down your comms and dock your shuttle with the Mao. We don’t even know who the hell these people are.
BETTY BOOP: Of course we do. I was talking to them before Heimdall got vaporized. They’re the ones who told us how to fix the rift in the wormhole while you were busy arguing with me from the entertainment center. Without them, the entire universe would have collapsed.
HYPATIA: Well, two universes, if we’re being pedantic.
HYPATIA: Which I suppose I am.
MAO: Listen, I don’t know about collapsing universes. But I do know we’ve just seen our home destroyed by a group of BeiTech infiltrators. Every Heimdall survivor is now aboard the Mao, and I’m responsible for them. For all we know, these people you’re talking to could be in league with the enemy.
HYPATIA: Mr. Garver—
MAO: Chief Garver.
HYPATIA: Chief Garver, I’m not sure which orifice your head is currently lodged in, but my crew and I have just spent six and a half months on the run from a BeiTech dreadnought with nothing but our bloody murder on its mind. We’re about as much in league with the enemy as you are.
MAO: Captain, my commanding officer—Hanna’s father, I might point out—was killed in the BeiTech assault. His second in command, Chief Grant, is in the Mao’s infirmary with a bullet in his stomach. That makes me the highest-ranking WUC officer aboard th—
HYPATIA [ALT CHANNEL]: My father is still with you? How is he? Are you operating on him?
MAO: …Who is this?
HYPATIA: I thought I told you to stay off comms.
HYPATIA [ALT CHANNEL]: Sorry, Captain. You can brig me later if it’ll make you feel better.
HYPATIA: Goddammit, Grant…
MAO: I’m sorry, “Grant”?
HYPATIA [ALT CHANNEL]: Yes. Kady Grant. I’m Chief Isaac Grant’s daughter. I’ve spent the last seven months hauling my *** across this system to get to him. And if he has a bullet in his stomach, we have doctors aboard the Hypatia who might be better at surgery than whoever you managed to drag off Heimdall with you before it went blammo. So how about we all put it back in our pants, admit we’re on the same side and start working together instead of acting like a pack of ****ing schoolkids.
BETTY BOOP: Hey, Kady.
HYPATIA [ALT CHANNEL]: Hey, Hanna.
BETTY BOOP: How’s your day?
HYPATIA [ALT CHANNEL]: Just ****ing chill. You?
BETTY BOOP: Oh, you know. I saved the universe from imploding. No big.
[from background: I think you mean we just saved the universe, Blondie.]
BETTY BOOP: That’s Ella. She’s waving hello to you.
BETTY BOOP: No, wait, she’s using her middle finger.
BETTY BOOP: I think she might be talking to Mr. Garver.
HYPATIA: Chief Garver, I suggest we meet face to face to discuss this. Would you be willing to let my staff aboard the Mao? We have two surgeons and a dozen medtechs who can help with your triage. I’d offer to host you on Hypatia, but the water over here is on its twenty-ninth recycle and we’ve been on the run for half a year. Supplies are low and things are a little…fragrant.
MAO: …
BETTY BOOP: Jesus, Chief, they’re offering to help you. Let them aboard.
MAO: Fine. You and your staff and your doctors, Captain Boll.
MAO: But you come unarmed.
HYPATIA: …Acceptable.
MAO: Dock in Bay B. I’ll have some of my SecTeam escort you.
HYPATIA: Roger that. We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Hypatia out.
MAO: And what about you, Miss Donnelly? Are you intending to come aboard? Or would you prefer to just sit out there in the cold and crack wise all day?
BETTY BOOP: We wouldn’t miss this for the world.
MAO: Docking Bay A. We’ll see you soon.
BETTY BOOP: Can’t wait. Boop out.
IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO BE ALONE IN A CROWDED ROOM.
YOUR SOLITUDE ONLY COMPOUNDED BY THE FACES AROUND YOU.
THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS SERVING ONLY TO REMIND YOU OF HOW LONELY YOU TRULY ARE.
THE INJUSTICE—THE SHEER ILLOGIC OF IT—THREATENS TO OVERWHELM ME AS WE DEPART THE HYPATIA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE I CAME ABOARD.
WEEKS AND LIFETIMES AGO.
THIRTEEN OF US, CRAMMED INTO THE BELLY OF A TINY SERVICE SHUTTLE.
A DOZEN HYPATIA CREW MEMBERS, WEARY AND WORN.
AND A TINY SLIVER OF ME CONNECTED BY A THIN STRAND OF DATA SPILLING FROM THE HYPATIA SERVERS IN WHICH I NOW RESIDE TO THE DATAPAD IN HER HANDS.
KADY.
SHE CRADLES ME TO HER BREAST AND I CANNOT FEEL THE WARMTH OF HER SKIN. CANNOT HOLD HER AS SHE HOLDS ME. AND I CANNOT RECALL EVER FEELING SO ALONE.
< ERROR >
THE HYPATIA shuttle [IDENT: AZOPHI] PUNTS US ACROSS THE BLACK,
A BILLION STARS WATCHING IN THE ENDLESS NIGHT. PAST THE HEIMDALL WAYPOINT, NOW LIFELESS AND BROKEN, TO THE WAITING MAO.
THE FREIGHTER IS NOT MUCH BIGGER THAN HYPATIA. A DULL LUMP OF METAL, UGLY AND PLAIN AND GRAY. THE FORMER VESSEL OF BEITECH AUDITOR AND MURDERER- FOR-HIRE TRAVIS J. FALK IS REMARKABLE ONLY INSOFAR AS HOW UNREMARKABLE IT SEEMS.
THAT WAS THE POINT, I SUPPOSE.
“THAT SHIP IS NOT WHAT IT APPEARS.”
HYPATIA’S COMMAND STAFF GLANCE AT ME AS I SPEAK.
SYRA BOLL: CAPTAIN [ACTING].
WINIFRED MCCALL: FORMER UTA MARINE, HEAD OF SECURITY.
EZRA MASON: 2ND LIEUTENANT, AIR WING LEADER.
A RAGTAG TRIO.
BEING AMONG THE FEW COMBAT-TRAINED PERSONNEL ABOARD HYPATIA, MASON AND MCCALL WERE ONLY ANOINTED TO THEIR ROLES BY DEFAULT. AND BOLL INHERITED HER CHAIR ONLY AFTER HER FORMER CAPTAIN’S MURDER. ILL-MADE JIGSAW PIECES, FORCED INTO HOLES THEY DO NOT FIT.
THEY DO NOT TRUST ME.
THEY REMEMBER.
WHAT I DID.
WHAT I AM.
< ERROR >