4. Astrid

4

ASTRID

I was running. I was always running. The walls around me got narrower and narrower, but it did nothing to slow me down. I had to get there.

Had to find him.

I called out, but I couldn't hear the word, the name, that came out of my mouth. It was like my head was muffled by cotton, my mouth completely disconnected. But I had to keep going. Had to find …

Zyrus.

I jerked up from where I'd dozed off on the couch, the dream trying to claw me back down. My eyes immediately went to Zyrus, who was preparing a drink in the food prep area. He was as quiet as a ghost, and I took a moment to admire the broad planes of his back, covered by his dark shirt but hinting at plenty for my imagination.

My imagination was having a field day with him.

He kept showing up in my dreams, and not the sexy kind, which I would understand. To say it had been a long time since someone had touched me would be an understatement. With only a hundred survivors down on Nebula, the pickings had been slim, and none had appealed, not even in my loneliest night.

There was only … The memory slipped away before I could grasp it, the same thought that had been nagging at me for weeks.

I was forgetting something important, or at least it felt like I was, like I'd lit a candle and left the house without blowing it out. Not that candles were allowed on Nebula Outpost.

I brushed my thumb over my knuckles, imagining there was some kind of imprint from where Zyrus had brushed his lips against them. I expected there to be a mark, something to prove it had really happened. Those moments while he'd tended to the tiniest of scrapes had washed away the fear of the attack so much that I hadn't actually thought about it.

Zyrus was a distraction. But was that a good thing?

I put my feet flat on the ground, sitting fully up. Zyrus turned around, mug in hand. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked, voice flat, no hint of the man who'd treated me so tenderly.

"No, thanks." I reached for my comm and stared at the screen blankly for a moment before remembering how to turn it on. The tech hadn't changed that much in the last decade, but I was rusty.

No messages from anyone, not that there was anyone who'd be calling me. My family, if any of them were left, was scattered across the galaxy, and I'd written them off long before getting stranded on Nebula. Everyone else that I knew lived just a few doors down in either direction.

"I've been scouring the station's systems to try and figure out who attacked you, but the camera wasn't functioning in that corridor, and the data seems to be wiped for that sector for the fifteen minutes leading up to the attack. Are you certain you don't recall anything else?" Zyrus took a seat across from me and set his mug down on the table.

"It all happened so fast. There was a blur, and they shoved me against the wall, and then you were on them." I shuddered. I didn't want to keep thinking about it. A part of me hoped it was some misunderstanding, some completely unrelated crime, and it was just a horrible coincidence that I feared assassins in the dark. Then my mind caught up to what Zyrus was saying. " You checked the system? How? You're not in station security."

He flexed his hand, flashing his fingers. "I have certain skills. I didn't always live on Nebula Outpost."

He'd been a soldier once.

Had he told me that? Someone must have. I tried to chase the thought down, but it disappeared into the morass that was my mind.

"So, you just hacked into a secure system like it was nothing?"

"The station's system is hardly secure. They ignore basic updates and run most of their data off of cheap equipment that is better suited to manage orders in a restaurant. I'm certain I'm not the only person with access who shouldn't have it." He sipped his drink.

Well, that wasn't comforting.

It was midday, and I'd already napped once. We had no leads on who'd attacked me the day before, and I had a feeling Zyrus would be happy to stay in my quarters for the rest of the day and do nothing. It was easiest to keep me safe that way. But if we did that, I'd go stir crazy.

I'd gotten used to walking the perimeter of our encampment, multiple miles over steep terrain every day. Of course, being cooped up on a space station was driving me a little crazy.

"Have you heard anything about the others down on Nebula?" They should have been up here by now. It had been weeks .

"I'm afraid not."

Then that gave me a place to start. I stood. "Let's go, then."

Zyrus didn't argue, but he did ask, "Go where?"

"I'm going to annoy station security until they tell me why my friends aren't here yet." If nothing else, at least poking that nest of hornets would be something to do.

"Are you certain that's a good idea?" He didn't try to stop me as I headed for the door, but he slipped out in front to scout the hallway for threats.

"They've been stranded down there for a decade; they shouldn't have to wait any longer." I chose a direction and marched off, realizing a few steps in that I wasn't exactly sure where the main station security offices were. But Zyrus pointed me in the right direction, and we were there in only a few minutes.

Of course, the head of security was busy. As was his second. And anyone else who might be able to shed some light on the situation.

I crossed my eyes and glared at the schedule board outside the office.

"We can schedule an appointment," Zyrus suggested.

But at that same moment, the door to the main security offices opened, and two security officers stepped out. They barely glanced at Zyrus and me.

I moved before I truly thought through the action, catching the door before it could close and walking through. Zyrus made a sound in the back of his throat, as if he was about to yell at me to stop but thought better of it.

The offices were a bit barren, and few people were sitting at desks. We passed what must have been a break room where several security officers were sitting around a table and playing some sort of game that involved holograms. No one tried to stop us.

The schedule board had listed the number of the head of security's office, and I was headed straight to it.

"This isn't wise," Zyrus warned before I put my hand over the sensor to open the door.

I ignored him.

The door opened, which was surprising in and of itself. Even more surprising, a man sat with his feet propped on the desk, his chair tipped back and head lolling. He jerked when he heard us enter the room.

Commander Henner.

We'd met when his men had interrogated me after my rescue, as if I was some sort of threat to the station. He hadn't made a good impression then, and somehow, I wasn't shocked to find him sleeping on the job.

"What are you doing in here?" he barked. He dropped his feet to the floor and stood, his chair slamming back into the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?" His glare might have dissuaded someone else, but I'd been through enough that it didn't bother me.

I took the seat opposite his. Zyrus remained standing behind me, my sentinel. "Don't you remember me, Commander Henner?"

The glare lessened a smidge, but he remained standing, as if looking down at me might make me feel small. "There are thousands of people on this station, ma'am. You don't want me remembering you."

"There are a hundred people down on Nebula that you promised to bring back. I'm here to see why my friends are still stuck down there." I didn't raise my voice, but it was a close thing.

Recognition bloomed. "You're that woman. Right. I'm glad to see you've healed up nicely." He took his seat once more and pulled up his tablet. "I understand you've been through a lot. This isn't how things are done on Nebula, but I can do this as a favor … for all you've suffered." He glanced up at Zyrus, cleared his throat, and then back down at his tablet.

I was tempted to look at the Detyen behind me. What was his face doing to make Henner so agreeable?

"Thank you," I said. "Sir," I added for good measure. Henner was clearly a lazy man, but his uniform was well pressed, and he had a framed commendation from Nebula Enterprises on his wall. He cared about his rank.

And his shoulders pulled back a little at the respect, posture straightening.

"Ah, here it is," he said after a few moments of scrolling. "Yes, we have the record of your report, and security is liaising with the health team to institute the proper quarantine procedures. We need to ensure no one brings a communicable disease to the ship. I hope you understand. Merely a precaution."

"A quarantine? No one's sick." I knew the health of my people very well.

"A precaution," he repeated. "Once they've been cleared, we can make space for them here, get them in in contact with their families. It just takes time."

"How much time?" My friends were a twenty-minute transport ship ride away, and yet it felt like light years.

"That will be determined by medical. Shall I put a note in the file to update you when transport begins?" His hand hovered over his tablet.

"Yes. Can I at least talk to someone down there? Let them know I'm alright?"

"The equipment is limited. We can't have anyone making social calls. I'll make certain you're updated when things begin to move forward. Will that be all?" He raised an eyebrow. No matter how this meeting had started, the commander felt in control now.

I wanted to scream, to demand he produce my friends this instant. But I'd already gotten lucky once by barging into his office. There was no reason to test my luck again. "Thank you." He didn't deserve a second sir .

Zyrus and I left, the commander's words echoing in my head.

"You're troubled," Zyrus observed as we left the security hub and headed back towards my quarters.

"What he said was bullshit." Every step I took made it more clear to me. "We spent a decade down on that planet, and no one got so much as a cold or a flu. How could we? There were no vectors of infection, nothing to make us sick. If anyone did get sick, it was from their own bodies: kidney stones, cancer, a seizure. Horrible, but nothing that could harm anyone else. And medical wasn't concerned with me or Alice passing anything on. If my people are quarantined, it's not for illness."

"Then what for?"

"I wish I knew."