“But it is.” Shin’s gaze fixed on the swells. Gave the impression that the Pod was moving instead of the water. “Okay, so I know the specs. I know what kind of forces the Pod can endure. The thing’s essentially crush-proof, can withstand just about anything the ocean can throw at it. Solid sialon casing and floors.” He rapped a knuckle against the white wall behind him. “But it’s like this thin shell is the only thing between us and drowning.”

“You having nightmares of your own?”

The dull acquiescence in his brown eyes provided all the answer she needed. Played right in concert with her own tortured dreams of sinking into dark water, of holding her breath. Desperate. Then finally gasping, sucking in an endless rush of cold ocean. Even awake and aware, she could still feel the cold filling her lungs, the terror of drowning . . .

Michaela shivered. Shook it off. Appalled that Lee had seen, knew her weakness. All of which triggered her sense of frustration and fury. Damn it, she was the Director of Scientific Research, second-in-command only to Board Supervisor Kalico Aguila. The Board had appointed Michaela to the Directorship because of her iron will, her expertise in the field. To show any—

“It’s all right,” Shin interrupted her thoughts. “After all that time in Ashanti? There’re no secrets left. You can be human like the rest of us.”

“No secrets left,” she whispered in agreement. “Isn’t that the truth?”

They’d been packed together on Crew Deck after the Unreconciled had tried to seize the ship: twenty-three people jammed into four small cabins.

They’d had no privacy. Had to live cramped together—ass to armpit as the saying went. Had to endure all the trials humans inflicted upon each other in close proximity. They’d fought, formed alliances that shifted through time, hated each other, loved each other, swapped partners, squabbled and made up, and finally sorted themselves into a sort of extended family. One that tolerated each other despite the histories, jealousies, sexual complications, and remembered slights. Well, all but Dr. Anna Carrasco Gabarron. She was like the despised aunt that everyone stoically endured as a sort of cosmic punishment for his or her sins.

“You kept us sane, you know,” Shin told her. “Otherwise, we’d never have made it. You were the one who ordered us out of Deck Three. Sided with Captain Galluzzi before we could make any other choice.”

So, did that make her any less timid now that they were dirtside, alone on an empty and hostile planet in the middle of an uncharted and unknown ocean? An ocean that, if they could trust the briefings the Supervisor had given them, was full of creatures that would try to kill them?