“Then you’d damn well better start understanding what it means. Life isn’t cheap on Donovan, but it’s damned uncertain. If you can’t wake up to that, I’m evacuating this station and redirecting its assets to the mainland. We’ll cannibalize the subs, the UUVs, and other equipment for whatever we can salvage. Hell, given the water-make in the Number One, I can use the diving gear.”

“God, you’re cold.”

“Yes, I am.”

“How do you do it? Just lose all of your humanity? Become like a machine, some Corporate statistical algorithm figuring probabilities of success, predicting which human being is going to die next?”

Aguila’s jaw muscles twitched, the chill in her blue gaze almost glacial as she fixed on Michaela. “When I set foot on Donovan, I wasn’t afraid of anything. I was coming here to kick ass, restore Corporate control, arrest and execute mutineers and pirates, and cut The Corporation’s losses. I was one tough avenging angel come from on high. Lasted me all of a week before this place slapped me right across my arrogant mug and left me terrified down to my bones.”

Aguila thrust a scarred finger into Michaela’s face. “I’ve been where you are now. That’s why you get this one chance, woman. Because I was so terrified, I opted for what I thought was the easy way out. But I still didn’t get it. Took me a full year of Donovan and its people beating the bullshit out of me before I started to come to grips. Enemies became friends, friends turned out to be enemies, but I learned.”

Michaela tried not to wince under that eerie blue stare.

Aguila stepped closer, voice dropping as she said, “I understand that you just had your first real dose of Donovan. I understand that you are all scared. Well, sweetheart, it’s going to get a lot scarier. On top of ‘Welcome to Donovan’ we have another saying. It goes like this: People come to Donovan to leave, to find themselves, or to die. Your last chance to leave was when Ashanti inverted symmetry on her way back to Solar System. So, let me see . . . Yes, that leaves you with two choices.”

Michaela’s mouth had gone dry. She turned away, walked to the railing, and stared down into the water. “What do you mean by finding myself?”

“Finding out who you really are. What you have inside now that you’re face-to-face with Donovan. Maybe you’re the Scientific Director of Maritime Unit’s research station. Maybe you’re a drill operator in the Number Two mine. Could be that you end up running Corporate Farm. Or you might find yourself scrubbing the cafeteria floor after each shift.”

“I see.” She tried to keep the misery out of her voice as something long and thin shot across the top of the reef and vanished into the depths.