We stood in silence, neither wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, I cleared my throat and asked, “So, are we okay? Can we work together?”

Alva looked down at the dismembered rifle. “You mean, am I going to frag you and throw you out the airlock?” She finally looked me in the eye. “No. You’ve been trying hard since George died. You got us out of Northfield in one piece, and that took some balls. I never thought you’d let the ship cut loose on a civilian population like that.”

“You don’t think it was the wrong decision?”

She shook her head. “Hell, no. Those cretins were shooting at us. They deserved everything they got.”

“Live by the sword…”

“…die by the high-impact, armour-piercing round.” A smile disturbed her lips like a breeze ruffling palm leaves, there one instant and gone the next. “You get everything you deserve,” she said, “if you’re idiot enough to shoot at a Carnivore.”

My stomach felt suddenly hollow. I stuck my hands in the pockets of my jumpsuit. “You do know that’s exactly what we’re about to do, don’t you?”

Clay nodded. “The difference is, we’re ex-soldiers, and we’re in a Carnivore.”

* * *

I walked back around the circular corridor, taking the long route and savouring the empty cabins and darkened workstations. As I walked, I trailed my fingertips along the wall. The knowledge that we were heading into a fight lent everything a heightened poignancy, and I found myself wondering if any of these silent bunks would ever hold another sleeper, or these vacant offices and meeting rooms another conversation. In the light of the coming conflict, it seemed simultaneously impossible and yet frighteningly plausible that, in a few hours, this little town might be destroyed, these solid walls and floors torn asunder, this cool, endlessly recycled air scattered to the careless vacuum. At this moment, my feet might very well be the last to ever walk these sections of corridor, my eyes the last to appreciate their stark, functional beauty.

If we survived the next few hours, I made a vow to spend more time prowling the ship. Maybe I’d even decorate, adding a few human touches to the sterility. This ship was my home, and I was only really starting to understand the fact now, as we stood together on the lip of a yawning precipice.