I walked around the hunk of machinery pinning the corpse to the canyon floor and retrieved her shoes, which I slipped over my own bare feet. They were a little large, but serviceable if I tightened them as far as possible.

Returning to Adam, I took one of the survival suits from his hands. The suit was dormant, wrapped into a grapefruit-sized ball with a toggle protruding from one end. I yanked the toggle and stepped back as the suit expanded.

“Come on,” I said. “Otherwise you’ll freeze.”

I watched as Adam activated his own suit, and then showed him how to wriggle into it.

I had worn survival suits many times before. They were tight all-in-one garments that you could wear in the cramped confines of a distressed ship or out on a planetary surface. They retained body heat and recycled sweat and other waste, ensuring a constant supply of potable water. Their hoods were capable of covering the face to form a rudimentary breathing mask, and they even contained a small supply of breathable air in case of atmospheric failure.

My arm still hurt where I had hit it against something during the impact. While I was reasonably sure it wasn’t broken, I knew there would be extensive bruising, and perhaps some ligament damage. It made donning the garment a painful and awkward process, but I eventually managed to work it into the sleeve and fasten the suit over my clothes. I left the hood down around my neck; there was no sense in using air I might need later.

When we were both dressed, I started walking, my shoes squealing against the smooth stone floor.

After a moment, Adam followed. “Where are you going?” He glanced back towards the ruin of the ’dam, still hanging like a boulder lodged in a crevasse, and the lights and noise coming from beyond.

“This wasn’t an accident,” I told him, cradling my damaged arm. “We were shot down.”

He raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Who would shoot down a liner?”

“It doesn’t matter.” My eyes were on the corner ahead. “I saw the torpedoes from the pool. I tried to get out and get back to you, but they hit us before I’d got half a dozen paces. Now, whoever fired them has come down here to make sure there aren’t any witnesses left alive.”

Adam stopped moving. “You’re serious?”

“Deadly serious.”

“And you think that shuttle might be… them?”

“I think it’s likely. Who else would be out here?”

For the first time, genuine concern creased his face. “Then what are we going to do?”