Campion says, “When you sent the distress signal, what happened? Tell it to me again.”

“Nothing to tell. They ignored it,” says Fin.

Salvo says, “The normal protocol—”

“I know the normal protocol,” says Campion.

“Even I felt the urge to drop what I was doing and assist Fin when I received the signal,” says Salvo.

“Salvo, I get it. All constructs are required to respond to expressed human distress by lending assistance. I know my bots are broken. I’m trying to figure out how and why.”

“Did you programme them?” asks Fin.

“No. They came pre-loaded, and that’s beyond my expertise.”

Fin snorts. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

“I don’t know. Because I said so?”

“Where the hell have you been anyway?”

“Sleeping.”

Fin sputters. “What? How could you—?”

“Captain, what Fin is trying to say is we needed your help,” says Salvo. He finishes dressing Fin’s wound. Fin finds the interaction odd. The Artificial has never finished Fin’s sentences before. This is not the time for odd behaviour from constructs. Or humans, for that matter.

“I know what he’s trying to say,” says Campion, eyes on Fin. “He wants to know if I set the bots on you both.”

“Is that unreasonable? The bots attacked us, and you control the bots,” says Fin. Her face is a beautiful blank and Fin cannot get a read.

“You tried to blow up my ship,” says Campion. “You endangered my passengers.”

“If I tried to blow up the ship, we wouldn’t be standing here,” says Fin.

“Yes, we would,” says Salvo. “We don’t have enough explosive material to destroy the ship. We can’t even breach—”

“Shut up, you,” says Fin. He pulls out the IV line, which has finished anyway, and steps into Campion’s personal space. “I want your IFC logs.”

“Not without a warrant,” says Campion.

“‘War-rant’?”

“Legal authorisation. It means a judge who has jurisdiction must look at the facts and order me, on pain of imprisonment, to give up the last line of privacy humans have. Or maybe you do things differently in the colonies.” Just short of a sneer that time.

Salvo moves between them. “I’m sure there’s a middle ground to be—”

“No, fine.” Fin steps around Salvo, back into Campion’s face. “I’ll get a war-rant. Salvo, escort Captain Campion to her quarters and keep guard.”

“Am I under arrest?” asks Campion.

“If you want to be. Tell the ship AI to obey us.”

“No. You’ll need a court order for that.” Campion looks up. “Ragtime, unlimited comm use for Rasheed Fin.”

Fin looks to Salvo. “What’s a court order?”

“You can’t arrest Campion, Fin,” says Malaika.

“I have to—”

“You can’t arrest her. Lagos will have our heads, and nobody wants aggro with them.”

“I want a war-rant, sir. She could be a murderer.”

“Is she?”