“I know, I know. We’re gambling on re-creating Argelius to trigger some memory fragment left over in your brain. Well, forgive me for being skeptical about that.” He circled the central holo-table, tweaking its display parameters for the hundredth time as he peered at the multiaxial subspace spectral analysis graph hovering above it. “We might have a better chance of making contact once we get to their target area. They’re trying to get through to us anyway, so it makes sense to put ourselves where they’re already looking.”

“The flares won’t let us get close enough.” She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice. “And our position won’t matter if the signal configuration and data reconstruction protocols are wrong.”

“That’s what I’m saying! If we can read their transmissions directly—in real time, not just recorded data—it would better our chances of deciphering those things.”

Uhura turned to glare at him. “Even if that’s true, it won’t get us to the Sol system any faster. We still have six hours to do everything we can to recover some fraction of my memory. It won’t hurt to keep this up, and there isn’t anything else we can do in the meantime!”

“Well—” Shastri broke off, unable to counter her argument. He gave a frustrated sigh and resumed pacing the lab.

I wanted strong emotions, she thought wryly. Following that thought, she spoke again, tentatively. “Did we… That is, when we were friends… did we have fights like this?”

He stared in surprise. “Not like this. Not at the slightest provocation.” He barked out a laugh. “You were certainly passionate about what you believed in. You didn’t take any crap from anyone. When I said something stupid, you put me in my place. But it was never malicious, never… bitter. There was trust there. Trust earned over years.

“Sometimes… we didn’t even have to talk. We could sit together in silence for hours while we studied, while we worked on making contact. But not this silence, not… avoidance.” His voice softened as his focus turned inward. “Just the opposite. The kind where two people are so much in sync that it’s like being with another part of yourself. Nothing needs to be said. It just feels so right to be together—it doesn’t have to be justified by saying something or doing something. It just is.”

He blinked moist eyes, and she could see his grief at what he had lost. “So no, Nyota. It won’t be that easy for you.”

“What won’t?”

“Asking if it was like this, here and now. You’re looking for a shortcut. An easy answer to get past this block of yours. If it were that bloody easy, don’t you think you’d have done it by now?”

“I’m open to trying anything at this point!”