See? she said, after his eyes had focused on her once more. At first it was just a suspicion, then I became sure of it.

Bash sighed and gave her a weary look. Megan, did you ever think about just asking them about the missing data?

I did, but . . .

But what? he asked. What exactly are you afraid of?

Well, what if they are deliberately keeping something back from us? What if theres a reason the Shoal called it the Marauder instead of the Wanderer? Why would they want to keep anything like that back from us?

Or maybe, now that youre tight with Tarrant, you dont like the idea that hes been keeping something from you.

Megan glared at him.

Bash chuckled, reaching out to put his hand on her arm. Okay then, supposing youre right. Im not saying that maybe we shouldnt ask questions, but if theyve really been hiding something we should know about, then, under any normal circumstances, maybe thats something we should be concerned about. But these arent normal circumstances. Sometimes there are things you need to know and things you dont need to know. If theyre not telling us something, then maybe theres a good reason for it.

She stared at him, appalled. We need to know everything, Bash, or how the hell are we going to know how to deal with whatever we end up finding out there?

Look, said Bash, his tone getting defensive, Tarrant and Sifra are both of them good men. Remember I was stuck on that moon along with him with Tarrant, I mean and the rest of the survivors from the Chesapeake, waiting for a rescue we nearly convinced ourselves was never coming. Hes the kind of man youd follow through the gates of hell, because you know for damn sure hed lead you back out again.

I know it sounds stupid, she said quietly, but something still just doesnt feel right.

He shook his head. The time to worry, Megan, was before we even set out. Now weve just got to deal with the cards weve been given, and do the best we can. With this much riding on the four of us, I dont see either of those guys holding anything back from us if we really needed to know it.

Im still going to talk to him, she muttered. And if he doesnt tell me, then . . .

Then what? Bash asked, with a slight smile.

I dont know, she said, but Ill think of something.

And yet something still kept Megan from confronting Tarrant. She tried to tell herself it was because Bash was right and she was just overreacting, that whatever reason there might be for some of the material being redacted, it was almost certainly a perfectly reasonable and mundane one. Chunks of incomplete records from some archaeological dig did not, after all, amount to a conspiracy.