“Wow,” Rogers said. He turned to Deet. “I’m impressed. Even the Froids in the AIGCS didn’t have this much personality.”

“CALL FUNCTION [EXPRESS GRATITUDE].”

Rogers paused. “Joke?”

“Yes!” Deet exclaimed. He beeped excitedly. “Yes, it was!”

They covered the remaining distance to Rogers’ stateroom and paused for a moment as Rogers fumbled for his key—the one he’d been certain he was never going to use again—and slid it into the reader beside the door. The low level of activity around his door almost made Rogers feel uncomfortable. He could have sworn that, not a minute before, there had been a mob of people throwing their arms everywhere right in front of him. The door slid open, and Rogers took the now-familiar first step into freefall. It still felt like his stomach was going to claw its way out his nose, but at least he wasn’t surprised by it.

Rogers spun around to find Deet still standing at the door.

“Do you have an addiction to roller coasters or something?” Deet asked.

“The admiral thinks that this is a good way to prevent his executive officers from killing themselves.”

“Well, I’m not going in there,” Deet said.

“That’s right,” Rogers said. He reclined his body to a pantomime of sitting in a big lounge chair. “You’re all powered by the artificial gravity generators.” He snapped his fingers. “That’s what I wanted to ask you. All of the droids on the ship keep going to the mess halls and plugging into the power outlets. But if they’re powered by the AGG, what’s the point?”

Deet paused for a moment, then made two short chirps in rapid succession. “I am unable to assess the reason for this action.”

Rogers frowned. The way this robot kept switching back and forth between talking like an old droid and talking like a human was a little disconcerting.

“Charging battery backups, maybe?” Rogers guessed.

“I’m not equipped with a battery backup,” Deet said, “but it is probable that later versions of my frame were outfitted with such a system.”

Rogers spun around the room a little, stuffing some loose articles of clothing into his floating wardrobe. In the short time he’d lived in this environment, he’d at least taken the time to make it seem clean. Having ten things floating around the room was better than having a hundred.

“Well,” Rogers said, “let me just change out of his uniform. Just hang out in the hallway for a few minutes and then we’ll see what the most powerful man in the 331st can do.”

From his vantage point in the center of his stateroom, Rogers could see only Deet darkening his doorway. Behind the droid, there was still a noticeable absence of personnel. Had everyone taken the day off since Rogers was no longer there to salute?

“I don’t see anyplace to hang,” Deet said, looking around.

“Figure of speech. Just wait.”

“I’m not sure I want to do that, either.”

Rogers stopped, the components of a new uniform draped over his arm. “Why?”