“Am I going to be okay?” Alex said.

“Depends,” she said. “Keep eating like you’re twenty, and it’ll haunt you.”

Alex laughed and a spike of pain cut through his belly. The doctor grimaced and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You did get a little surgery while you were out. That burn you were on made your ulcer way worse.”

“I have an ulcer?”

“You used to. Now you have a reconstructed stem graft, but it’s still settling into place. Give it a few days, and it’ll be much better.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, resting his head back on the pillow. “I’ve been under a little stress lately. Is Bobbie okay?”

“She’s fine. They’ve been debriefing her. I imagine they’ll want to chat with you too, now that you’re back around.”

“What about my ship?”

“We pulled her into the hangar. She’s being refueled. You can get her back when we’re clear.”

That brought him back. “Clear?”

“Those gentlemen who were taking potshots at you? Our escort’s back making sure they don’t get too happy about following us. Once the relief ships actually get here, I expect you’ll be on your way.”

“You got some coming, then?”

“Oh my, yes,” the doctor said, with a sigh. “Half a dozen of our finest. Probably more than we need, but we’re not in a place where anyone wants to take risks.”

“I’m right there with ’em on that,” Alex said, closing his eyes. The silence felt weird. He opened them again. The doctor stood where she had been before, her smile as it had been, her hands clasped lightly in front of her. There were tears in her eyes.

“Some things happened while you were out,” she said. “You should probably know about them.”

Bobbie stood up and hugged him hard as soon as he walked into the debriefing room. She wore a flight jumpsuit just like the one they’d provided him. They didn’t say anything at first. It felt strange, being enveloped in her arms. She was much larger than him and stronger besides. He would have imagined that being held like that by an attractive woman would have had some erotic element, but all he felt was a deep sense of their shared vulnerability.