I never would’ve traded in my old wrist unit for the implant and contact lens if I’d had a choice. Maybe I could even get the base medic to remove the implant. I didn’t love the fact that the stupid thing was still lodged inside my finger even if it was inactive.

“I’ve linked the unit to your SpaceTech tracker, which has an odd signal, but I got it to sync.”

“Thanks.” I hadn’t even felt the chip since Ahiga injected it into my arm. I couldn’t feel any signals from it. I wondered if it was some sort of Aunare tracker, but from what I knew, they didn’t implant any tech at all.

“Mm-hmm. You make it the year, you can go get yourself a new contact lens, or even get a full lace.” Matthew smiled at me, but his words didn’t ring true at all. The way he kept talking about my implant—or lack thereof—made me wonder what he knew about me.

There was an awkward silence as I looked back at Ahiga. He gave me a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head.

He didn’t know what Matt’s deal was either. I grabbed the wrist unit and fumbled with the clasp.

“Come on,” Ahiga said. “I’ll show you to your bunk.”

I hefted the duffle onto my shoulder and followed Ahiga through the doors without a backward glance. I wanted to ask Ahiga what Matthew’s deal was, but I couldn’t. Not with cameras watching our every move.

The duffle was much heavier than it looked, but maybe that was just because I was still working through all the cryo drugs. I still felt like my feet were dragging, and I promised myself I’d take a nap as soon as I found my bed.

We continued through a series of endless gunmetal gray hallways and stairwells, all with polished concrete floors. Besides the gray, the only other color I’d seen so far was the white letters and numbers on different doors. No bright colors. No vegetation. Nothing that could fool anyone into thinking that they were anywhere other than a SpaceTech work facility.

The only thing that changed depending on our location was the temperature. The stairwells were unbearably hot. Then we’d enter a level of the base, and it’d cool down a bit. I’d heard that it smelled like sulfur out there, but from inside, thankfully, I couldn’t smell it.