Tyler filled in Ahiga quickly on his part of it, and Audrey did the rest. I used the time to relax, letting the chatter lull me into a relaxed state.

And as I was lying there, somewhere between awake and dreaming, I found myself on a beach. Waves lapping at the shore.

“Amihanna!” Lorne’s mirth-filled voice was all I could hear. “What’s that mess of sand you’ve got there?”

I couldn’t stop the grin. “It’s my beautiful castle.”

“Beautiful castle?” Lorne’s laughter filled my mind, warming me from the inside. “I think I got here just in time. It looks like a—”

A hand came down on my shoulder, jolting me from my dream with a gasp. I blinked as I tried to figure out where I was.

Med bay. Abaddon. Nanos.

Ahiga gave my shoulder a squeeze, and I met his gaze. “I knew you were going to be a pain in my ass,” he said.

“Not funny.”

“It’s kind of funny.” He grabbed the stool that Audrey had been using to sit by me and took her place. “How’re you hanging in?”

“Worst is over now, but I can’t do this.” I was so worn out that I wasn’t sure I could sit up on my own. “Please tell me that he’s out of cryo.” Talking made my throat burn. I’d been screaming way too much, and I was spent. Emotionally. Physically. I wasn’t sure how I was going to walk back to my bunk, but I’d figure that out later.

He brushed a hand over my forehead, pushing my hair from my face. “I wish I could.”

“What am I going to do?” I couldn’t go back out there. The nanos were slowly running out of steam, but the last three hours had been excruciating. I couldn’t do this every day.

“I don’t know. I—” He stopped himself, and looked back at Tyler and Audrey. “I have files on both of you. I know who and what you are Audrey—”

“How?” She stumbled back a step. “SpaceTech—” Audrey started, but Ahiga silenced her with a look.

“They don’t know, but I do. I looked into everyone that might come into contact with Maité. The Aunare keep better records of their citizens than SpaceTech. One image dropped into their database and…” Ahiga was quiet as he let that sink in. “Tyler—you now know everything yet stayed quiet today. You shouldn’t be here, like many of the workers on Abaddon, but I don’t know if I should trust you. And I guess it’s a little too late now, but I’ll leave it up to Maité to decide how much she wants to tell you or not. But trust me when I say we all need her to stay alive.”