“It’s okay,” Jay cooed. “Take your time.”

The woman rubbed the tear tracks off her cheeks as she took a few deep breaths. “I pressed the distress signal and ran. I don’t know what happened, but I heard gunshots from the sleeping quarters, so I locked myself in the kitchen. I’ve been staying there ever since. There’s something in the station; I can hear it walking around at night, looking for a way to get to me. When I heard you come in, I thought you were the monster—but then you started talking and—and—”

Again, Robin pulled Jay back to stop him from hugging the woman. He glared at her reproachfully.

“Your teammates are dead.” Robin’s voice was empty of emotion, and her gaze was guarded. “But I suppose you already knew that. So, you say there’s a dangerous lifeform in the station?”

Ellan nodded.

“You know what I think?” The girl shook her head, so Robin continued. “I think you’re far too young to have been stationed here, and four months was enough to send you out of your mind. I think you killed your partners but lost the nerve to finish yourself off, so you placed the gun in your teammate’s hand to make it look like he was responsible. I think you’ve spent this last week sinking into insanity and came up with this monster story so that you could convince yourself you were innocent. What do you say to that?”

A flush of colour had spread across Ellan’s face. “I didn’t—I’m not lying! Search the station yourself; you’ll find it!”

“Yeah, we’re going to do exactly that. You know what else we’re going to do? Put you into quarantine on our ship. When we get back to base, Central will get to decide how much they believe your story.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Jeeze, Robin!” Jay snapped. “Give her a break already!” He turned back to the woman and lowered his voice, offering her the sweetest smile his face was capable of. “Hey, it’s okay. I believe you.”

“Monsters can’t fire guns,” Robin said bluntly. “Get up, DeSouza. I’ll escort you to the ship. Charles, Jay, finish searching the station. I’ll be genuinely amazed if you find anything, but regardless, it goes without saying that you should be cautious. Meet us back at the ship in no more than ten minutes.”

“Sure,” Charles said.

Jay crossed his arms and pouted as he watched Robin march the younger woman out of the room. “Remind me to never get on her bad side.”

“You’re already there.” Charles grinned. “I agree she could use a brush up on her empathy skills, but she’s only trying to keep us safe.”

“You can’t honestly believe that little dove is a killer.”

“Little dove?” Charles punched Jay’s arm. “Ha! You like her. And for a moment there, I thought you were being a decent human being.”

Jay pursed his lips but didn’t retort. Instead, he marched into the kitchen, flicking the light on as he went.