“Tuesday, March Twelfth. For immediate release. Central has become aware of a potential hazard to exo-planet stations and stations near the edge of our system. All stations are advised to exercise caution. Non-native lifeforms are to be treated as biohazards and immediately terminated. Further updates to come.”

The line crackled and went dead. Maren felt her eyebrows rise. Emergency announcement packets were uncommon—it had been months since the last one—and usually important. She was having a hard time figuring out what the packet was implying, though. “What was that about?”

Mark shrugged, scratching at his stubble. “Might be a new lifeform they’ve found. Remember when a bunch of creeping Helen came off that meteor shower and they had to dispatch specialised teams to cull it?”

“Yeah.” Maren perched against the edge of the dashboard. The other communications staff always yelled at her when she leaned on their equipment, but Gin never minded. “Except when that happened, they told everyone what the problem was. This time, we’re just being given instructions to kill anything that lands on our planet. They said to treat it like a biohazard. Maybe there’s a virus going around?”

“Doesn’t really concern us, anyway,” Mark said. “We’re not exo or fringe.”

“We’re facing fringe stations, though.” Gin’s bow-shaped mouth was pursed in concern. “I didn’t say anything before because I thought it was just a really weird coincidence, but there have been a bunch of emergency help requests coming through lately. At least ten in the last week.”

“Ten requests?” Maren asked, shocked. “But we’re only getting messages from a hundred and fifty stations while we’re in hibernation.”

“I know. But it’s not unheard of to get a spate of requests in one go, especially if there have been asteroids going through the area.” Gin shrugged and rubbed a hand through her short teal hair. “Like I said, I thought it was a coincidence.”

Suriya stood and crossed the room to open the door. “Does anyone want to know what I think?”

“Yeah.” Gin’s face lit up.

“I think you should get back to your damn jobs.” Suriya stalked out of the room, slamming the door as she left.

Undeterred, Gin called after her, “Copy that, boss!”

Mark shrugged, kicked out of his chair, and slouched through the exit as Gin turned back to her console. Saul also made for the door, and Maren, remembering the bolt that wouldn’t come lose, hurried to intercept him.

“Hey, can I get a favour? I need to borrow your muscles.”

Saul blinked at her but didn’t answer. Maren was used to that; no reply was Saul’s way of saying yes, so she led him out of the room and down the hallway towards the bolt. She quickened her pace to match the bear-like man’s long strides. “So, being our defence technician, what’s your reading on the info packet? Has it got you worried?”

“Hmm.”

Maren peered up at her companion. It had taken her months to figure out what was going through his head, and still, most times, she wasn’t sure whether she’d gotten it right. His strong face was emotionless… same as always. She didn’t think he was too concerned.