“This is Karen Phelps.” She sounded as though she were crying. “This message is for my parents, Lori and Pete. I want you to know I love you. I love you so much.” Karen paused, and Maren thought she heard crashing noises and what sounded like tearing metal in the background. “I made a mistake. They said they were here to restock the station, and-and-and I knew they weren’t due for another week, but I let them in. I’m so sorry.” More tearing metal. The woman tried to say something else, but her voice broke down into sobs. Maren stared at the dash, horrified and captivated, until the woman got her voice under control and started to speak again. “I just need you to know that I love you, Mum, Dad. And I need you to be careful. You’ll understand more soon, when it spreads, but for now, you need to get out of your house and go hide somewhere remote. Don’t trust your neighbours. Don’t trust anyone who offers to help you. Just… hide… and stay safe.”

The wail of breaking metal, this one much closer than the others, was followed by a scream. It was one of the rawest sounds Maren had ever heard; it seemed to fill her and tremble in her bones, until it ended abruptly. At first, she thought the recording had finished, but then she realised she could hear quiet thudding, dragging noises. Like a body being pulled across the floor.

Then someone ended the recording.

Gin was watching Maren, her normally bright face serious. “I’m not crazy, am I? This is pretty serious, right?”

“Yes.”

The friends swivelled in their seats to see Saul leaning against the doorframe. His impassive face looked harder, as though it had developed more angles.

Maren stood up. “What should we do?”

“Exactly what we’re doing now.”

“What—but—”

“We do our jobs, wait for Central’s instructions, and protect ourselves.”

The big man glanced between the two friends as Maren struggled to get her thoughts focussed. “We need to talk to Suriya about this. She’ll listen to you, Saul.”

“No.” His grey eyes lingered on Maren for a second before he directed his gaze at the roof. “Be careful around Suriya. She’s changed.”

“Changed?” Gin had clasped her hands in her lap and was playing with the hem of her skirt. “I mean, she’s more stressed nowadays than she used to be—”

“The station is empty. What’s causing her stress?”

Gin stared at Saul for a moment then looked at Maren. “You… you think she’s becoming unstable? Like, mentally?”

“I think you should be careful.” Saul kicked off the doorframe and turned to the hallway. “Maren, I undid the bolt that was giving you trouble.”

“Oh… right. Thanks.”

Maren and Gin stared at each other, neither able to phrase the words they wanted to say, as Saul’s footsteps faded down the hallway. A loud, prolonged beep signalled that the station was locking its doors and securing vents ahead of the gamma flare that was about to hit.