“No.”

Their leader inhaled sharply, but she didn’t dare yell while Saul seemed so dangerous. “This is insubordination. I could have you paroled.”

“No.” Saul had fixed her with an unblinking gaze. He took a half step closer, looming over her. “As defence technician, I have the right to detain you if I believe you are a danger to yourself or others. And I am seconds away from acting on that right.”

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. A vein in Suriya’s throat twitched, then she broke the silence. “Perhaps I was out of line.” She glanced at Maren and Gin, who were still kneeling on the floor, then turned and left the room at a walk that was just a fraction too slow to be classified as a run. Saul exhaled, letting his shoulders lower, and he seemed to deflate to his normal size. He crouched beside the two friends and patted Gin’s back. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, drawing a stuttering breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Saul placed a massive hand on Maren’s shoulder and gave it a brief and surprisingly gentle squeeze. “We’ll worry about Suriya later. Let’s fix the system first.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Right, yeah.” Gin clambered to her feet, brushing dirt off her pink skirt. “I think it must be an external fault. I’ve checked all the equipment in here, but there aren’t any errors.”

“I’ll go out and see if I can repair it,” Maren said, getting to her feet as well. “Saul, will you stay with Gin?”

“No,” he said simply. Maren sighed.

“I know you’re normally supposed to accompany any excursions, but I don’t want to leave Gin alone…”

…with Suriya, she finished internally. Saul crossed his arms and blinked at her. Normally, she took his silence as agreement, but she was pretty sure he was digging his heels in this time.

“I’ll get Mark to hang out with me,” Gin said quickly. Her fingers still trembled on the dashboard, but at least her smile was back. “He doesn’t have any work to do today, anyway.”

“Okay,” Maren said reluctantly. “The intercom still works, right?”

“Yeah, there’s no problem with short-range stuff. We just can’t pick up anything more than a hundred meters away.”

“Great, stay on the system while we’re out there. I might need you for troubleshooting help anyway.” She turned to Saul. “Ready?”

His silence was definitely a yes, and he led her into the hallway and through the first door on the left, which took them into the airlock.

Trips outside the station, onto the dusty red surface of their semi-planet, were scheduled regularly. Maren’s maintenance duty had her out at least twice a week to check and repair infrastructure, and Saul journeyed outside an extra time each week to check for and clear off any lifeforms that meteors or space junk had deposited on the planet. Mostly, the lifeforms were harmless and no more intelligent than a plant, but they could cause structural damage if they clogged up vents or equipment, and a couple of them could be a hazard to the buggies that frequently travelled over two hundred kilometres an hour when crew members journeyed between stations.