“I’d rather see every single one of you die than let one of those beasts into my station,” Suriya snarled, drawing away.

Mark launched himself at his commander again, and this time, Suriya didn’t see him in time. His fist connected with her jaw, sending her crashing to the ground. In her shock, she let go of the chip around her neck. Mark grabbed it, snapping the chain with a ferocious tug that made Suriya gasp.

“Here,” he barked, shoving it at Gin. “Open the damn door!”

She took the chip but hesitated. Her eyes found Maren’s, silently asking if it was okay.

“I said open the door!” Mark drew his gun and pointed it at Gin’s face.

She flinched and raised her hands.

“Hey!” Maren yelled, but Mark had the gun on her before she could take more than a step forward.

“No one move! I swear I’ll shoot! Gin, open the doors—both of them. Now!”

Gin swallowed, turned to her control board, and slotted the chip into the authorisation connection. The light above it switched to green.

Maren glanced at the screen. Holly lay on the ground, immobile. The heat made the red dirt behind her seem to glow.

Gin’s fingers were moving over the control board in a blur as she muttered. “Confirming authority. Accessing lockdown system. Overriding lockdown protocol. Opening airlock internal door. Opening airlock external door.”

Mark whirled and ran through the door. Maren listened to his footsteps fading down the hallway then turned back to the screen as Gin changed the camera to the one that looked inside the airlock. Mark appeared, dropping his gun, and wrenched up the external door. There was a blast of light, and the entrance seemed to shimmer from the blistering heat coming through it, but Mark barely hesitated before reaching out, grabbing the suited figure on the threshold, and dragging her inside the airlock. He slammed the external door then began working Holly’s helmet off.

“Lock the doors,” Saul said, his voice quiet.

Gin nodded and pressed a series of buttons to re-seal both airlock doors. Then she withdrew the chip from the authorisation connection.

“Do you, uh, want this back?” Meekly, she offered the chip to Suriya.

The tall woman had gathered herself to her feet and was hovering in the corner of the room, the back of her hand pressed to her bleeding lip. She glared murderously at Gin as she took a half step forward and snatched the chip to her chest. After glancing at each of them in turn, she swivelled towards the door and left at a run.

“Jeeze,” Maren muttered. She’d covered mental health briefly during her training for maintenance and much more extensively during her defence technician training. “Breakdowns are much more common than you might expect,” the instructors had all said. “Keep a close eye on your co-workers for any warning signs.” Humans were beautifully resilient but also incredibly fragile… and something about the solitude and restrictions of space could tap on a person’s fragile parts, quietly and gently, until that person broke.