“Fine. Fine. I want to go back to CDAS and make sure they didn’t accidentally run into Foxfire like we did. If we took all of it and nobody else is infected? Then fantastic. Great. We can part ways. You get dropped off at the station and you can report the contamination, get us quarantined and shipped off to be studied or whatever else. I just cannot—cannot—live with myself knowing I had the chance to do something and didn’t.” Edison turned away from the glass, pacing, removing his spectacles to find that when he rubbed his eyes, tears had formed there. Why wouldn’t she listen? She had to listen. This went so far beyond them only a selfish idiot would refuse to take action.

“It’s my job,” he added quietly. “I’m the captain. It’s my duty to protect people. I failed to do it with my crew, but I won’t fail you and I won’t fail the rest of goddamned humanity.”

He waited and waited, convinced she would refuse him again. She appeared to be listening, really listening, and maybe even softening up. Then he felt a tender hand on the back of his neck. He shivered.

We can fix that, baby. Give her bliss. Give her our gift. She can refuse nothing if she’s one of us. Let her join the cluster. Be kind to her. Be generous.

“Agh.”

Edison grabbed his head, squeezing his temples, falling back against the shield from the sudden blast of pain in his skull. Vaguely, he heard Rosalyn tapping on the other side of the barrier.

“Edison? Edison?!”

That helped. Her voice seemed to call him back, though the sizzling in his brain lingered as he righted himself, wincing.

“I’m all right . . . I’m fine.”

“Oh, thank God.” She sighed and took a step back from the barrier. It was her turn to pace. “If we’re going to do this, then you need to promise me you’ll do whatever you can to keep the Foxfire from taking control. Understand?”

“Yeah, obviously, I’m not a fan of it, either.”

“This is serious,” Rosalyn chided. She was pacing faster, working up to something, her hands rubbing together as if they were numb with cold. “I need to trust you, even though you’re all brainwashed. And you need to trust me, even though I tried to blow us all to hell.”

He had to give a wry snort at that. “What a pair.”

“Well?”

“An alliance of convenience,” Edison agreed. “I’m in. Misato will help. She likes you, and she hardly likes anyone.”