She dropped like a stone. Edison hadn’t seen anyone fall asleep that quickly in, well, ever. It was like a spell had been cast, awake one second and gone the next. It wasn’t that he missed her, exactly, but that the silence afforded unique opportunities for the Foxfire to emerge. The quiet, lonely hours were always the hardest.

Because this is just a distraction, baby. “Buzz, buzz, buzz,” goes the bee, keeping busy, be as busy as you like, it’s only a matter of time. You’ll join us.

Edison sighed and rubbed his temples. Preventive measures needed to be taken. He summoned his AR display and brought up the music app, choosing his usual calming playlist. It could’ve been a salt circle, his spiritual protection against the coming Foxfire incursion. On a lark, he opened his AR public profile and changed it. Charming or desperate? He couldn’t decide. Either way it was something. Something for her. The monster inside him had been gaining ground steadily, it seemed, until the salvager arrived. It made him wish she had arrived sooner, the tossed pebble that rippled hard across the pond.

The steady mechanical thrum of the Brigantine normally put him at ease, but in that moment it was different. Time generally had less meaning in outer space, but for routine and health, MSC kept their workers on an established day/night cycle, synced to Earth. Most space stations did something similar, the prevailing national territory determining which time zone they chose to follow. Merchantia Solutions, based out of Vancouver, timed their workdays accordingly. He liked it. Even if the connection to Earth was artificial, it was still a connection, however tentative.

Several facts dawned on him at once as he sat in the semidarkness watching Rosalyn Devar sleep. One was that he would never see Earth again. In fact, this ship and the innards of Coeur d’Alene Station were likely the last places he would ever know. Fucking miserable. The second fact was that the ship was unusually quiet. Too quiet. Most hours Rayan could be heard tinkering away in the lab, dropping things with his clumsy enthusiasm or crying excitedly over a particular discovery. Even during the lockdown Rayan imposed, Piero made plenty of noise just to remind everyone he was still there and still pissed. Occasionally he could be heard punching or kicking the walls and door. Misato never made a racket, but Edison sensed her burning brightly in his mind.