“Anyway,” Misato mused, scratching at her chin, “I have no idea if the fungus can survive extreme temperatures. Even space might not kill it off.”

“Something to think about,” he agreed. “Something to test.”

“What the hell was that? Do you see this? We’re back online, baby!” Piero had slid into engineering with a spin and a whoop, Rayan not far behind him. The Italian danced over to them, his right eye split through the middle, the bone and sinew beneath protected by a thin web of blue. The flesh all up and down the right side of his face was black and purple with bruising. It was gruesome to look at, but seemed to bother Piero not at all.

And he noticed the open duct hatch. And he noticed Edison turn and shield it from his view.

Yes, protect the salvager. Her bumbling has come to nothing. No, not nothing; she has helped.

He was not, he insisted silently, protecting her because she had accidentally cut the code blue. In fact, he didn’t know why he was standing guard like that, only that he didn’t want Piero anywhere near Rosalyn. The short stints when he slid into Piero’s mind through the alien network were enough to convince Edison that he never wanted to go near the man’s thoughts again. He could never control how much he saw, or how long it happened. The glimpses into Piero’s mind were brief, shattered fragments, never enough to make out anything more than flashes of dark memories. Foxfire wanted Rosalyn’s information and mind, so Piero would probably protect her, too, but Edison didn’t trust him.

It was confusing and his head hurt, and he didn’t want to deal with the Italian just then. Or ever.

“Don’t get too excited,” Rayan said, lingering near the door. He fidgeted nervously with something in his pockets, having changed into a lab coat. The collar was splashed with dried blood, his or Piero’s, it was impossible to tell. “The nav systems still want active credentials. We’re not going anywhere unless Rosalyn gives up her password.”

“You’re missing the point,” Piero replied. Laughing boisterously, he shuffled back over to Rayan and clapped the young man with rattling force on the back. Rayan jerked forward. “The code lifted. HQ will notice that and send more ships. We don’t need her, eh? We’ll be better prepared when the next morons show up—we take their credentials instead and we can go wherever we please. Rayan can send another hail, and we can dump this bitch out the air lock.”

Edison scrubbed at his chin, stowing the urge to toss Piero out into space instead.