Either it was a trick of the light or the blue glow in Misato’s eyes dimmed a little, as if the humanity there ached to win out. “Because he killed her. I’ve been in his mind. We’ve all been in each other’s minds. He’s hiding it well, there are fragments, suggestions, but when I try to think of it through him, I just keep seeing this room. The aquarium. But I know he did it.”

“How?” Rosalyn asked, breathless. “Why?”

Misato vented a low chuckle. “She had this thing. She couldn’t stand a lie. At first I found it irritating but after a while it grew on me. Toward the end she had these violent headaches, and we all told her to rest, but she kept trying to corner Piero. She knew something. She must have known something. I know Piero did it, I just don’t know how.”

A heavy stillness fell between them. Misato seemed to drift away, her thoughts somewhere else entirely, or maybe the Foxfire was trying to reach her again and tear her away from Rosalyn. More than anything she felt sorry for Misato. She had tried her best to kill the entire crew, and this woman was still helping her. It made her wonder if there wasn’t just a sliver of humanity in there, but more. More. Trusting anyone was a mistake, she knew, but asking for help didn’t necessarily require trust. And maybe trust would come, maybe she could sway Misato to her side for good.

“I could help you look,” Rosalyn said softly. At once she saw the flicker of interest, of hope, in the old woman’s eyes. “If you can keep the others away from me, if you help me, then maybe I can find out what happened to Tuva. To be honest, I want to know, too. It might tell us how this whole Foxfire thing got on the ship in the first place.”

Misato didn’t hesitate at all. “I will do what I can to help you. You have my word. Thinking of Tuva helps. She was such a brilliant woman. And she’s . . . right there. Right on the other side of the Foxfire, something recent and clear and good.”

One person on her side. Maybe she could convince Edison next. One by one she could convince the crew to fight hard, and fight on the side of humanity. If it took solving Tuva’s murder, then that’s what Rosalyn would do.

“Did she leave behind anything?” Rosalyn asked. “If she had suspicions that Piero was up to something, she might have taken notes on her VIT.”

Misato shook her head, turning to put her mug back on the counter, next to the named canisters. The light from the aquarium shifted over the back of her jumpsuit, pale and spangled. “There was nothing.”