I needed him to stop saying my father’s name. My hand hurt from gripping my weapon so hard, from the folds of the glove creasing painfully against my fingers. We should have known SPEC and the Councils would be so cavalier with human lives.

“This doesn’t change anything,” I said, the anxious twist in my gut making my words sharp. “We have the ability to purify the air system and test for viral contaminants. We keep our suits on until we can secure parts of the ship. Panya, are more passengers ready?”

“I’ve got three more waiting,” Panya said.

“Bring them over. Nico, Bao, find the bioaerosol testers when you get the next group ready.”

Henke left me guarding Bhattacharya to return to the airlock and help Panya with the hostages. I kept my eye on Bhattacharya but turned my attention to what Malachi and Dag were saying.

“We need to find the mainframe,” Malachi said. “From there we’ll be able to use the skeleton key.”

“Try it again,” Dag said.

“I have tried it again. The systems are isolated. There’s a security function in place that can’t be deactivated from here. Some kind of override.”

“So you can’t open the door?”

Malachi made a frustrated noise. “I can open this door, and I can open the next door, and probably all of them, but I have to do it one at a time. That’s why I need access to the mainframe. From there I can reset the entire system—including the air scrubbers and medical quarantine.”

Bhattacharya tilted his head but said nothing. His expression was hard to read behind the faceplate. I wanted to ask him what he remembered of my father. I had not thought I would get the chance, but perhaps later—I could not worry about that now. I felt the pressure of all we did not know as a ticking clock at the back of my mind. All around us shards of glass tinkled and clinked in the disturbed air.

The airlock cycled again as Henke brought Panya and the hostages inside. The first through the door was Bhattacharya’s friend with the prosthetic arm, who immediately went to his side. They were joined by the two women who had been sitting in the front row.

I left Henke and Panya to watch the prisoners and went into the airlock to wait for the next group. I wanted to look down at Earth one more time. I wanted to feel how very far away we were.