Hutch was watching everything through Derek’s commlink, which meant she couldn’t actually see him except for an occasional arm or leg. But it was clear he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do. He sounded simultaneously amazed and discouraged.

“That thing has a lot of units,” said Beth.

Derek was walking through the cafeteria. A long table crossed the far end. It was covered with display cases, where presumably food would have been available. A few of the cases contained trays that might not have been wiped completely clean. But whatever had been on them was now nothing more than dark smears and frozen clumps.

They left the cafeteria and continued in the same direction deeper into the ship. Within a few minutes, they came upon connecting ramps to the decks above and below. Wally and Derek walked over to them, took the up ramp, and found themselves in an identical world lined with doors. Passageways intersected just a few steps ahead. The doors were, as expected, frozen. And someone had drawn a flower on one of the walls. It was barely visible, a mere shading, having lost whatever color it might once have had. There were two blossoms, and it reached only about belt-high, as if it had been done by a child.

Derek stood in front of it, aiming his commlink at it. “Wouldn’t want them to miss this,” he said. Then they moved on toward another intersection, where they stopped and looked at long lines of doors in both directions.

“Which way?” asked Wally.

“Careful, guys,” said Hutch. “You don’t want to get lost over there.”

“No problem, Priscilla.” Wally was laughing at her. How could she possibly think he could be that dumb?

They broke into another room. It was identical with the others, except that there were pieces of clothing lying against one bulkhead. They were frozen to it. Whoever had left them had simply tossed them aside. The clothes had presumably followed the tumble of the ship until finally they stuck to the bulkheads. “No buttons or zippers,” said Wally, tearing one of them away for a brief examination.

Minutes later they came across a corridor unlike the others. The doors on one side were imprinted with symbols that resembled a five-pointed star inside a half-circle, and on the other with triangles. They forced one open and were surprised to discover that all the doors on that side opened into a single area. One wall was lined with large shower stalls, much larger than would have been needed to accommodate either Derek or Wally. Another section was devoted to booths that concealed toilets. As a whole, it was a considerably larger accommodation than one would have found in a human washroom.

Beth laughed. “Looks as if we all share an appreciation for privacy.”

•  •  •