“Of course.” Reaching into her jumpsuit pocket, she removed a small pair of scissors and, in one motion, sliced through the plastic wrapper of my lunch. “When you are finished, be sure to deposit the trash in the recycle bin.”

She glanced over my shoulder. I turned as a strapping man with a barrel chest and short-cropped dark hair strode into the galley.

ABE gave me the rundown.

READ, KEVIN, RANK: COMMANDER. BORN MAY 14, 1987. NATIONALITY: CANADIAN. GRADUATED WITH HONORS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA WITH DUAL DEGREES IN HUMAN KINETICS AND ENGINEERING.

Enough!

At least I was taller than him.

“Good, everyone’s here, Mr. Eisenbraun too, I see. Dharma, why don’t you join us at the crew’s table?”

Dharma, God bless her, slid onto the vacant bar stool next to mine.

Kevin Read registered her small act of defiance with a false smile. “Since this will be one of the rare times we can assemble as a group, I wanted to welcome everyone aboard. We’ve all worked very hard to get to this day, but there are greater challenges ahead. GOLEM has set a rigorous training schedule, which you can find on your h-pads. Since Alpha Squad is still on day shift until eighteen hundred hours, I’ll need you to join me in fifteen minutes on the lower deck to unpack the equipment needed on Beta Squad’s first dive, set to commence at nineteen-thirty hours.”

He looked up at me, smiling like we were the best of friends. “We’re on twelve-hour shifts, six to six. GOLEM assigned you to Beta Squad, the night shift. You can pick up your jumpsuit, eating utensils, and h-pad in the ship’s store, that’s on deck two. We couldn’t squeeze your cryogenic pod into the science lab, but we did manage to find a suitable chamber.”

Chuckles from the other men around the table.

I ignored the inside joke. “Where do I sleep?”

“Good question. Anyone want a roommate?”

The room remained silent.

“You can share my quarters,” volunteered Andria. “I’m on Alpha Squad; you’ll sleep while I work and vice versa.”

Commander Read stared at her, looking as disappointed as if she had announced she had just started her period. “Maybe hot-bunking it isn’t such a good idea. GOLEM has Eisenbraun rotating squads on week two.”

“He can share my suite after the shift change,” Lara Saints volunteered, upping the ante and drawing a scowl from Andria.

“Thank you, ladies.” I glanced back at Kevin Read, eyebrows raised. “Problem solved. Anything else?”

The commander locked eyes with me, then returned to his itinerary. “GOLEM requested that Mr. Eisenbraun rotate stations on a daily basis—”

“It’s professor.”

“Excuse me?”

“I wouldn’t call you Mr. Read, please don’t call me Mr. Eisenbraun. Professor or doctor; Ike is also fine. I’m just saying.”

“May I continue?”