I should have taken Lara right then and there, only I couldn’t. Yes, Andria had cheated on me, and yes it was my sworn duty as a man to anesthetize the wound, and I would have except for two things: First, as pathetic as it sounds, I still wanted Andria. Second, and far more important, you don’t just have a one-night stand with a girl like Lara, especially under these circumstances, trapped in a habitat with your former fiancée. Within ten minutes of burying my load the entire crew would know, because Lara would let it be known, since she was territorial, and that would invite a shit storm of biblical proportions. Not because Andria wanted me back, but because Lara would rub it in her face, and the last thing I wanted was to find myself at the center of a catfight with the possible chance of being cryogenically frozen for thirty days, relying on one of those two felines to set me free.

I avoid looking at her naked body as I backed out of the bedroom. “I’m grabbing a bite to eat. If you’re still here when I get back, I’ll find another place to sleep.”

Leaving the suite, I jogged around the corridor twice before entering the galley, hoping to alleviate my “pitched tent.”

Kevin Read was conversing with the Russian nuclear physicist, Egor Vasiliev at the dining table as I made my entrance. Andria was seated at the other end of the table, reading from her h-pad. She looked at me and I looked at her, her female instincts causing her eyes to linger over the front of my jumpsuit like it was a crime scene.

None of this was lost on Kevin Read, who read the situation and immediately sought to control it. “Eisenbraun, order some dinner and join us.”

“Can’t,” I said, waving to Dharma Yuan, who was reading at the snack bar. “Got a session with the doc.” I detoured to the food service area, ordered a chicken sandwich and soft drink pouch, then joined the Chinese therapist.

“We have to stop meeting like this.”

She looked at me, perplexed. “How do you mean?”

“It was a joke. You know, last week … when you bailed me out. Anyway, it’s good to see you again. How are things on Alpha shift? What exactly do you do all day?”

“Among other things, I meditate. As a Bodhisattva, I can register the biorhythms of the entire crew.”

“Including me?”

“Especially you. Your presence on this mission is causing chaos among the crew.”

“Oh, well. I guess thirteen really is an unlucky number.”

“The problem is theirs. Karma has dictated that you be here.”

“How do you know that?”

“How I know is not important. Why you are here is.”

My peripheral vision caught Andria’s expression as she stood to leave the galley—a “follow me, let’s talk” look.