“Gravity manipulation of some kind seems increasingly likely,” the ship said.

“Good use of understatement,” Callie said. “All right, cruise around, let’s see what’s happening in the southern hemisphere. Hold tight, Ashok. We’re moving again.”

The ship shifted, the vast megastructure scrolling past on the viewscreen. “Zoom out.” The image shrank until the kaiju were invisible again, and they could see the curve of the planet.

They dropped below the equator and got a look at the other half of the day side. The vast structures continued, but large sections were in disrepair here – some of the tunnels were broken, revealing dark cores, and some were mottled with a black substance that might have been mold or toxic waste or tarnish.

“I want a closer look.” Callie and Elena both stepped right up to the glass as it blipped though another set of magnifications. The cameras found one of the kaiju sprawled unmoving on its back, head pinned beneath a broken section of the structure, its belly torn open and crusted with some greenish substance. “Looks like the maintenance crew is slacking off down here,” Callie said. “If this place isn’t uninhabited, it’s certainly neglected. That makes me feel a little better, for some reason.”

“Hey, uh, I’m coming back in,” Ashok said. “I’ve had enough of the great outdoors. Meet me in the machine shop, cap?”

“I’m assessing alien threats here, Ashok.”

“I’d like to formally tender a report on the results of my inspection, Captain Machedo.”

A little tickle of alarm went up the back of Callie’s neck. “Sure thing. Stay here, Elena? Fill up that science brain with new information and see if any conclusions fall out.”

“My brain is feeling overstuffed already, but I’ll do my best.”

Callie headed down to the machine shop, stopping by her quarters to pick up her sidearm first, tightening the webbed belt across her hips. Ashok didn’t volunteer to give reports on inspections, certainly not so formally, and he didn’t call her “Captain Machedo”, so something was off. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but then, an alien conspiracy had murdered fifty thousand people just to blow up her ship, so she thought a little paranoia was justified.

She went into the machine shop and waited, back to a wall, eyes on the far door. Ashok arrived, still wearing most of his environment suit, though his helmet was off and stowed. He put a finger to his lips, then shut the door. He hit a switch on a console and the walls in the room hummed faintly. “OK, we’re secure.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means nobody can hear what we say in here, not even the ship’s computer. The comms are blocked, the doors are locked down and can’t be overridden from outside, and there’s even a white noise generator if someone tries to listen through the door.”