“Janice doesn’t have anything you could wear. She and Drake– it’s hard to explain. Actually, before that drink, do you want to come up and meet them? The fact that you haven’t yet is starting to feel like a big old elephant in the room.”

“Of course, I’d love to.”

“OK. Just be prepared, they were in a really bad accident some years back, and the reconstruction was… they don’t look much like you’re expecting, I’ll give you that.”

“I am a biologist, Callie. I also grew up on Earth in the bad old days. I’ve seen all sorts of trauma. I can handle it.”

“You took Ashok fine, but with Drake and Janice it’s different, and they’re pretty sensitive about it.”

“Let’s just go up,” Elena said. “Really. It’ll be OK.”

Callie touched her comms. “Drake? Janice? You have a minute to meet our new crew member?”

“It’s about time,” Drake said. “Sure, we’re just scanning the planet down there. It’s rocky, a bit smaller than Earth. It’s got a magnetic field. There’s ice, and liquid water, too. Atmosphere is a little thin for us, but it’s not corrosive or anything. There might even be life down there.”

“It’s gonna be bugs and slime mold at best,” Janice said. “Just like every other habitable planet around every other star we’ve visited. The only other intelligent life anywhere is fucking Liars. This galaxy is lousy.”

“Come on up, Elena,” Drake said. “I think Janice is in the mood to tell our tale of woe.”

Elena looked at Callie questioningly, but she just shrugged and gestured. “Up to the cockpit. One level past the observation deck.”

Elena unsealed her boots and drifted to the ladder, then pulled herself up all the way to the nose of the ship. When the ship was moving under thrust and simulating some degree of gravity, the open viewport in the cockpit was “up”, like a domed ceiling with views in all directions, but those orientations meant less in microgravity around this strange planet.

The chairs in the cockpit were mounted on armatures capable of twisting and turning in most directions, and they currently faced toward the ship’s nose. As a result, the seats had windows on all sides: it was the closest you could get to the sensation of floating in space without leaving the ship, and the view was both breathtaking and a little scary.

There were two chairs covered in straps and buckles empty on either side, and in the center, an egg-shaped enclosure of some kind, bigger than a person. Some kind of specialized pilot’s chair, Elena assumed, with cushioning to protect the crewperson during acceleration: Drake must be in there. But where was the comms and navigation station? Where did Janice sit?