She looked. There was a woman with a shock of red hair in the room—Hunter—Hunter was in the room! And she and Natalya were facing each other a few tables down, both of them red-eyed, shaking. They both looked pale and exhausted. Natalya said audibly, with bite, “If you don’t tell them, I will.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hunter snapped. “Just sit down.”

Park stood up and thought, What the fuck is she doing out here? And where the hell was Jimex? Ellenex? Why hadn’t they kept her hidden away?

“Oh, shit,” Fulbreech said from behind her.

The cafeteria had quieted. All eyes were on the two women now, and Natalya knew it. “You tampered with the controls,” she hissed at Hunter, loud enough to be heard from across the room. “Admit it!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hunter said again, wild-eyed. She looked around at the room, eyes roving—looking for help, backup. Someone who believed her. Her gaze did not land on Park. Park suddenly realized that Boone was not in the mess hall; neither were Wick or Sagara. Then, with a terrible shock, she realized that there was not even a true crowd for Hunter to appeal to: it was just her, Fulbreech, Wan Xu, and Chanur, along with the androids. Three of their leaders were not in the room. The other four had been frozen.

We’ve dwindled so much, Park thought with cold, acidic horror. It was a literal skeleton crew. How had they not noticed? Why had no one panicked more? Who would even be left to complete this mission—or ferry them all safely home?

And only she could step forward and refute Natalya’s claim that Hunter had done something to the controls. But she found herself oddly still. She wanted to wait and see what Natalya was playing at.

“Own up,” the surveyor spat. “We don’t need any more trouble on this ship than we’ve already had!”

“I don’t know what you’re fucking talking about!” Hunter shouted again.

They glared at each other; there was a kind of silent mudwrestling in the air between them.

Fulbreech was on his feet now, too. No one was moving forward to intercept the conflict, which promised to turn into a fight. Instead, the others seemed arrested, confused—almost fascinated. Park felt it, too. There had never been violence of any kind between crewmembers on the ship, or even heated arguments beyond academic debates; there was a morbid curiosity, that question of what would happen next. Almost an excitement in seeing something as real and vivid as violence, here in their sterile bubble in space. She only broke out of it when Fulbreech said under his breath: “What the hell is Hunter doing out here? And what is Natalya doing?” He looked at Park. “Did she tamper with the controls?”