Park did not allow herself to flinch: she thought of that cold unfeeling courage all androids had and tried to steel herself with it, as if she were donning their armor. Boone thoughtfully put his thumb on the primer of his gun, as if he was considering it. Park told herself not to close her eyes.

Before anyone could move or speak, though, the doors to the bridge opened again—and someone else walked in. Park felt the adrenaline thudding through her in electric waves. There was the blond hair, the confident step—Fulbreech!

“Watch out!” she shouted at him, before Natalya lunged at her and shoved her back against a panel, clamping a hand over her mouth.

“I am tired of you talking,” she said softly. “Talking, always talking.” Park thought about biting the woman’s fingers off, but the gun just pressed harder into the soft area between her chin and throat.

Fulbreech stopped and stared at the scene before him. “What the fuck?”

Park was doing rapid calculations: Fulbreech made it three against two. But how to get the weapons away from Boone and Natalya without anyone getting hurt? Fulbreech didn’t stand a chance against combat-trained Boone. But if he lunged at Natalya . . .

“Fulbreech!” she shouted against Natalya’s palm. “Don’t just stand there! Help!”

He just looked at her, his face white and confused—but his eyes were those of a stranger’s. He did not seem to recognize her. It was as if she had called out to someone on the street, having mistaken their identity. As if she’d flagged down someone who had no connection to her, and never had.

In front of Park, Natalya was laughing. “I don’t know why you’re asking him for help,” she said cruelly. “Who do you think bypassed the ship’s controls for us the second time? Who let us out? Who was the one who lied to you about the communications being down in the first place?”

21.

Frozen silence. Park’s mind was a vast, thundering blankness.

Sagara said, “Communications are down.”

“But not because of a solar storm,” Natalya said, suddenly sickly sweet. She smiled in a catlike way and looked at Park. “A man smiles at you and you’ll believe anything he says.”

Boone grunted at Fulbreech, motioning with the gun he still had pointed to Sagara’s head. “Get your gun out, Kel.”

Fulbreech shook his head, carefully avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. “I told you I wasn’t going to use that,” he said indistinctly.

Boone snorted. “Give it to me, then. I’ll use it.”

Fulbreech shook his head again, still looking at the floor. “There’s no need for that. No one has to get hurt.”

Natalya curled her lip. “Grow up, Fulbreech,” she said, still with her hand clamped over Park’s mouth. “And grow some balls.”

“Shut up, Natalya.”