“Stopping the patient sessions will help,” Sagara threw in, before Park could point out that they were already in danger of failing. That they were already courting catastrophe. “And I think we should space out meals and other communal activities even further, reducing how many people are in the same room at once. Crewmembers should be distanced from each other as much as possible.”

“I don’t know if I agree,” Wick said then. “I think this seems to happen when people are left alone. Ma was mostly a loner, and Holt wasn’t watched by anybody human when he first escaped. And Keller was working largely alone. We should implement a buddy system. Have everyone keep an eye on each other, until we can figure out true preventative measures.”

Sagara was silent for a moment. “You are commander,” he said finally, cryptically. Then he inclined his head a little, to show that he would defer to Wick—but he looked unhappy.

“What about the androids?” Park asked then. “We could use them, too. Ask them to keep a closer eye on things. We can tell them to monitor crewmates for signs of—whatever Sagara finds in his investigation.”

“I’ll already be doing that,” Sagara said, but again he didn’t bother to explain to Park what he meant. “And in case you haven’t noticed, the androids are not exactly the most reliable sources of help right now. They’ve been dysfunctional.”

“That’s an exaggerated word to use,” Park answered. “Just because Reimi hasn’t been around to maintain them—but they’ve been performing their functions perfectly well. If you’re talking about the one in the cafeteria who swears like a sailor—”

“It’s not just that,” Sagara said. “The medical droid was in charge of watching Holt, and it failed to do that. And there are odd mannerisms all over the ship—Severov saw one of them crying, or pretending to cry—”

“Natalya has made her dislike of androids very clear, so I would take everything she says with a grain of salt.”

“I take everything anyone says with a grain of salt,” Sagara said in a hard voice. “But there is no denying that the robots have been off.”

“Everything on the ship has been off.”

They stared at each other again; the blood in Park’s heart clamored. Wick said belatedly: “Let’s . . . be calm. Not that we’re not calm. But we’re all on the same team, remember.”