Atlanta made an involuntary face. “You don’t really eat living things, do you?”

“Not most of the time,” Milly said. “That sort of protein’s expensive to raise on stations. You have to grow up on a planet to really experience and appreciate it.”

The ship contemplated and discarded the idea of breeding grubs somewhere in a storage pocket. Milly was probably the only Nteti that it would ever carry; the race was not prone to the twisted capitalism of humans or Pohwee, which led to excesses of money, which enabled the ship’s existence.

Skidoo ordered a dozen different flavors of protein tea, despite the faces everyone else made. Atlanta asked for a simple protein and vegetable mash. She could still taste stasis fluid in her mouth and something salty and savory to scour that away was welcome.

Gio signed for a fruit mash and sweetened iced tea, followed by more candies.

“You’re going to make yourself sick,” Niko warned him.

He grinned at her cheerfully. “No sugar on Scourse, Captain. I’m stocking up. Add ice cream to the list, Ship. Big dish of vanilla ice cream, with a side of marshmallow syrup.”

“I don’t really care,” Thorn said. “Class seven protein block, with the regular texture?”

“At least dress it up some,” his twin said, elbowing him. “Class seven protein block, flavor profile basic spicy, level eight.”

“Eight?” Niko said. “You’re going to burn your tongue off.” Talon just grinned at her.

Lassite said, “Base class protein, gruel form. I don’t care about the container.” He scowled down at the table’s surface. The little mystic had been quiet ever since they had arrived. Thoughts of the others who had died in the flight to the ship kept pressing in on him. The dead needed to be celebrated, their passage eased.

The ship waited for more, then prompted him after thirty seconds. “There is no desired dessert? A bite before or after?”

“No,” he snapped.

“And to drink?”

“Water! And all of this in my own cabin.” He stood and stalked to the door. “I have rituals to be prepared, farewells to be said. Tell me if you have messages to be passed along.”

“Lassite,” Niko said.

She was the only one he would have stopped for, and they all knew it. He paused and turned to look her in the face, reaching up to push back his hood so his scaly features were visible. “Yes, Captain?”

“Is this the doom you spoke of?”

At first he shook his head, but then he nodded and sighed. “Perhaps? It does not feel a piece of it. Maybe it was simply the destruction that overhung the station. Maybe those lives about to be lost clouded all the timelines, I do not know. I have never lived through such a monumental thing.”

“You have seen a moment that matched this,” she said gently. But he shook his head again.