Naoki headed to the bridge, because he didn’t know what else to do.

  The lights had gone out and came back, as promised, but not everything was in order. The lock on Naoki’s cabin had disengaged. The lights in the cabins halls had gone out, leaving only red emergency lights that only let Naoki see shapes and not details. The worst part was the fact Naoki couldn’t communicate with anyone through his IRIS. Someone would be on the bridge though, and hopefully they could explain what was going on.

  Naoki made his way to the elevator, listening through the darkness in case something was in the room with him. The elevator doors opened for Naoki, and he took it up to the bridge. The lights were still on there. Ryder was at the console, one eye glowing blue. His IRIS must still be working.

  “Do you have a moment?” Naoki asked.

  “Comms are down. At least for the moment.” Ryder’s eye stopped glowing.

  “You can’t bring the radio back with the Captain’s Override?” Naoki said.

  “Oh, I tried, but the system crashes. Theo has to reboot a computer or something,” Ryder said.

  What else can you do with the Captain’s Override right now? Are you helping, or are you making things worse? It wouldn’t help to throw those questions into Ryder’s face, so Naoki let them linger in the back of his throat.

  “The lights in the cabins have turned off, too,” Naoki said.

  “Sounds like the reboot,” Ryder said. “Of course everything doesn’t come back all at once. The important stuff takes priority. Then, and only then, does the Ark worry about cabin lights.”

  “Of course.” Naoki didn’t believe that for a second. The Ark had malfunctioned, and hadn’t rebooted some of its systems. It was frustrating. It was more frustrating that Ryder would lie about the situation.

  I’ll make sure you never fly for SmallWorld again.

  “Is there anything I can help with?” Naoki asked.

  “My crew will have it covered,” Ryder said. This time, Naoki could believe the Captain.

  “I will return to my work then.”

  Naoki took the elevator back to the cabins. As he walked through the hall, he noticed that none of the cabins had functioning locks anymore. Naoki stopped at his cabin, and nudged the door. It creaked open without resistance. Anyone could wander into Naoki’s cabin and dig through his things, unless Naoki barricaded the door from the inside.

  You can check everyone else’s cabins, too.

  The thought came from some rebellious part of Naoki’s mind. He wanted to ignore the thought, but it was too juicy to not toy with.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The spy might have something incriminating in their cabin, and if Naoki dug it up, the search was over. The spy would be tossed into a holding cell, and nobody would have to worry about them anymore.

  Naoki’s heart thumped against his ribs. He glanced to the next door over, the one to Ryder’s cabin. His feet pulled him toward the captain’s quarters.

  Naoki tried to convince himself that he wasn’t going to violate Ryder’s privacy, but SmallWorld was. Naoki was simply acting on the company’s wishes. The more Naoki thought, however, he realized that, even if he wasn’t the corporate overseer, he would have gone into Ryder’s cabin.

  The saboteur had killed Luther, and they would likely kill again, if given the chance. Sure, SmallWorld wouldn’t want that risk, but neither did Naoki. He was in complete agreement with what his job demanded of him.

  Naoki placed his hand on Ryder’s door, and gave it a nudge. The door creaked open.

  At this point, Naoki hadn’t done anything. He could pull the door shut, go back to his cabin, and pretend this little episode never happened.

  Naoki slipped into Ryder’s cabin. The red emergency lights allowed only the outlines of the room to be visible. Naoki maneuvered toward Ryder’s desk, and booted the computer. The monitor casted blue light through the room, giving form to the indistinct shapes. The computer threw up a password screen. Naoki figured he’d come across that obstacle, though he’d hoped Ryder was as flippant with his security as he seemingly was with much of his life. Even if Naoki couldn’t get into the computer, the light from the screen would help him search the rest of the room.

  If there’s any evidence that Ryder is the traitor, it wouldn’t be in a computer, anyway.

  Naoki scanned through the room. He stepped up to an artifact Ryder displayed on his nightstand. It was a chunk of rock–a typical looking thing–but it came from some far-flung planet. Naoki tried to gently lift the rock, but it wouldn’t budge. He applied some more force, and the rock came free. It reminded Naoki of pulling apart two magnets. There wasn’t anything beneath the artifact, and the rock itself was a simple rock, so Naoki put it back in place.

  He checked over more the room, though the only other thing that stood out to Naoki was the leather jacket hidden in the back of the closet. Naoki had never seen Ryder wear it before. After half an hour, Naoki decided he’d seen enough. He shut the computer down, letting the red emergency lights fill the room once more, then stepped out of the door.

  Ryder stood on the other side. His figure was hidden in the gloom, but there was enough light to see his face shift as he tried to settle on an expression.

  “Wrong cabin,” Ryder stated.

  Naoki took deep breaths.

  “Wrong cabin,” he finally responded.

  “What were you doing here? Not pissing on the floor, I hope?” Ryder leaned against the doorway.

  A lie played on Naoki’s lips. He could claim he’d made a wrong turn, or the door was cracked open, but nothing Naoki thought was convincing. Sticking to the truth sounded like a better option.

  “I was investigating the spy,” Naoki said. “You must admit, you are suspicious when it comes to Luther’s death.”

  “And here I thought all that investigation shit was paused for the moment,” Ryder said.

  “I won’t let–”

  “If we are gonna drag all this up, let’s take a look at you.” Ryder crossed his arms. “You were standing by the enclosure controls, and you didn’t let the Einsteins out.”

  “The controls were sabotaged,” Naoki stated.

  “According to you,” Ryder said.

  Naoki didn’t trust himself to respond, so he stayed quiet.

  Ryder leaned close. Naoki felt the Captain’s breath warm his face.

  “I think that’s enough, before you get hurt,” Ryder whispered.

  The chill started at the small of Naoki’s back and rose to his neck. He didn’t let it show on his face, just in case Ryder could see his expression in the gloom.

  The Captain took a step back, opening the way.

  “You had work, didn’t you?” Ryder asked.

  “I did.”

  “Then take care of that.”

  Naoki headed back to his own cabin, and shut the door behind him. Then he dragged his bed in front of the door, just in case.