Erika, Petra, and Clive scrounged up three shock spears, then three EVA suits. There were the generic type of suits designed to fit everyone, which meant they fit no one. Erika’s suit was baggy around the arms and legs, and tight around her hips. She wanted to run down to the shuttle, where her enviro-suit waited, but with the doors locked down, it was inaccessible.

  So Erika wore her ill-fitting EVA suit into the airlock with the others. As the machine cycled , Clive stared at Erika’s feet. She hadn’t been present when Ryder was vented, though she was certain she stood in the spot the Captain’s body had rested. She shifted to the side. Clive continued to stare at the spot.

  I really hope he keeps himself together.

  The doors opened to reveal the vacuum. Unfamiliar stars glittered in the black. Clive stepped outside without admiring the view, and forced Erika and Petra to follow with him. Erika kept staring into the darkness.

  Tartarus was somewhere among the stars, though the planet was so far away that it blended in with everything else. There should be two human bodies floating in the void, too–Ryder and Naoki–but they were also lost in the darkness.

  You don’t want to see that anyway.

  Clive guided everyone across the dented surface of the ship. Erika watched Clive’s heavy footsteps. She half expected Clive to spin around swinging his shock spear at Erika’s face. She tried to tell herself this was nothing but a silly intrusive thought, but she wasn’t convincing herself.

  The asteroid field was close enough that Erika could make out individual rocks. It wouldn’t be long before the ship slammed into those asteroids.

  The power should be back before then. Erika wasn’t sure she believed herself.

  Clive stopped at a section of the ship that jutted out in sharp angles. Clive knelt down with a cutter, and got to work. It took him fifteen minutes to remove the sheet of scrap metal. He waved for Erika and Petra to go inside.

  Erika slipped in first. She intended to swoop in with her shock spear in front of her. The sudden presence of gravity yanked her to the ground instead. Erika landed in an awkward crouch. She’d managed to keep her spear in front of her, though.

  Petra came in next. The gravity threw her off-balance too, and she landed clumsily. When Clive came in, however, the transition didn’t phase him. He landed like a trained gymnast.

  The three walked to the exit of the enclosure. Erika opened the doors, and everyone hurried out. Erika quickly shut the doors again. The readings on her helmet showed that the oxygen count in the room had dipped, but it was still breathable.

  “Keep your helmets on, just in case,” Erika said over the radio. The IRIS network was still down, but the suit radios operated peer-to-peer, so they still worked.

  The three left the enclosures, and stepped into the main lab.

  Erika entered with her shock spear ready. The flashlight on her helmet fell over smashed equipment. Some of the equipment was still in place, though. She directed Petra and Clive to gather up the useful machines, then she headed for the lab storeroom.

  The storeroom should be locked, but with the power fluctuations aboard the ship, there was a chance the door was wide open. Erika pulled the handle. The door was still locked.

  Erika sighed.

  If only you brought that magnetic rock with you.

  “Can’t get in?” Petra asked.

  “We need in,” Erika said.

  “The only way I know how is…” Petra realized what the issue was.

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  The only way into the storeroom was through the lead investigator’s keycard–Luther’s keycard. Luther had used it when he needed gas for the Lamia. He likely pocketed the keycard after, and brought it with him into the enclosure. Now the keycard was on Luther’s mangled body.

  “Oh,” Petra whispered. “There’s no other way?”

  Erika shook her head.

  “Well, Luther could have left the card somewhere in here, right?” Petra said. “Why don’t you and Clive search here, and I’ll…you know…”

  “I will go into the enclosure again,” Erika said.

  A pause.

  “Are you sure?” Petra asked.

  “I can handle it.” Erika’s voice was weak. But she could handle seeing Luther’s body.

  Petra padded up to Erika, and wrapped her in an awkward, EVA suit hug.

  “Be careful. Yell if you need anything,” she said.

  “I will.”

  Petra and Clive searched the wreckage of the lab. Erika took herself to the enclosures.

  She stepped into the monitoring room for the Lamia. A spiderweb crack ran to the corners of the glass. Through the fractures, Erika saw the hole she and Aymeric fled through. The gap larger now, big enough for the Lamia to slither through. So she knew how this alien escaped, though the Aranea and Carnifex’s release were still a mystery. Erika was tempted to check the other enclosures and figure out what happened.

  You do that, and you’ll put off entering the Lamia enclosure. That’s what you want, too. You want to avoid going in there.

  Erika took a deep breath. She toyed with the monitoring controls with gloved fingers, and managed to get the enclosure door open.

  It opened now. The saboteur must have fixed the door later. That, or the power fluctuations broke whatever the spy had done to the door.

  Erika shook the thoughts from her head. The saboteur shouldn’t be an issue at the moment; there were bigger problems to deal with. Only when those were dealt with could Erika worry about the spy.

  Erika walked to the enclosure doors, now open to the world. Her legs moved through the alien foliage on autopilot. She kept close to the wall, because that’s where Luther would be. She came across a shape on the floor, partially hidden by the plants.

  Erika looked up, keeping the shape in the corner of her eyes, but focusing on a plant on the other side of the enclosure.

  She wanted to remember Luther’s smile, and the warmth in his eyes, and the deep color of his skin. If she looked at what lied on the ground, it would taint her good memories.

  Erika stepped closer.

  She’d stopped breathing.

  “I’m sorry about this.” Erika crouched by the shape, and kept her eyes in the distance.

  She lowered her hand to the body, and came across something horrifyingly solid. Bone.

  Erika reeled back.

  You knew this was coming. You’ve gotta do it.

  Erika shut her eyes, and felt down again. Her hand touched the solid object once more. It was Luther’s shoulder. Erika guided her hand down. She found Luther’s belt, and below that, a pocket.

  Erika stuck her gloved hand inside.

  The leg felt strange.

  There’s something in his pocket, that’s all. That’s all it is.

  Erika pinched something between her fingers, and pulled it up. She turned around, but didn’t look at the object yet. She was certain it was the keycard–it had the right feel of a card–but doubt toyed at her mind. She could have pulled up a bloody piece of bone, or a string of muscle.

  Erika opened her eyes, and looked at the object. It was the keycard. She didn’t have blood on her hands.

  She breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Petra, Clive, I’ve got the card,” Erika said over the radio.

  She stepped out of the enclosure, and back into the lab. Petra and Clive waited for her by a table gathered with lab equipment.

  “Are you okay?” Petra asked.

  Erika nodded, and hurried to the storeroom. She didn’t trust herself to speak yet.

  She tapped the card on the scanner, then pushed the door open. The shelves stared back with their rows of equipment and chemicals. Erika gave Petra and Clive a list of formulae she’d need, then helped gathering them. The storeroom was neatly ordered, and finding the right bottles was easy. Some things had been moved out of place–when Luther came in, he must have been in a hurry, and organization didn’t matter to him.

  This was one of the last things Luther did.

  Something moved near the entrance.

  Erika looked up from her work. The Carnifex was caught in her flashlight beam. Then it scurried behind a rack of chemicals.

  Erika flinched.

  She stood still, waiting for the alien to lunge at her. But she didn’t want to die, and she didn’t want anyone else to die, either.

  “Guys, the Carnifex is in here with us.” Erika held up her shock spear.

  “Wait, what?” Clive said.

  “Grab your spear, now,” Erika whispered.

  Petra and Clive grabbed their weapons.

  “I bet we could sneak by,” Petra said.

  “No,” Erika said. “I think…”

  What did Erika think? The Carnifex would see them trying to escape; it would slaughter them while they ran.

  And why the hell should the Carnifex by the hunter?

  “Change of plans,” Erika said. “Before we get this equipment out, we’re capturing the Carnifex.”