Sam stared at the wall from her perch on the cot, less than enthused by the trajectory of her first day off since she had gone into space. All her friends but one were laboring in mind-controlled slavery. The other friend had been in the bathroom long enough that Sam suspected the crisp and prim Aoleyen to be unwinding in indecent fashion.

Her tablet computer had very little in the way of entertainment options, so Sam had spent much of the morning after breakfast attempting to clear precursor residue from her mind. Those efforts produced minor and temporary benefits when they worked at all.

She had time for one last sigh before the bathroom door opened. Cassandane emerged with a stern, introspective expression on her face. Hardly the mellow attitude Sam had expected.

“How did things go in there? Everything come out all right?”

Cassandane tilted her head. “Are you making a bathroom joke?”

“There isn’t a tub in there, so either legitimate business took longer than is healthy or you were engaged in some . . . extracurricular activities.” Sam raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"I don't care for that type of humor," Cassandane said as she casually tugged the sleeve lower on her arm.

Sam's eyes caught the motion and she leaned forward. The dappling of her skin, dark and pale stitched together like interlocking puzzle pieces, faded into a stretch of light brown over the back of her wrist. Having been room mates for a period of weeks, Sam had seen enough of her friend to know this as a new development. Her mind flashed to the pale scholar who had addressed the executive meeting, the man who had removed his distinctive Aoleyen markings. "You changed your skin?"

Cassandane's hand slowly moved away from where it had been covering the patch of wrist. "I found the alterations of Mengko Virkell to be amateurish. He obviously degraded the melanin in his skin to turn himself into an albino. I . . . thought I could do better." She held up her hand, pulling the sleeve up to show a stretch of forearm lacking distinctive markings. "And so I did. Just a little experiment."

"That is amazing. I can barely harden my skin with the teleotic talent. How are you targeting specific chemicals in your body?"

"With the benefit of experience. To use the example of language, you are just starting to learn to make the sounds of speech. At some point, you will gain the ability to use individual words, then proceed to master small phrases, and move on to simple sentences. Over the years, you will become capable of carrying on complex conversations. It won't happen overnight, Sam. And once you do reach basic proficiency, you will need to invest a lot of time into mastering the skill if you want to be able to manipulate cellular characteristics."

Sam stood and moved closer to study Cassandane's changed skin. No sign of her previous state lingered. The transformation had been complete. "Good job, Cassandane."

"Thank you, Sam."

"Have you tried testing out your other project? The no oxygen thing?"

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Cassandane's lips twitched to the side. "I can hold my breath for an unusually long time. It is hardly a conclusive result."

"Can't you jump into an airlock to test it out?"

"That would require me to explain my actions. I don't think anyone would approve of my experimentation after the escape of Tyler Marius." She pulled her sleeve back down. "Though I could use an environmental suit."

Sam clapped her hands. "Let's do it. I haven't seen a single spacesuit since I've been here."

For a moment, Cassandane seemed poised to scoff at the suggestion. Then a smile quirked her lips. "I suppose we should rectify your omission as a tourist."

"Let's go! And for the record, I think my masturbation joke was funnier than your tourist joke. Just saying."

As they went through the door, Cassandane squinted in her direction. "Do you realize I am going to assume things every time you use the bathroom now?"

"Who doesn't love a long shower? You can get dirty and clean at the same time."

The pale segments of skin blushed as Cassandane looked away, shaking her head. Sam snickered at the reaction. Jess would have turned it into a contest to see who could be the most awkward, but Cassandane's embarassment wasn't that bad of a substitute.

They flew up the spoke to the zero gravity section and then navigated towards the shuttle area, before turning aside two intersections prior to enter an area Sam had never seen. Cassandane pointed out an airlock as they walked past, and Sam noted that a guard floated by it. Rounding a corner, they approached a dead end with a solid door. Cassandane nodded to Sam. "Manipulate the security lock."

So her day off was still a school day. Sam reached out with her corona and felt the latch hidden within metallic door and frame. She rotated the locking mechanism and then slid the bolt free, then swung the door open. Inside the small room were net-enclosed cubbies full of folded suits of various sizes and strapped to various surfaces were glass-faced helmets and backpacks with hoses emerging from them. Cassandane pulled her inside and shut the door. They were plunged into darkness for a moment before a ball of light appeared courtesy of Cassandane.

Then the Aoleyen woman went to work putting on a size two suit and a helmet. She carefully seated all of the seals and then gestured for Sam to try on a suit herself while they determined how long Cassandane could survive without fresh air.

Sam selected a size two suit as well, reasoning that size seemed a reasonable fit for an average woman. It was a single garment, with the feet and gloves built into it. She entered it from the top, unzipping and unsealing the front to let her slide in, then sealing and rezipping. Sealing the rubber neck ring took a while for her to figure out. The helmet went on easily enough. Then Sam had to figure out how to put on the backpack containing the environmental control system. She seated the backpack onto the clips located on the back of the suit using her corona. She fed the hose into a socket on the helmet, which caused valves to open and fresh, cool air automatically began circulating through the helmet. Covered in sweat, Sam decided rather quickly to get back out of the suit.

When she had escaped, she looked to Cassandane. The woman gave a thumbs up, then pantomimed that Sam should do some talent training. Predictable. Sam obeyed and settled in to practice her clearing. She had very minimal success increasing the rate of precursor as time passed. Then Cassandane popped off her helmet. Judging by the smile on her face, she had proven her method.

"Success?"

Cassandane nodded. "Success."

"I think we should celebrate by going to a zero gravity game court I've heard about."

"Excellent idea. It's a great environment to train the kinetic talent."