Alix had been silent the whole way back to the port. While the others ate dinner and filled Ciro in on what had happened at the meeting, she sat off to the side, lost in her own mental abstraction. Adan had learned to respect her occasional desire to withdraw, but throughout the meal, he would glance over, wondering what she was thinking and if she would ever bother to tell him.

When everyone else had finished their food—even Jane, who had to force herself to eat each reconstituted bite—Vas stood up from his place at the table and walked over to the side bench where Reyer was sitting.

“Alix?”

She stirred. “I’m sorry, Adan. I’ve been wracking my brains, trying to find something else—anything else.”

The captain had no idea what she was talking about, but he wasn’t going to admit that.

She went on, “He should have left some kind of hint or a clue as to where he was going.”

Ciro leaned back in his chair so he could see Reyer. “Are you talking about Tate?”

Alix nodded.

“Wasn’t he undercover?” Jane asked.

Vas caught on. “You think he was treating Blaze’s house as a base?”

“He called it his safe house,” Reyer said. “He laughed when he said it, but it was all he had.”

“And you found nothing,” Tennama said.

“Nothing.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I think he was too soft-hearted for his own damn good. Sentimental idiot! He should have left something there!”

“Come on, Alix,” Vas said. “You’ve met them. Blaze, Michael…I mean—Lucy. Would you have been willing to do something that would put Lucy in danger?”

“He should have,” Reyer insisted.

She picked up the bag of food from the floor beside her and lifted it to her lap, but when the aroma of the cooling meal hit her nostrils, she handed it to Adan without a word.

Jane saw her do it.

“You know,” the doctor said, “I hear that motels have kitchens. Real kitchens.”

“I’m aware, Dr. Jane,” Vas said. He turned back to Reyer. “This is why you’re so skinny.”

Alix used his arm to pull herself up. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you it’s not polite to comment on a woman’s weight?”

“You were gaining a little back on Home Base,” he said. “At least while I was cooking.” Under his breath, he added, “Adding a little softness.”

“Are you saying I’ve gone soft, Captain Vas?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Miss Reyer.”

They smiled at each other.

Jane called out, “Are you two done flirting with each other yet?”

Reyer limped over to the table where the others were sitting. Adan went to dispose of the food.

Once everyone was gathered around the table, Ciro said, “If Tate didn’t leave anything at his safe house, could he have left it somewhere else?”

“Not without telling us where to go,” Reyer said, “or we’d be left playing hide-and-seek with an unknown object where the whole galaxy is the playing field.”

“At least now we know what he was up to.”

“Yeah. He was following up on the leads we gave him,” Vas said.

“You mean the scientists,” Jane muttered.

“But the leads were probably already dead.”

“Tennama?” Reyer said.

Vas looked up when he heard her voice. She was watching the xeno.

With a weary expression, Anthony said, “Yes, they’re all dead, but I’m afraid Randy was wrong. It wasn’t the Supremacy that killed those scientists. That was us.”

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Alix nodded. She didn’t seem surprised.

Vas said, “You knew about this?”

“The queen and I were in communication while she was looking for a new planet to settle on. We didn’t share much information—we don’t, normally. Xenos are unfortunately easy to torture.”

“We know,” Jane said.

Tennama looked at her.

“We have Fable’s papers, remember?” she said.

It took him a while to pull his gaze away from the biologist, but eventually, he went on, “Harlan and I were forced to work together while sharing as few facts as possible. The queen worked the same way, but there was no risk in telling me the scientists were dead.”

“Why would you want to know?” Ciro asked.

“It was one of the few things we agreed on.”

“You wanted them dead?” Jane said.

“I hated them.” Tennama locked eyes with her. “I thought you had Fable’s papers, Doctor.”

Vas tried to pull the conversation back into less controversial territory. “When Tate learned they were dead, all he could do was go out to confirm it and look around for anything interesting.”

Reyer said, “Then he came back and told his conspiracy nuts what he’d found.”

“Why?” Ciro asked. “If he was keeping things from them for their safety, why would he tell them anything?”

Alix stared out one of the portholes. The absurdly small window cut down the view of the port outside, leaving only an abstract excerpt. “Maybe that’s what he left for us. He left Blaze and the others.”

“Oh, that’s brilliant,” Vas said. “Tate knew they were paranoid, so they weren’t going to talk to just anyone, but they could pass on the information to us.”

“You think he did it on purpose?” Tennama asked. “Not the most reliable way to pass on information, is it?”

“That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do it,” Reyer grumbled.

“What if they’d decided they didn’t trust us?”

A half smile appeared on the captain’s face. “I think Tate had a pretty good idea about what would happen.”

“Alix doesn’t leave her friends alone,” Jane said.

“And she’s very good at getting people to talk,” Adan said. “Wouldn’t you agree, Tennama?”

The xeno didn’t answer.

Ciro said, “But he didn’t tell them where he was going!”

“No,” Reyer said. “That would’ve been much too dangerous, for them, and for him.”

“Then we have no idea what he did next.”

“I might be able to guess.” Vas crossed his arms and leaned back. “I think he would’ve tried to hunt down Kumar’s killer. At least, that’s what we talked about on the way out.”

“Why would he do that?” Jane asked.

“Because I think she was killed by a xeno.”

“Was she?”

As the silence stretched on, the crew all looked up, one by one, and realize Jane was watching Tennama, waiting for the answer. He was the last to notice the question had been meant for him.

When he did, he said, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about Devi Kumar’s death, but given her proximity to the queen, I think it’s a safe assumption.”

“Then that’s our best bet, isn’t it?” Ciro said. “We need to find out who killed Kumar.”

Vas dipped his head in a reluctant nod. “I think so.”

Lynx had been standing, forgotten, at the front of the cabin. Now his mechanical voice broke into the conversation. “You seem upset.”

Reyer groaned.

“Lynx, we’ve talked about this,” Vas said. “You don’t have to go around pointing it out.”

Ciro leaned his jaw on his knuckles as he considered his bot. “The tact program still isn’t as developed as his emotional recognition program.”

“I’m voicing the observation because your emotional reaction doesn’t make sense,” Lynx said. “We know from the information given to us by the xeno Tennama that there’s a high probability there were only two human-xenos alive at the time Senator Kumar was murdered. If, as the captain theorizes, she was killed by a xeno, and Tennama knows nothing of it, then we can assume that xeno was the queen. Discovering her identity would get you much closer to your goal of finding her. Wouldn’t the normal reaction be excitement or happiness?”

Reyer lifted her head. “And how do we find out who killed Kumar, Lynx?”

The bot stood perfectly still for one second, then he announced, “I understand.”

There was another moment of stillness. It was broken when Ciro laughed.

“Oh, come on, Adan,” he said. “This isn’t so bad! It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”

Jane slammed her hands down on the table. “Could someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“In order to try to learn about Devi Kumar’s death, we’re going to have to get the report,” Reyer said. “Considering her position and the fact they’re blaming the Rising, that report is going to be filed with the Supremacy Military Intelligence. We’ll have to break in and steal it.”

“Good thing we’re on P5.” Ciro was still grinning. “Do you think that’s why Tate came here?”

“That might be why he’s missing,” Reyer said.

“I can check on that while I’m in there if you want.”

At the same moment Jane cried, “What?” Vas shouted, “No!”

Adan’s emphatic command took precedence over the doctor’s malaise. He finished his thought while glaring at his brother.

“No extra risks.”

“You don’t want to get Tate back?”

“Ciro, no extra risks.”

“You’re letting him go?” Jane turned to Ciro. “Why are you going?”

“This is a monitored planet, Jane. We can’t use a wireless system to do this, and when it comes to stealing information from computers, I must humbly admit, I’m the best man for the job. Especially if we’re going to be breaking into the MI network.”

“But you’ve done it before, right?”

“Those were different circumstances,” Alix said.

“How different?”

“Adan and I went in, and we did it knowing we’d get caught.”

Jane’s eyes widened. When she pressed her lips together, they all but disappeared.

“Don’t worry.” Ciro took her hand. “I’m not going to get caught.”

“And I’ll be with him,” Tennama said, “so getting in won’t be a problem. That is why you made me those IDs, isn’t it, Captain?”

“Will you know your way around?” Vas asked.

The xeno nodded. “All MI towers are built with the same basic layout, but I’m afraid I’ll still need Ciro. Unless my name is already on the section file, I’m going to need some fake orders to get in there.”

“That’s it then.” The captain’s words sounded forced. “We’ll send you in tomorrow. We should relax and get some sleep.” Even as he finished saying it, Vas realized platitudes weren’t much of a guard against character. “Alix, are you going to drill them on operational procedure?”

“That was my plan, sir.”

“This is Ciro.”

“If I yell loud enough, it might get through.”

Adan cast a doubtful eye over his brother and noticed that he looked thoughtful.

“Ciro, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know if Randy was wrong about everything…”

“Stop plotting!”

“But—”

“No! No extra risks! God damn it, Ciro!”

Behind him, Lynx said, “So you’re also trying persuasion through volume, Captain? I look forward to evaluating the result.”