“Nate, I need you in the command room.”

Tess Foncet’ voice echoed in his bedroom. The lights turned on as he stood up from his bed. Nate quickly put on some clothes, his beige trousers were slightly too big and his black t-shirt too small, but he had had to buy clothes online without being able to try them on first, with money borrowed from Honey. He only stopped a brief moment in front of his mirror, checking that yes, his hair was still in complete disarray, before going outside and directly towards the main bridge.

He passed in front of the bar, its door automatically opening in front of him. He saw Shiina inside, eating a bowl of cereal while still in her pyjamas.

“Good morning Shiina.” He stopped a moment to look at her. She didn’t seem woken up yet, and her response confirmed his observation.

“Gmor n ng… Nate. “ She put a large spoonful of spelt flakes in her mouth while gazing at the wall of wine bottles in front of her, her eyes focusing on nothing, and seemingly not chewing.

Nate smirked, then continued towards the upper floor.

Tess, in her military garb, as well as Oliver in his usual tie and shirt combo, were sitting in the elevated chairs of the middle of the room.

The captain turned to face him when he arrived. “Nate, good, you are quick on your feet.”

In local time, it was six in the morning.

“I have gotten used to unexpected wake-up calls.”

Tess wasn’t paying attention to his explanations, as everything in her posture showed that she was in professional mode and that nothing would distract her from her tasks.

“We have received a distress signal. Yesterday’s solar eruption hit a supply ship and burned its electric system to a crisp. Can you get us on an approach course?”

“Erm…I…of course. Do you have a trajectory done?”

Oliver nodded. “It should be on your screen.”

Nate sat down on the last remaining zero-g seat and checked what they had sent him. He wasn’t an expert on space manœuvres and trusted the calculations of both the pilots. “What about the speed? With a normal fusion reactor, we should reach an intercept in twenty-four hours but…” The mission of the new Saviour wasn’t around Jupiter this time, as the position of the planets wasn’t optimal for a trip to the gas giant, but around Mars. Their ship had been orbiting the red planet for a week already, with no major incident except the solar eruption twenty-four hours prior. Nate’s engine provided a natural barrier against the solar event, but that wasn’t the case for traditional spaceships.

The couches for tourists on the lower deck had been replaced with a very high-end scanner and communication equipment, a large deep space antenna had been stuck on the side of the ship and one of the airlocks had been modernized to make spacewalks easier. With a slew of other changes on the Leisurer, it was now perfectly able to handle the job of a rescue ship. But in truth, it was even a bit too good at the job. Nate’s ultra-performant engine allowed them to react to distress signals with incredible speeds, and that brought the issue Nate was currently raising.

Would they go help distressed ships as fast as possible, taking the risk of revealing their impossible engine, or would they reproduce the relative slowness of a fusion reactor, potentially sacrificing the lives of other crews.

Tess frowned.

“Keep us going with one g of acceleration, I’ll tell them we were close by.”

“That excuse won’t work forever.” Nate pointed out.

Tess’ expression did not change. “We have two years at most anyway. The supply ship lost a few essential electrical components. He has three hours of air before he suffocates.”

Nate encoded the new trajectory. “We’ll lose gravity in five minutes for ten seconds.”

“Understood.” Tess turned on her intercom and informed the rest of the crew.”

“He?" Nate asked Oliver.

“Yeah. His two crewmates died a few years ago, and because of budget cuts, the food supply company on Mars never replaced them.”

“Voyaging in space. Alone…” Nate began.

“Yes, we know him. We had to help him before.”

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Nate couldn't stop a gasp from escaping his lips.

“But if he knows you, he knows the Saviour. The real one.”

Oliver grimaced. “Absolutely. It is a problem, I won’t deny it. I just hope Johannson won’t look outside his window and if he does…He owes me. If I ask him to stay silent and not ask any questions, I have high hopes he’ll do exactly that.

Nate grimaced as well. He did not like how the events were turning out. Nonetheless, he had decided to trust them, and that is what he would do.

“I’ll go check on Shiina and see if she’s ready for the zero-g event. She didn’t seem fully woken up when I spotted her earlier.”

“Good initiative.”

Shiina was awake, fully this time, and the young man stayed with her in the bar as the countdown ran down.

Shiina had put a plate on top of her cereal bowl still half full.

“Loss of gravity in five…four…”

“Why is this ship’s computer’s voice so erotic?” The young woman asked.

“For a while, it was just the two of us…”

Nate was interrupted by the engine turning off, and by the sensation of weightlessness overtaking his whole body. Shiina put her hand on top of the plate to stick it on her bowl, while he gripped the counter as the ship was using its retrorockets to turn around.

“…and two men; researchers not having seen a woman for some time…we found it funny to set up the most sensual voice we could find. We even gave her a name.”

Shiina sighed. “Seriously, do I even want to know.”

The computer cut her off. “Gravity back on in five…four…”

He shrugged his shoulders as the weight of his body became normal again. “We called her Girlie, it’s not too bad, no? I admit I’m slightly ashamed of myself, I thought it funny at the time.”

“You still find this funny.”

“A bit.”

“Really, you should tell that to Honey, he would love it.”

“Oh, he knows. He even asked if we could change the voice into something even more over the top, but I decided to refuse. His proposals were quite unbecoming.”

“No kidding. Men I swear.”

“You get used to it.” Nate didn't specify if he was talking about men or the computer's voice.

Shiina smiled, then removed the plate from the top of her bowl to resume her breakfast.

“When are we expected to be in position?” She asked more seriously.

Nate looked at the tablet on his wrist that the crew had lent him. “With the approach counted, one hour and a half…” He hesitated before asking his next question. “Why can’t we dock to the supply ship? Tess told me you and Honey would be bringing the necessary replacement component on the stranded ship through a spacewalk. Isn’t that dangerous?”

“There are risks. We are in space. But it is the safest. In EVA I can easily check if the airlock is defective or not, and as I keep my spacesuit on, even in case of an anomaly, I should more or less be safe. In the worst-case scenario me and the distressed ship blow up, while if we try to dock and there is a problem, we lose both ships.”

Nate nodded, but the young woman’s words hadn’t reassured him in the least. “I have no doubt you know what you are doing. But I am afraid of spacewalks, to be honest.”

“Are you worried about me?” Shiina asked teasingly.

“Yes.” Nate answered completely seriously.

The young woman pouted. “You could at least act embarrassed.”

The researcher raised an eyebrow, before speaking with a very convincing stutter. “Oh…Erm…yeah I…I am worried. About, you.”

“Holy shit you’re crazy good at that.”

“Thanks.”

“And you can blush on demand?”

“Usually? No. But I just need to look at what you’re wearing, and suddenly it’s super easy.” Nate looked at the simple t-shirt and panties making Shiina’s nightwear.

She followed his gaze, then blushed in turn. She had just now finally realized how she was dressed. She gave him a thunder filled stare. “Hey! I am not used to having a…Well, I wasn’t going to…”

“Mhhh, the more you explain the deeper you sink.”

“Argh! Fine, you got that point! And here I thought you were a young science boy never seeing girls?”

“That is true, but I wasn’t always that. I grew up in quite the bad neighbourhood in London, you know? When I was ten and my mother was doing night shifts, I was away playing bridge with the prostitutes at the bordello at the end of the street.” As he said that, his face filled itself with painful nostalgia.

Shiina’s voice grew softer. “You were running away from home to play card games? Wasn’t that a bit dangerous?”

“My mother was dropping me there! She was friends with the mama and…” The memory of his mother brought forward contradicting feelings, and he stopped talking.

“Wow. I’ll admit, I have quite the hard time imagining. I was living with my parents in quite the chic district of New York. So you managed to become an astronaut while growing up in a disadvantaged family? That’s impressive. What about your father?”

“He was military, almost never home, he died of lung cancer mere months after my sister was born. He taught me a lot. What about yours?”

Shiina immediately tensed up, her face suddenly cold.

“Oh, sorry. Sensitive subject.” Nate apologized.

She shook her head left and right. “No. No. I was asking indiscreet questions, it was natural you asked some back. He’s dead, and it is for the better, honestly. He…He hit mom. He’s the reason why I went to do my military service. I hoped...well.” Shiina’s voice sounded hacked, as if every piece of information cost her a huge amount of energy.

Nate didn’t push her more and changed subjects.

“Not a conversation to have in the morning. You’ll tell me when you want to. In the meantime, do you need something, help I mean, for your EVA?”

“Oh, erm, no. Thank you that is nice to ask. You should eat something though.”

“I ate.” Nate then corrected himself. “I think I did.”

“Well, I’m quite sure you didn’t. Here, you can have my leftovers, I’ve had too much.”

“Ew, I don’t want your soggy flakes.” He faked disgust.

“As a newbie of our crew, that’s all you get. Taking away my salary as well!” She said in a very exaggerated fashion.

He sighed. “I understand. I am so sorry…”

“Hey, I was joking! You don’t need to…” She noticed his smile.

“Two points for me in one morning.” He announced proudly.

“No points at all, because now you’re going to eat my leftovers, no question asked, as punishment for your lack of respect!” She said as she pushed her finger on Nate’s chest.

“Ow, ow. Those that lose the battle of words always fall back on violence.”

Despite his complaints, he began eating the spelt flakes soggy with milk, and Shiina left the room with a satisfied smile.