Ouloo watched him as he sat brooding. She picked up one of the eel crackers and offered it to him on her upturned paw.

‘They’re for you,’ he said.

She pushed her paw forward, insisting. ‘It’s not a cure,’ she said. ‘It’s encouragement.’

It took little time for the two of them to eat the tray clean.

PEI

The kid didn’t move, beyond breathing. The colours on the scanner screen didn’t vary. The only thing that changed was the rotation of who was watching – Pei, Speaker, Pei, Speaker – every half an hour. The mood in the shuttle was miserable and stagnant, and Pei didn’t know whether she wanted things to hurry up so that she could deal with whichever scenario presented itself, or if she wanted everything to hold still for as long as it took for them to come up with a better solution than this.

As neither option was possible, she sat by the med bed, and continued to observe the screen doing nothing.

Speaker came back to the room before it was her turn to take over. ‘I need to go to my shuttle, just for a short while,’ she said. ‘My air supply needs a refill, and I need some food.’

‘Oh, right,’ Pei said. Ever-present as Speaker’s suit was, Pei hadn’t thought about the logistics of being stuck in one all day. ‘Yeah, of course.’ The Akarak began to leave, but something that had been stuck in Pei’s craw for hours finally worked itself free. ‘Hey, I want to apologise for what happened in the garden. I’m … sorry we fought. I was drunk.’

Speaker stopped the suit, and turned to face her. ‘You don’t strike me as the sort to change her opinions just because she’s drunk.’

This assertion wasn’t wrong, but Pei bristled at her tone. ‘I said I’m sorry we fought. I’m not apologising for my opinions.’

‘I’m not, either,’ Speaker said.

‘Stars, can I—’ Pei could feel her cheeks going purple, but she reined it in and took a breath. ‘I’m apologising for pushing you on topics you didn’t want to get into. You didn’t want to go there, and I … didn’t have the wherewithal to recognise that. And I should have, even though I don’t – I mean, obviously we don’t see eye to eye.’

Speaker met Pei’s gaze with unflinching directness. ‘I don’t think you’re a bad person, Captain Tem. There are few people who are truly bad through and through. I still don’t know you. I know you better, from what I’ve seen in here. I think you mean well. I think you want to help people, even though we have very different ideas of what that means. But I won’t pretend that I’m comfortable with what you do and what you’re a part of. I can’t look at you and say, “Oh, I like her as a person, so I’ll ignore the life she lives.” That’s exactly the sort of thinking that allows problems to persist. So, if you want me to apologise in return, if you want me to take back what I said in the garden, I won’t. I told the truth. Nothing about tonight changes that.’

‘Pei.’

Speaker blinked. ‘Sorry?’

‘You can call me Pei,’ she said. ‘That’s my name. That’s what friends call me.’

‘I … don’t understand. We—’

Pei shook her palm at whatever Speaker was about to say. ‘We’re not friends. I’m not sure that we could be. I don’t have any shame about my work, and I don’t agree with your take on it. I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t piss me off. But I do respect you, and your honesty. I respect somebody with the strength to say things you know will piss somebody off, because you believe what you believe. And given that, plus all that’s happened tonight, it would be weird for you to keep addressing me like a stranger.’

‘What are we, if not strangers and not friends?’

‘I have no idea.’

The Akarak thought about that. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Pei.’ She cocked her head. ‘Do you need to rest, once I get back? I don’t know what your sleep cycle is like, but especially since …’ She gestured broadly at Pei’s shimmering scales.

Now it was Pei’s turn to be confused. ‘What about it?’

‘I – sorry, I have no idea what your reproductive cycle feels like,’ Speaker said. ‘I know that for my species, it’s common to feel tired while growing a clutch.’

‘It’s not like that for us. If anything, I’m restless.’

‘I see,’ Speaker said. ‘Are you looking forward to going to the creche? To coupling, or however it works?’

Pei had meant what she said about respecting honesty, but stars, Speaker wasn’t shy. ‘That’s a blunt question, seeing as how we’re not friends.’

‘Since you don’t know what we are, then how do you know what sorts of questions are too blunt?’

An annoying retort, but Pei couldn’t argue it, and was too tired to keep her thoughts to herself any longer. ‘I’m feeling … complicated about it.’

‘Because of your Human partner?’

‘No, stars – dammit, see, that’s exactly – that’s exactly my problem.’ Pei exhaled. ‘I can explain, but do you actually care?’

Speaker shrugged. ‘I’m curious, at least.’