“Could it be corporate?” I asked. “They do that sometimes, don’t they? The eye in the sky making sure we’re toeing the line and all that?”
“That’s the thing. It isn’t necessarily out of the norm for LunaCorp to access our manifests, although it doesn’t happen regularly. What’s odd is that while these recent breaches do have LunaCorp credentials, they’re all expired, and the origins are all wrong.”
“How so?”
She shrugged. “They’re not from Luna or the CAK or New Earth or Mars or any location that a legitimate LunaCorp access would conceivably come from.”
Tig’s concern must have been contagious, because asudden need to look over my own shoulder gripped me. “Where are they coming from?”
“For the life of me, I can’t tell.” She ruffled the pink strands of her hair. “The origins are untraceable, and if I were to do any deeper digging, I’d quickly become…conspicuous. If you catch my drift.”
That, I understood. If a being wanted to keep their job, the last place they’d ever want to be was on LunaCorp’s radar. “Have you spoken about this with Chan? Or Rax and Morgath? The captains?”
“No. Not yet. I need more information first. That’s why I don’t want you to tell anyone. Honestly, like I said, it’s probably nothing. Just an aberration.” She took a tiny bite of her pastry, then set it back down on her plate.
“An aberration,” I repeated, icy fingers brushing across the nape of my neck. And while we found other things to talk about, neither of us ate much more after that.
I left the bistro worried, but the exhaustion pouring lead into my feet quickly gained supremacy in my list of immediate concerns. I needed sleep, otherwise I’d have to visit the med bay and beg Dr. Semson for stims just to make it through the rest of the day.
After my door slid open, I staggered into my pod, gazed at my bed like it was an oasis in the middle of a Neptune desert, and made a solemn vow to worry in full as soon as I woke up. But when I took a step, something in the middle of my floor tried to trip me.
“What the?” I said, looking down. It was a box. A gift box, to be exact. And the card tucked into its red satin ribbon had a single, eye-opening word scrawled across the front:Phoebe.
15
Sitting on my bed,I turned the card over and stared at the opening line, tracing a finger over its slightly slanted letters.
My dearest Phoebe,
A little bird told me you had to wake up early this morning. On the off chance that you have time to nap later today, I hope these might help you sleep. Tonight, if you’re feeling up to it, is there any chance you’d like to meet up with me? Dinner and drinks? My treat.
Respectfully yours,
Joshua
P.S. I can still feel your lips on mine. Still taste them, even sweeter than I remembered, like honey. Please say yes.
After pressing the card to my chest fora moment—for reasons I couldn’t quite explain—I set it down beside me, pulled the red ribbon free, and raised the lid on the box. Inside, covered in a thin layer of white tissue paper, I found a soft, thick pair of cream-colored Venusian wool socks and a sleep mask identical to the one he’d been wearing when I’d stormed into his pod in a hot swell of indignation. Holding the mask to my nose, I breathed in the same vanilla and lavender scent I’d noticed on him then. Maybe it was the sweetness of the aroma, or the sweetness of the gift, but I suddenly had a very hard time remembering why I’d been so upset with him to begin with.
Stripping out of my clothes, I rolled on the socks, put on my favorite nightshirt, inhaled the sleep mask one more time, and crawled into bed. Opening theSqueeapp in my VC, I found Joshua’s profile and clickedchat.
Phoebe: This might be the most thoughtful present I have ever received.
I awaited his reply for one minute, two, my patience fraying around the edges. I’d almost given up when a message fromSqueepopped into my vision:Joshua is requesting a video chat. Do you accept?
After scrambling to find the techPad on my bedside table so frantically I chipped a nail, I assumed my most convincingI’m just lounging on my bed, not at all losing my shit over a pair of sockspose and clicked on the incomingSqueecall. “Hello, darling,” I said after he appeared on my screen.
“You like them?” he asked. His face was dark, barely lit.
“Where are you? I can hardly see you.”
His grin was impish. “I’m hiding in a utility closet. I’ve been reading in the library.”
“This ship has a library?”
He chuckled. “It’s not much bigger than this closet. But itdoes. And I never thought I’d know something about this ship that you didn’t.”
I took that one on the chin. “What were you reading?”
