Page 30 of Commander’s Mate

It did not.

I pulled the temporary slate Tivid had given me closer.

At the top I wrote:

DOOR.

Below it:

OPEN / CLOSED / DOESN’T CARE.

Scarlet leaned over my shoulder.

“You making a survey?”

“I’m preventing homicide.”

“Same skill set.”

The silver-skinned woman saw the slate and stiffened.

I immediately turned it so she could see.

“Not names,” I said.

Her translator caught up a half second later.

Her shoulders lowered.

The traffickers had written things down too.

Names. Prices. Medical conditions. Sexual classifications.

Information could be another cage if the wrong person held it.

I erased the blank name field from the template.

“Preferences only,” I said.

Nora looked up.

“Food too.”

“Food?”

“There are three people who haven’t eaten since we boarded.”

I stared.

“Why?”

“One says the paste smells like a drug they used in holding.”

Zoe added, “One doesn’t eat animal protein.”

Scarlet frowned. “Alien vegan?”

“I don’t know. Maybe religion. Maybe species. Maybe she just hates gray paste.”