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“Yeah, they’re looking. They’ve put the word out that they were attacked by two stowaways on their ship.”

“They came here looking for us?”

“The local security did, but Estelle covered for us.” Rexx let out a sigh. “They’re the least of our problems.”

“Someone else is after us?”

“High Command has issued warrants for our arrest. We’re consider fugitives.”

Daisy jerked upright. “What? Why would they do that?”

“We disobeyed orders. We jumped ship. We didn’t turn back when our captain contacted us and told us to do just that.”

“So, we’re basically screwed.”

“For now. High Command have got it into their thick skulls that we’re dangerous. More specifically, you are.”

“Because of what the Inkral put in me. But they can’t know what it does.”

“They don’t. But what they don’t understand, they fear. You know what they’re like. They only care about protocol. They don’t bend the rules for anyone.”

“We’ll talk to them. Get them to realize what happened. They have to understand why I fled.”

“We can try.” Rexx stroked a finger across the back of her hand. “I’ll take the blame for this. I took you from the medical room back on the Apocalypse. If I’d left you there, let them examine you, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten this bad.”

“No way. You took me, but I agreed to it. Besides, I’d planned to leave anyway. I knew things wouldn’t go well once High Command got their hands on me. They’d have interrogated me and then thrown me off the mission. I’d have been out of a job with no prospects. That’s if they’d even let me go. And if they had, I’d have been at the mercy of the Inkral. The Gente would have picked me up and handed me over. I’d be working in some slave gang if you hadn’t gotten me out of there.”

Rexx growled low in his chest. “That would never have happened. If they’d thrown you out, I’d have quit and come after you. We’re partners until the end.”

Her heart felt warm, despite her churning stomach. “I reckon you would have. You’re always looking out for me.”

“Right back at you. We look out for each other.”

“Which means, when it comes down to the wire, we’re in this together. You rescued my butt, but we’re both implicated in this. You’re not taking the fall. Whatever High Command has in store for us, we’ll deal with it together.”

His hand stroked down her neck, tracing over the dark marks on her skin. “We have more immediate worries than what High Command will do to us.”

Daisy swallowed against her suddenly tight throat. “The drugs our new friend gave me won’t work much longer?”

Rexx nodded. “Estelle took a couple of samples while you were sleeping. I figured you wouldn’t mind. She wants to help.”

“Of course not. What did the samples show her?”

“She’s not certain. She’s a vet, not a doctor, but she has connections. Estelle’s been talking to someone who can help.”

“And what did they figure out?”

Rexx looked away. “It’s just a guess.”

“A guess that has an unhappy ending by the look on your face. Don’t keep me in the dark. I can always ask Estelle myself. What does she think is happening to me?”

Rexx grabbed her hand and held on tight. “She thinks that when this stuff gets into your vital organs and infects your brain, there won’t be anything we can do to stop it.”

Daisy’s breath stuck in her throat. “How close is that to happening?”

“It hasn’t progressed past here.” He brushed his hand at the top of her spine, massaging the skin gently. “Estelle’s been giving you hourly doses of a drug that’s holding it off. But it’s a temporary measure. If that thing moves again, the drugs won’t work.”

A shaky breath shot out of Daisy. “We have to get it out. Can she do that?”