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Tambi’s mouth twitched, but her eyes stayed on her screen.

“The ship ran another scan on Cass.” I kept my voice even. “It was intense.”

“Cass always goes for intense.” Doc hopped off the counter, still smirking. She walked over and ran the scanner up and down my chest. “Huh. Interesting. Heart rate elevated, too. Hormonal markers through the roof! You’re either in love or dying. Kelvane physiology isn’t my specialty, but this looks like someone who’s had a productive event occur.”

Monica lost the fight to keep a straight face. “Aww. Leave Rennick alone! He’s blushing.”

“It’s a circulatory response.” I sat down and inspected the countertop rather than look at the mixture of sarcasm and smirking going on.

“Oh. That’s what the kids call it these days?” Tambi looked up from her screen. “Cass, you safe?”

“I’m all good,” she called over her shoulder as she finished making coffee.

She was deliberately buying herself minutes to get composed. If only I had that opportunity, but this crew was ruthless and all eyes were on me.

“Something in that room did weird stuff. Stuff we hadn’t expected.” Tambi glared at me. “Cass is my crew, so she’s my responsibility. Rennick, don’t be a jerk. This is your one and only warning.”

“Um... hold on. Aren’t we equal partners?” Cass turned and set her hand on her hip. “And if he’d been a jerk, I’d have told you, and we would have collectively kicked his ass.”

“We’re equal in profit share, but I look out for you.” Tambi hadn’t stopped glowering at me. “What the fuck went down in there? And no medical readings. Lay it out in plain speak.”

The galley went quiet.

My gaze cut to Cass, who shrugged as she stirred her coffee.

“How much do you know about Kelvane ships?” I asked.

“Enough to charge you plenty to fix this one. You mean the bonding sequence Doc has been reading?” Tambi asked. “Crew bonding to their ships? The chamber that’s been kicking out those weird readings?”

I nodded. “This ship attempted to run a bond through Cass’s nervous system. She experienced old crew memories. Some of them, at least. But they shouldn’t still be active. New crew, new bond. It’s a complex process, but it’s possible. Sometimes, crew moves on, especially military. In this case, the crew died in an off-ship accident. All trace of them was erased, and all memories gone.”

“What kind of memories are we talking about?” Tambi asked Cass. “What did you see?”

“I experienced a fire,” she said. “The crew died on this ship.”

Tambi’s fierce glare hit me again. “You lying to us?”

“No! There’s no mention of any fatalities on board the Hollow Chorus. There are rare occurrences of crew deaths, but we have methods in place to wipe memories and restore the ship.”

“Rennick’s not the problem,” Cass said. “I experienced the ship trying to save the crew. It failed. But... I think they’re still here.”

Doc pulled herself onto a stool. “The ship recorded these deaths?”

“And everything before it. It’s all trapped inside her.” Cass glanced at me. “The ship has been holding these recordings, and she’s been trying to complete a sequence and lay them to rest. Until she can, they’re like ghosts in the machine.”

“A haunted fucking spaceship! How cool is that?” Doc bounced in her seat.

“Very fucking cool,” Cass deadpanned.

“And the ship tested you for... what? Compatibility?” Monica asked. “Does the Hollow Chorus think you can give her an exorcism?”

“No clue. But whatever she did, I think I passed. Or at least got us to the next stage.” Cass cracked her knuckles. “But I know nothing about ghosts or how to tell them to fuck off.”

“Who does?” Tambi asked. “I’m kinda with Cass on this one. Ghosts ain’t real.”

“Pete Venkman could help,” Monica said.

“I’m more of an Egon Spengler fan myself.” Doc nudged Tambi. “Didn’t your mom have something to do with tarot readings?”