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“The only people who know about Stacy’s cover are the five of us, Doctor Allbright, and the Civil Authority Officers on this ship.” Elon looked at me with concern in his eyes. “It is paramount we keep it this way.”

“I’m not saying anything,” I said, lifting my arms in a sign of surrender. I immediately regretted the action as another wave of agony washed over my left rib cage.

“Speaking of the good doctor, we’ll send her in here right away to get you looked at,” Elon said, heading for the door. “You and Stacy both have access to our quarters if you should need anything.”

Iris followed behind Elon. Instead of using the door, she traveled right through the wall itself. I knew Cognitives were capable of phasing in and out of physical objects, but it was still weird seeing it firsthand.

“You two be careful,” Arun said, stopping at the door as she turned to leave. “The Disciple tried to attack us a day into our journey. You can bet he or she will try again.”

With that, the trio was gone. I stood in the room looking over at Stacy with an arched eyebrow.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head down and looking up at me with those big brown eyes. “You want me to say I’m sorry or something? It’s my job.”

“Naw, I get that,” I said. “I’m just debating whether I should be able to tase you back to be fair and all.”

“What?” Stacy scrunched her brow and shook her head. “No way. When I tased you, I thought you were a Disciple. Anyone could have made that mistake. And, for the record, when I found you hunched over that pen of canines, you looked super guilty.”

“I think you’re mistaking guilt for what a concussion looks like,” I answered back. “Speaking of that, you should know the Disciple is strong and really knows how to fight. They were precise with their attacks, and each blow felt like a sledgehammer.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound promising,” said a voice from the door. Doctor Allbright entered the room with her data pad in one hand and a motherly expression on her lips. “Mr. Slade, what were the chances that we’d meet again?”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it's not the last time you’re going to see him either.” Stacy found a stool tucked into the corner of the room and plopped herself down. “This one is accident-prone.”

“‘This one,’” I said, repeating Stacy’s new name for me, “was fine until he stumbled across what he thought was an innocent mechanic getting mugged. Turns out, you’re neither of those things.”

Stacy just grinned at that.

“My goodness, you must be in a serious amount of pain.” Doctor Allbright ran the Med-Aid across my ribs and face. “Mild concussion, bruised ribs, and a laceration inside of your mouth.”

“Sounds about right,” I said.

Doctor Allbright went to work on me with the help of the Med-Aid.

When she gave me a mild sedative, I didn’t fight her.

“All due respect, Doc, but I think I’ll let the inside of my mouth heal on its own,” I said, looking at her right hand as she tried to open my jaw to insert the device. “I’m not too excited about opening wide for that thing.”

“Understood,” Doctor Allbright said, then lifted the side of my shirt to look at my ribs. She frowned at what she saw. “If you remove your shirt, I’ll be able to use the Med-Aid to speed the healing process along.”

I complied, moving my long-sleeved shirt gingerly over my head. With each new motion, I bit back the need to grunt in pain.

Both women’s jaws dropped when I uncovered myself. I wished all of their drooling had been about my abs, but I had picked up more than a few scars over the years. Surgeries, fights, and accidents had taken their toll across my body, painting a canvas of pain that shocked most people.

“You can take a picture while you’re at it,” I told them. “We can put it in a nice frame too.”

Stacy looked away. Heat rose to her face.

“Yes, sorry.” Doctor Allbright moved the Med-Aid to my side. A warm feeling came from the machine, not quite burning but hot enough to notice. “We’ll be done in a moment.”

When the doctor was through, I waved goodbye and thanked her for the help. It surprised me to find her on the ship, but I supposed it made sense, considering she’d been a little overqualified to be the on-site doctor for our little construction site. Had she been stationed there to simply wait her turn to leave?

Stacy cleared her throat, getting back to business as soon as Allbright was gone. “We should head up to the tech floor and talk to someone about the cloak our Disciple is wearing. See if we can get any information that would help find this person.”

“Right,” I said, getting to my feet. “I could probably use a blaster, by the way.”

“Yeah, right,” Stacy said with a laugh, throwing me an amused smile. “No way you’re getting your hands on one of those.”

12

The Orion was truly a masterpiece. With one hundred thousand Transients on board, two Eternals, and a Cognitive, you’d think the moon-shaped ship would be cramped, but it wasn’t. Three hundred levels, ranging from cafeterias to sleeping quarters and recreation areas, filled the ship.

As Stacy and I made our way from the medical level, she whipped out the same red holo card I had seen her drop in the alley. She swiped it in front of a waiting elevator. Without pause, the cylinder-shaped lift dinged open.

“Nifty little card you got there,” I said, motioning to it. “Give you access to the whole ship?”

“All access whenever I need it and no stops along the way,” Stacy said, punching in our destination on the holo-screen in front of her.

A moment later, the elevator doors closed and we were moving. The same tech that aided the