Page 28 of Enthraller

Everyone looked around for a moment, and then Bailey shrugged. “I have the bunk arrangements already,” she said, pulling out a small screen. She held it out to the rest of them, and then pointed. “You and Ed are here, Wren.”

They were sharing a suite, Wren saw. They had their own bedrooms, but with a shared lounge and bathroom. Bailey and Hatch each had a single room, smaller, with hardly any seating area, but with their own bathrooms. They were on either side of Wren and Ed’s suite.

They found the section they’d been assigned, dumped their bags, and then met out in the passageway. Ed was holding the scanner and its attachments, and had stripped down to the thin bodysuit most space walkers preferred under their suit when they were out on the line.

“We’re starting straight away?” Hatch asked, sounding pleased.

“No reason to wait, is there?” Ed asked.

“The captain said one of us has to be out there with you when you’re on the line, and one in the control room,” Bailey said.

“Fine with me.”

“You happy for me to wander around, poke my nose into what’s happening on the other side of the station?” Wren asked.

Bailey hesitated, then gave a nod. “Shout if you think there’s something off about anyone.” She handed out tiny comms that attached to the back of their ears. “Just brush a finger over it to activate,” she said. “When you’re in the suit, you can sync it to the comms system inside the helmet,” she told Ed. “I’ll show you how.”

They moved to the control room first, as Wren wanted to see where it was, and what it looked like.

It was a pleasant space, with two couches and suits hanging from hooks, along with large screens to watch what was happening outside.

“Be careful,” Ed said to her, setting down his scanner.

Wren snorted. “I’m the one staying inside the station.Yoube careful.”

His lips curved. “I’ll be out on the line. No place like it.”

She had never been out on the line herself, but a few of the consultants she’d worked with through the years had had to examine artifacts that were floating in space, and they had said the same. Something about having nothing tethering you to safety except a thin cord made a deep impression on the psyche.

“I’ll see what’s for dinner, and check out our not-so-friendly friends,” she said.

Ed’s eyes laughed at her. “Feeding me again.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve heard line work burns up the calories.”

Hatch and Bailey had been watching the byplay, and Hatch suddenly handed Ed a suit. “Flirt on your own time. Let’s go.”

Bailey gave a chuckle, and Wren left them to their shenanigans.

If her cheeks were burning, well, her nanos could take care of that in a moment.

11

The control roomfor the line was at the front of the observatory, and she and the others’ bedrooms were situated on the right hand side of the station, so Wren wandered left, peering into a gym, a smaller comms room that looked like it was used more for relaxation than serious talks with the administrators on Aponi, and finally came to the doorway of a lounge and dining area with a large kitchen at the back.

There were other rooms up ahead, and she guessed they were probably more sleeping quarters and perhaps labs or workstations for the academics, and a work room for the maintenance crew, but she was sure this was the place to meet her quarry.

She stepped inside.

“Who are you?”

She heard the question at the same time her nanos alerted her to the presence of someone in the room with her.

A head had risen from one of the couches in the lounge, and she stepped closer to see a young woman lying across it. She’d pushed up onto her elbows, and she was frowning at Wren in an unfriendly way.

“Wren Thorakis. And you are?”

The woman’s frown deepened. “What are you doing up here?”

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