February 10, 2051

Henry and Autumn donned hazardous material suits, pocketed plastic bags for carrying the vial in if they found it, then headed to the doctors’ quarters.

Thankfully, none of the other doctors were around to see Autumn let them in to Dr. Rogers’s room. Henry and Autumn went over her bedroom and bathroom. Nothing looked tampered with.

They searched Dr. Long’s bedroom next. Everything looked normal, like in Dr. Rogers’s room.

Autumn checked his bathroom sink while Henry examined the shower.

The division head looked up. “Nothing here.”

Henry turned to step out of the shower. “Or here”—he froze.

Far back, on the side closest to the upright lid, something stuck out from beneath the toilet seat. “Autumn.”

“Yes?”

Henry gestured for her to join him. When she did, he pointed. “Do you see it?”

“Yes.”

They approached the toilet. Autumn took out two plastic bags, opened them, then tucked one into the other to create a double-layered bag. “I’ll put this underneath it in case it falls. You lift the seat.”

Henry nodded and as she held the bag under the item, he carefully raised the toilet seat. The object appeared to be securely fastened, as it rose with it.

“Autumn—”

Autumn nodded and pulled back before the top of the seat ran into her, then slipped her hands back underneath the object—a clear vial half full of a dark fluid.

When the toilet seat was about a third of the way up, Autumn said, “Stop.”

Henry froze.

Autumn pulled the two layers of bag up and over the vial, wrapped her hands around it, and gently pried the container loose from the toilet seat. It came away more easily than Henry thought it would. A residue lingered on its cap, visible in the bright overhead lights.

Autumn raised her eyebrows. “We’ll have to make sure, but it looks like a basic adhesive from engineering.”

“If Engineer Barclay hid it, that makes sense.”

Autumn closed the bag. “I keep some adhesive in my office in case I have to fix something in a hurry. We can compare the residue to it—and, if it is adhesive, make sure there wasn’t anything added to it.”

She glanced at Henry. “And we’ll have to collect a sample of what’s in the vial and compare it to our other sample of the bioweapon.”

He nodded, and they left Long’s room and returned to the main area of the medical bay.

Some time later, they removed and disposed of their suits. They’d confirmed the residue was regular adhesive and safely collected a sample of the dark fluid into its own container and compared it to the substance from Barclay’s needle.

They’d found the bioweapon.

Autumn let them back in to her office and placed both containers on her desk before sitting behind her computer. “I’m going to email that we found the missing vial.”

Henry nodded, eyeing it. “Autumn, when we first found the vial…did it look like it had had more than one needle’s worth of the weapon removed from it?”

She frowned, still typing. “Yes. At first I wondered if it was just the way it was measured into the container, but if we were thinking the same thing…” She stopped typing, then clicked. “I just sent the email. Now we wait to hear back.”

____________________________________________________________________________

In a corridor close to engineering, Alex leaned against a wall while Colton stood on a nearby stepladder, installing more bulbs in one of the bar-shaped overhead lights.

From his position, Alex could watch both sides of the corridor without making it obvious. “The way Barr mentioned the maintenance at breakfast, I assumed it’d be something bigger than changing lightbulbs.”

“So did I.” Colton lifted another bulb from its container. “I’m glad he just messaged me about it. I figured when we were done in the pilots’ bay, I’d have to go to his office…” He stopped talking and reached up to put the bulb in place.

Alex’s chest tightened as he remembered how shaky Colton had been at breakfast. He tried to think of something that would get Colton’s mind off Barr. “How’s the magnetic field coming?”

“We have multiple designs now, each relying on a different material that will act as shielding against the space radiation.” Colton rotated the bulb clockwise, securing it in the light socket. “The next step is to either develop the material here, or have it developed on Earth and sent here.”

Alex frowned. “Sounds more like armor than a field, but I guess it’s called that because Earth has a magnetic field?”

Colton nodded.

“Then what happens?”

“We make a small model of each design and see how they respond to radiation. If they don’t respond adequately, we’ll have to come up with new designs.”

“Too bad that stuff Taylor stole didn’t do the trick,” Alex muttered, pressing his back into the wall.

Déjà vu hit. The last time he’d talked with Colton while the engineer changed lightbulbs, Taylor—and what he’d done—had weighed on Alex’s mind.

Colton must have remembered that too. “Alex?”

“I’m okay, Colton. It doesn’t bother me as much as it did then.”

“Good.” Colton bent to retrieve another lightbulb. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

“…Thank you for being here when I need to talk about something.”

Colton’s voice got softer. “Thank you for being here for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Silence hung between them, and then Colton said, “Were you able to write down the ingredients for your birthday cheesecake?”

Alex had almost forgotten about that. During dinner the other night, Autumn had asked Topaz and him to write down the ingredients for their birthday desserts so she’d have a list of what to order when the time came.

“I did…” Alex found the piece of paper in one of his pockets. “Although depending on when the next transport carrier mission is, she might need to wait to order them. Our birthdays are about three weeks away, and I don’t know if the perishable ingredients will keep that long…Oh, bacon. I forgot the bacon.” He retrieved a pen from his jacket and wrote it down.

“Bacon?” Colton looked disturbed. “Why would you want bacon?”

Alex was about to ask him what was wrong with bacon when something clanked.

Alex unholstered his electrical pistol and shot a look at Colton, who was already descending the ladder. “Sounded like it was ahead of us—maybe around the corner, near the rec area.” As noiselessly as possible, Alex started up the corridor.

Colton moved with him, typing on his CID. “Claire and Topaz may be close to the rec area now. I’m messaging them about this.”

“Good—kill your device’s alert sound, too.” If there was an enemy in the corridor, Alex didn’t want them to hear Colton’s CID go off. He silenced his own CID.

A few seconds later, Colton whispered, “They’re on their way.”

The engineer pocketed his device, then drew his weapon.

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry eyed Bugguffin as she rubbed her face against his shins. “Why do you do things like this?”

Autumn raised her eyebrows. “Claire said she read that cats put their scents on the people they care about as a way of telling others that those people belong to them.”

“Yes, and they happen to do it with objects too.” Henry pulled his legs further back.

Bugguffin closed the distance.

“You already marked me yesterday,” Henry reminded her.

“Urf.” Bugguffin was now eyeing his lap. “Awr.”

“If you are planning to jump on me—”

Bugguffin pounced.

Henry recoiled internally.

Autumn gave him a sympathetic look. “Do you want me to take her?”

“If you want to pet her, yes. Otherwise, I am fine.”

She smiled at him. “Good.”

“Only because she didn’t have her claws out.” He turned back to the cat. “But you are not going to sleep on me. I am not Alex. I will wake you up, and it will not be with food—is she snoring?”

Autumn shook her head, her mouth twitching. “I think she’s purring.”

Henry sighed and stroked the cat’s head. The purring got louder.

Autumn smiled wistfully. “I’ll miss her when she goes back to Earth.”

“So will I.” Henry scooped Bugguffin up. Holding her carefully, he rose and carried her over to Autumn. “Here, you should pet her for a while.”

“Actually—”

“Alex said the temporary station head let her on his desk. It won’t make you less of a division head if you pet her.”

“Thank you.” Autumn took the cat, who snuggled against her. “I wonder where she did come from. She’s very friendly—with some people, anyway.”

“The right ones.” Henry smiled as he resumed his seat.

Autumn glanced at her computer screen, frowned, and then gently placed Bugguffin on her desk. “Got a response from the general. He’s going to join us—”

Bugguffin bumped against the two containers. Autumn snatched her up as Henry steadied the vials, then let her breath out and stroked the startled cat’s head. She turned back to the computer screen. “He’s going to join us so we’ll have a witness, but he wants us to destroy the vials and the weapon in one of the station’s incinerators.”

Autumn handed the cat to Henry and returned to her computer.

Henry backed away from the desk. “Should Bugguffin stay somewhere else until this is over?”

“We could put her in my bedroom—oh, I don’t have a litter box for her. Do you have any old shipping boxes, or anything?”

“I have an old box in my room. I’ll put her in there.” Still carrying the cat, Henry left her office.

As he headed toward the doctors’ quarters, Dr. Kellogg came from that direction. He was looking toward the exam tables, his eyes hard. Then he drew his electrical pistol.

Henry darted sideways to the corridor hatchway and ducked behind its open door. He couldn’t get to his own weapon with Bugguffin in his arms, so he crouched, and, as gently as possible, tossed her through the hatchway.

Hopefully, she would easily land on her paws and then be safe exploring the corridor while he confronted Kellogg.

It didn’t work out that way.

Bugguffin didn’t land.

And the ground fell away from Henry’s feet.

____________________________________________________________________________

Turning the corner, Alex and Colton spotted an engineer in a protective suit, complete with visor, standing in front of one of the rec area’s hatch doors.

The door was closed.

Alex didn’t remember the last time he’d seen one of the corridor hatch doors closed.

Nor did he remember ever seeing someone welding one shut. He stopped beside Colton and lifted his weapon. “What are you—”

The engineer turned and threw the welding gun at them.

Alex and Colton darted in separate directions to avoid it, and the engineer threw a smaller object at them before retreating up the corridor.

Alex caught it.

Grenade!

He threw it back.

The grenade discharged tendrils of electricity that chained to the metal the engineer had put over the hatch door, and Alex sprinted past it, Colton joining him a moment later.

Alex was sure Colton turned the welding machine off, but he asked about it anyway.

“Yes, it’s off”—they were flying.

Alex stopped his forward trajectory by holstering his weapon and grabbing onto a vent. He caught hold of Colton’s jacket with his other hand, and they floated there.

Colton glanced at him. “Someone turned off the artificial gravity, but the engineer we saw couldn’t have gotten to the cable that fast. He must have at least one teammate.”

“Do you think it was Webb?” Alex let go of him and drew his weapon again.

“I don’t know.” Colton pulled out his CID and started typing. “We need to warn the others and have someone get the rec area open again.”

“Yeah. If he sealed all the hatch doors, he’s trapped everyone who’s in there. At least they’ll still have air—for now, anyway.”

Colton’s fingers raced. “Almost done.”

“That electrical grenade he had—was that one of our weapons?”

“Not as far as I know. But if the rebels smuggled them on board or built them here, they might have more…Done.”

“Then we need to get the gravity turned back on.” Alex pushed off the wall to start moving again, and Colton followed, his gun in one hand, his CID in the other.

____________________________________________________________________________

With the hatch door still shielding him, Henry rotated to face the examination tables. Kellogg was nowhere in sight. His stomach tightening, Henry drew his weapon and took out his CID. He had to warn Autumn about the other doctor.

A message from Colton appeared on the device’s screen, and Henry skimmed it.

His mind raced. Maybe Kellogg is working with whoever—

The door slammed into him, and he lurched, letting go of his weapon and CID. Both items drifted ahead of him as the impact drove him toward Autumn’s office.

Before he could grasp them, Kellogg shot past and knocked the objects further away before pushing off Henry, sending both doctors flying in opposite directions.

Henry crashed into the door, and Kellogg crashed into the outer wall of Autumn’s office, his gun trained on Henry. “Don’t move. Where’s the vial?”

Thank you for reading “Informed Consent” (Part 3). The next part of this episode drops next week.

The previous installment in this series is “Informed Consent” (Part 2). Read it here.

If you enjoyed this story, please hit the like button!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

February 10, 2051

Henry sat at an empty corner table in the crowded rec area, distributing ration packets. One packet per seat left him a few extra, and he put the remaining rations in the middle of the table. Bugguffin would need one, and she’d likely try to make them give her the rest as well.

Alex entered the large room with Bugguffin in his arms. His eyes met Henry’s, and then the pilot started toward him, pausing several times to let other personnel pet the black cat.

Alex took one of the chairs across from Henry. “Topaz and Claire and Autumn will be here soon. Autumn’s busy needling the other two. I’m surprised she didn’t want to poke Bugguffin.”

Henry smiled.

Bugguffin’s neck stretched toward the packet in front of Alex. “Mawrrawr!”

The pilot grinned and opened it for her. “I guess she better eat before she goes crazy.”

Henry nodded in agreement. “Why did the general need to meet with you?”

Alex’s smile faded as he told Henry about it, adding, “I’d like it if you and Autumn could hold off searching the doctors until you have more backup. With all the doctors that have turned out to be rebels…”

Henry nodded again and picked up his ration packet. Running his ungloved fingers over the textured sections of its wrapper, he forced himself to focus on the sensation of the folds and the noise of conversation in different parts of the room. Sometimes tuning in to one’s current situation with as many senses as possible could stave off flashbacks.

At least, that’s what he’d read once. He hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.

Thinking about the doctors who’d turned out to be traitors—or the rebels in general—usually bothered Henry, but lately, it had particularly disturbed him.

And Alex’s words combined with his current concerns over the substance in the needle were starting to make him think of Dr. Hughes.

“Mawr.” Bugguffin stared at him, her pupils much larger than they’d been before. She’d given Claire that same look during dinner last night. Claire had not given in.

“If you eat too much, your stomach will not be happy,” Henry chided.

Alex grinned, then glanced past him. “Hey guys.”

Autumn took the seat beside Henry, and Claire and Topaz sat on the adjacent side of the table.

“Glad to see you’re both still in one piece.” Alex reached for another ration packet.

Autumn smiled. “Did you fill Henry in, Alex?”

The pilot nodded, then glanced at Claire, who was reaching for a second packet. “You don’t need to grab one for Bugguffin. I already fed her.”

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“Colton’s here,” Topaz whispered.

The engineer sat next to Alex. “I met Dr. Burke near the general’s office. She said he was still keeping Major Barr distracted, so she’d message him that he could send the major back to engineering, and then she’d update him on the search Gerard and I did—did the general tell you about that?”

“I told them.” Autumn opened her ration packet. “What did you find?”

Colton informed them of Webb’s being in Baines’s room and of the fire. “Webb must have either used a password cracker like we had or entered Baines’s passcode. Either way, I think he’s involved with the rebels.”

“Any idea how the fire started?” Topaz asked.

Colton shook his head. “Albert messaged he doesn’t know what happened.”

“What about the smoke detectors?” Claire asked. “Do you know why they didn’t work?”

“Could their batteries have died?” Topaz added.

“We’ll check for that. I’m wondering if someone got into the smoke detectors’ computerized systems and compromised their monitoring abilities so they’d think there wasn’t smoke in the area.”

Topaz frowned. “That’d make sense. The question is, did Webb monkey with the systems and then start the computer fire himself, or does he have a teammate helping him?”

“Good question.” Colton opened his packet. “Barclay and Baines were working together, so it wouldn’t be surprising if—”

“Major Barr,” Henry whispered.

“Not again,” Alex muttered.

The major strode toward their table. “Engineer Close.”

“Sir.” Colton rose and turned—likely trying to shield Bugguffin from view, although she’d already disappeared. “Is something wrong?”

“No, but our temporary station head would like every engineer’s shield checked for…we’ll say ‘rebel maintenance.’ I’m going to get that check out of the way as soon as possible, so unfortunately…you’ll have to report back to engineering as soon as you finish breakfast. No socializing. Understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Later you’ll help with station maintenance.” Major Barr turned and smiled at Autumn. “Dr. Hampton.” He marched off without acknowledging the others.

Colton resumed his seat and reached for his packet, his hands shaking. He must have noticed, because a heartbeat later they steadied.

Topaz touched his arm. “Are you okay?”

“I was expecting him to tell me I’d have to skip breakfast. I don’t know why he didn’t.”

Henry had been expecting the same thing. He frowned. “Perhaps when he saw another division head was present, he reconsidered ordering you to go without it.”

Autumn smiled dryly. “Unlikely, but that would be a nice change.”

Colton had already swallowed half the packet and was working on the remaining half. He nodded, but Henry wondered if they were thinking the same thing.

Or Barr has something worse planned.

“Uh, guys?” Alex looked down at his lap, then up at the others. “Bugguffin’s asleep.”

“Wow, in here?” Topaz glanced around the room. “How’d she do that?”

“I don’t know, but after we’re done, I have to meet Lew and start searching pilots. How am I going to do that with her sleeping on me?”

Henry empathized with Alex’s concern for the cat, but he also knew the search took precedence, as it would over any of the rest of them sleeping. “You’ll have to wake her up and move her. Carefully.” Of course, he didn’t want Alex scratched by a grumpy feline either. “Or maybe I—”

“Henry, I can’t wake her up. That’d be mean.”

Claire gave him a sympathetic look. “I could try lifting her off of you without waking her, but I don’t know if—”

“Or…” Topaz grabbed another ration packet and stood. “Sorry, Colton, but can I get past you?”

“Sure.” Colton finished off his packet, folding it up to throw it away as he rose and stepped to the side.

Topaz gave him a nod of thanks before moving around his empty chair to bend over Bugguffin.

She ripped the packet open, and Bugguffin’s head shot up. “Mawr!”

Topaz chuckled. “All right, get off the pilot’s lap and you can have a small portion of this.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Colton lined up with the engineers waiting outside Major Barr’s office. Inside, the division head and three station guards were checking everyone’s shields.

A few engineers stood behind him, and his pulse quickened. He hated having them—or anyone other than his friends, really—behind him.

Slowly, the line inched forward, and after so long, Colton surreptitiously checked his watch. Great. It’d be time for the second morning patrol soon.

Hopefully, he’d be available to check the space fighters—“Close!” Major Barr barked from inside the open hatchway, and the engineers in front of Colton moved aside to let him through, smirking at him as he went past.

Colton’s chest tightened. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and he hadn’t let his shield out of his sight, so no one should have been able to tamper with it. Still, he couldn’t help but feel nervous as he reached the front of the line.

He had already moved the items in his jacket to his belt and pants pockets, so once he was inside the room, all he had to do was take off his jacket and hold it over one arm while he removed his shield with his other hand.

Station Guard Stewart held out his hand for the jacket. “Let me take that.”

“Thank you.” That made it easier. He disconnected the shield from its uncharged battery, then slipped the network of exposed and insulated wire off. Barr reached for it.

Station Guard Duy seemed unaware of the major; he stepped forward and took the shield from Colton. “We’ll be quick, Engineer.”

“Thank you.”

Behind Duy, Station Guard Hernandez winked at Colton.

Colton managed to keep his expression blank.

He expected Barr to be angry, or at least annoyed, but instead, the major seemed calm.

Colton’s heart pounded even faster.

“Nothing here.” Duy turned the shield so Barr could see it. “You don’t see anything, do you sir?”

“No. Your checking was adequate.” Major Barr turned to Colton. “You’re dismissed.”

“Yes sir.” Colton accepted the shield from Duy and hurriedly put it back on, then pulled his jacket on over it. He exited the major’s office and returned to the main area.

Alex waited for him by one of the tables. Evidently, checking the pilots’ shields had taken a lot less time than checking the engineers’—despite Major Barr’s having the guards to help him.

Colton approached the table, and Alex whispered, “They clear your shield?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Alex led the way.

Once they were in the corridor, Colton asked, “Is something wrong?”

“No. I just wanted to get you out of there.”

Colton let his breath out. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I figured if Barr asks, we needed you to fix something.”

Colton frowned. “Oh—did you message that you needed an engineer?”

“Why deal with the person pretending to be the farmer when I can talk to the cow for free?”

Colton laughed.

Alex grinned. “Actually, I figured you’d be checking the space fighters before the next patrol.”

“Thanks. I do need to do that…After that, I guess I’m on some kind of maintenance.”

“I’m on the first afternoon patrol. I’ll stick with you until then.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry stood at an examination table in the medical bay, checking over the shield he’d placed on top of it. He finished and handed the protective wiring back to Dr. Oakes. “Clear.”

Duy’s partner, Station Guard Baumann, gestured to the next doctor.

Dr. Kellogg stepped forward and handed Henry his shield.

Since Station Guards Stewart, Hernandez, and Duy had already checked and cleared the other guards’ shields, Autumn had requested Baumann help her and Henry check the other doctors’ in the main section of the medical bay.

Baumann stood next to them, keeping an eye on the medical personnel while Henry and Autumn checked their shields.

When they’d cleared the last one, Autumn dismissed the doctors, thanked Baumann, and then sent him back to his quarters.

The doctors either left the bay through corridor hatchways or returned to their quarters.

As they cleared out, Autumn whispered to Henry, “I’m going to my office to message the general. Are you coming?”

“In a moment,” he whispered back, eyes on Oakes, Kellogg, and another doctor, Ikeda. They were talking near the entrance to the doctors’ quarters.

Autumn followed his gaze. “Go ahead.”

Henry nodded and headed toward them, knowing she’d be following him and ready to draw her weapon.

Drs. Kellogg and Ikeda headed off in the direction of their quarters as Henry approached, and Oakes glared at him. “What do you want?”

“What were you talking with them about?”

“None of your”—Oakes apparently noticed Autumn. “Ikeda asked how my family was doing.”

“That was all?” Autumn drew up beside Henry.

“Yes, Doctor, that was all.” Oakes let his breath out. “I’m not with the rebels.”

Autumn eyed him. “I never said you were. You’re dismissed now.”

“Yes, Doctor.” He left.

Autumn exchanged a look with Henry, and then they entered the hallway that led to the various doctors’ rooms. Once they’d confirmed that the other three seemed to have gone to theirs, they headed to Autumn’s office.

Autumn locked the door behind them, and Henry grabbed another chair and positioned it across from her desk. The other chair was already occupied by Bugguffin.

Topaz and Claire had dropped her off before they went to search the operators.

Autumn paused to stroke the cat’s head, then moved to her chair and took out her CID.

While she typed, Henry sat and tried to relax. His spine was rigid.

Autumn stopped typing and put her device on her desk, then reached over to use her computer. “I’ve received a new email…Henry.”

“What?”

“The information we sent on the substance in Barclay’s needle matches that of a substance that went missing from an overseas lab…” Autumn’s eyes met his. “One that isn’t supposed to exist.”

“You mean…”

“Illegal research.” Autumn continued reading silently, then let her breath out. “The substance in the needle is a small dose of a new bioweapon that was manufactured to get past the blood-brain barrier and completely shut down the nervous system. Death would be nearly instantaneous.”

Henry leaned back in his chair. “Do they know who made it? Or how much is out there?”

“There’s a team on Earth that’s figured out some of the people involved—apparently, our contact was only informed of it when he started digging into this for us.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Yes. And to answer your second question…As far as anyone knows, there were two vials of the bioweapon. One went missing.”

“So, it—or some amount of it—could be here.”

She nodded grimly.

“Do you need to report this to the general?”

“No, our contact copied him into this email thread.” Autumn sat back. “Where would it be hidden? Somewhere the engineers could access it…” She frowned. “Maybe in Dr. Rogers’s old room, or Dr. Long’s.”

Autumn opened a desk drawer, drew out two pairs of gloves, and rose. “We already searched them both, and we wouldn’t be likely to search them again. Either of those rooms would make a great hiding place. And Barclay could have gone to the doctors’ quarters on the pretense of fixing something there.”

Henry stood. “Should we call one of the guards?”

“No. I want to keep this as quiet as possible.” She moved toward the door, then stopped. “Henry—I want you to stay here.”

“Why?”

Her eyes met his. “Because I told you to.”

Perhaps she was thinking about another dangerous substance too.

“Autumn, if this is about Dr. Hughes—thank you for caring about me, but I’m going with you. If not to help you search, at least to guard the room while you’re searching. You should have backup—especially since we do not know how many rebels are at this station. Someone else could be looking for it. Isn’t that why you wanted to keep this quiet?”

“…You’re right. Let’s go.”

Thank you for reading “Informed Consent” (Part 2). The next part of this episode drops next week.

The previous installment in this series is “Informed Consent” (Part 1). Read it here.

New to the series and not familiar with what happened with Henry and Dr. Hughes? Check out Episode 4, “Substance,” starting with Part 1 here.

If you enjoyed this story, please hit the like button!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 10, 2051

The lights of the medical bay appeared dimmer than usual, and the examination tables were creakier. Alex changed tables twice in search of one that didn’t make a ton of noise when he sat on it. By the third table, he gave up and just hoped it wouldn’t break.

Henry appeared out of nowhere carrying an assortment of needles for Alex’s supplement injections. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. Are you ready, Fletcher?”

Why the formality? “No.”

“That’s all right, Fletcher.”

Alex frowned, but rolled up his sleeve and braced himself without another word.

Sometime later, he pulled the thick material back down.

“Roll ‘em back up, Fletcher.” Henry brandished yet another needle.

Why does he keep calling me that? “I thought that was the last injection.”

“It was, but this is the last last.”

“The what?”

Henry gestured at his sleeve.

Suppressing a sigh, Alex pulled it up. “This better be the last one.”

“Informed consent, Fletcher!”

“What?” Alex fought a reflex as Henry administered the last last injection.

Henry dropped the used needle in the trash, then smiled at him. “Informed consent, Fletcher. That’s how we’re going to win this war.” He strolled away, whistling.

“Okay then. Can I leave now—”

“Informed consent, Fletcher! Always remember—”

Alex jerked awake, the examination table holding his weight without so much as a squeak. “What the—”

“Nightmare?” Colton stood beside the table, his eyes filled with concern.

Alex let his breath out. “Ehh, sort of. I can’t believe I nodded off. How come you didn’t wake me up?”

“Since we’re the only ones here, I thought it would be safe to let you sleep until Henry came. I didn’t realize you were having a bad dream until you started breathing harder, and then you woke up. I’m sorry—”

Alex waved it off. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Henry came out of Autumn’s office carrying two supplement kits. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. Are you ready—”

Now the dream felt all too real. “No. You don’t have our informed consent.”

Henry’s eyebrows went up, and then he chuckled. “Good one, Alex.” He put the kits on a smaller table and moved it closer to the other two.

Alex frowned, squeezing the exam table to make sure he really was awake. “Don’t you need our informed consent before you inject us with anything?”

Henry’s brow furrowed. “Oh. I thought you were joking. Technically, I should need it, but practically, I don’t.” He opened the first kit. “Real informed consent is rare. Usually, it only serves as something for doctors, scientists, lawyers, politicians, and pharmaceutical companies to mention in passing. Who is getting his injections first?”

Colton glanced at Alex. “Do you want to get yours over with?”

No, but I don’t want to push you into—“Yee-es.”

The engineer turned to Henry. “I’ll go first.”

Henry nodded and uncapped the first needle.

Alex sighed. “Good thing the psych evals I had years ago didn’t involve needles. I never would have passed.”

“I’m glad you did.” Colton rolled up his sleeve.

Alex smiled, then lowered his voice. “Speaking of needles, Henry, anything new?”

“Yes. Autumn is waiting to hear back from an official who is looking into the one Barclay tried to stab Quinn with.” Henry put the first needle into the trash.

“There’s another side to it as well.” Colton’s eyes followed the next injection. Calm as he was, he was obviously cautious toward needles, something Alex fully approved of. “Station Guard Stewart was wondering how Barclay hid the needle, so about 20 minutes ago he got the temporary station head’s permission to bring Barclay’s shield to engineering for Dr. Burke and Albert to check. They found a triggering mechanism in the section of wire that would have fit over his right arm.”

Alex pictured it. A personal shield was a lot like the shield on a space fighter, with a network of wire that directed electrical blasts fired at range away from the wearer and into a battery attached to his or her belt.

Much of the personal shield’s wiring was covered with insulating rubber and was designed to fit under a wearer’s jacket, except for the lowest section of wiring, which stuck out from beneath it to attract electricity.

Alex looked at Colton. “So, the needle was hidden within a more insulated part of the shield, and set up in such a way that all he had to do was hit some kind of switch to release it?”

“Yeah.”

Alex let his breath out. “Did they check Baines’s shield?”

“Yes. His wasn’t modified.”

Henry threw away the empty kit. “So, some rebels have modified shields, and some do not.”

Colton turned to him. “Dr. Burke is telling the general. He’ll want to discuss it with Autumn, but do you want to tell her”—Autumn’s office door opened, and she walked out, pausing to tell Henry, “I’m going to meet the general.” She gave the other two a nod, then left the medical bay.

Alex and Henry’s CIDs buzzed.

Alex checked his. “I need to go to the general’s office after we’re through here.”

Henry replied, “Autumn messaged me to get us a table for breakfast.”

Alex eyed the needles in the trash. “I forgot about breakfast.”

Henry smiled wryly, then opened the second kit.

Alex suppressed a grimace. Maybe he should have gone first.

____________________________________________________________________________

Topaz woke to loud purring and a furry head rubbing against her hair. She turned over to find Bugguffin coiled close.

The feline’s pupils were huge. “Mawr.”

“Good morning to you too.” Topaz sat up, and the cat jumped off the bed and turned in a circle, eyeing her expectantly.

Across the floor, Claire smiled as she got off her bed. “I guess she’s hungry. I wonder why she didn’t try to wake me for breakfast.”

“Maybe after you wouldn’t let her extort a second packet of food from you last night, she decided you were a lost cause.” Topaz bent to pet Bugguffin. “Don’t worry, we’ll feed you soon”—her CID buzzed at the same time Claire’s did.

They checked their devices, and Topaz frowned. “The general says to meet him in his office in fifteen minutes. And bring Bugguffin.”

Claire nodded. “He sent me the same message.”

After they both used the bathroom, they dumped the contents of Bugguffin’s litterbox—a crate they’d repurposed for the task by adding torn-up paper—into the room’s trash incinerator, refilled the box with fresh paper, and then left their quarters with Topaz carrying Bugguffin.

On their way to Gonzalez’s office, they passed several operators, station guards, and pilots. Most of them asked if they could pet Bugguffin, and since there was still time before they were supposed to meet the general, Claire and Topaz stopped so they could.

They reached the corridor that would lead to the general’s office at the same time as Morgan and several other engineers apparently on their way to check the space fighters of the pilots on the first morning patrol.

Bugguffin hissed at Morgan.

He glared back. “Stupid excuse for a cat.”

Bugguffin looked satisfied.

None of the engineers asked to pet her.

When they reached the general’s office, Gonzalez let them in, then gestured for them to sit next to Autumn, who appeared to be studying a diagram.

Autumn passed Claire the diagram as soon as the pilot was seated, and Claire tilted it so Topaz could see too.

Topaz eyed it. “An upgraded personal shield?”

Gonzalez resumed his seat. “That is a sketch Dr. Burke made of Engineer Barclay’s personal shield. She and Engineer Burke discovered…” He explained what they’d found, and Topaz’s chest tightened. How many of these shields did the rebels make?

Another knock came at the door, and Gonzalez got up to answer it. He let Alex in, and the younger pilot sat beside Topaz while the general re-locked the door and returned to his chair. From it, he surveyed the group. “Seeing as how we don’t know who has a shield like Barclay’s and who doesn’t, I am going to order a search within every division.

“I’ve already told Station Guards Stewart, Hernandez, and Duy about this. They’ll search the guards. Pilot Fletcher, you and Pilot Linton will search the pilots. Pilot Price and Operator Bailey, you will search the operators. Dr. Hampton and Dr. Phillips will search the doctors.

“I’ll have Station Guards Stewart, Hernandez, and Duy assist Major Barr in searching the engineers. Considering how many rebels have come from his division, the major can hardly object to their help, especially as they’ll be acting under my orders.

“That will keep Dr. and Engineer Burke and Engineers Reed and Close from having to be involved in the search. I’d prefer they not be, especially”—an impatient knock came at the door.

The general smiled. “That will probably be the major now. Operator Bailey, if you would put the cat on my desk…”

Surprised, Topaz lifted Bugguffin onto the general’s desk. She sniffed it, then flopped on her side, tail twitching contentedly.

“Thank you.” Gonzalez rose to answer the door, inviting Barr in a moment later.

The Head of Engineering moved stiffly toward the general’s desk, then froze, his eyes locking on Bugguffin, who stared back. “What is that cat doing in here?”

Gonzalez sat behind his desk and stroked Bugguffin’s head. “I thought she needed an airing, Major.”

Major Barr’s jaw tightened. “What did you want to see me about, sir?”

“Something’s come to my attention regarding the rebels…” As the general filled him in on their most recent discovery—leaving Stewart, Dr. Burke, and Albert’s names out of it—Bugguffin rose and moved closer to him.

Gonzalez scratched her under the chin. “As soon as you finish your search, Major, report your findings to me immediately.”

Major Barr nodded. “I assume the guards will do the same?”

“They will.”

The Head of Engineering nodded again. “We will attend to it, sir.”

“Thank you, Major.” The general’s smile was civil.

Topaz admired his being able to smile at the major without obvious effort. She wondered if the others felt the same way.

“Is that all, sir?” Barr asked.

“No, there are a few other things I need to discuss with you.” His gaze swept across the others. “The rest of you can begin your searches after you eat breakfast. Don’t forget to feed the station’s cat.” He nodded to Bugguffin.

“Yes sir,” they answered together, and Claire scooped up Bugguffin, who nestled into her arms.

Topaz followed her out, but not before she caught a glimpse of Major Barr’s face.

It was almost purple.

Outside the general’s office, Autumn whispered, “Claire, Topaz, I’ll give you your supplement injections, and then we can meet the others for breakfast. Henry should be holding a table for us in the rec area. Colton may or may not meet us, depending on whether he and Gerard finish in time.”

Alex frowned. “Henry gave Colton and me our injections not that long ago, and Colton didn’t say anything about a project he and Gerard were working on.”

“The general asked Dr. Burke to relay orders to them. That’s why he is still talking to Barr, so the major won’t be back in engineering for a while.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Colton watched the hallway while Gerard used a brute force password breaker on the keypad for Baines’s room.

The initial search of the rebels’ rooms, carried out by Stewart and Hernandez under Gonzalez and Barr’s supervision after Barclay and Baines were first arrested, hadn’t revealed anything.

Dr. Burke had told Colton and Gerard that the general wanted them to perform a second search, but this one was to be without the major’s knowledge, not only to keep Gerard’s association with the others hidden, but also because the general didn’t trust Barr not to mishandle any discoveries they made in their search.

They’d already been in Barclay’s quarters, but their search had yielded nothing noteworthy.

Hopefully, they’d find something useful in Baines’s.

“We’re in.” Gerard’s voice was barely audible. He opened the hatch door and entered the rebel’s room, using his CID to scan Baines’s quarters for any microphones or cameras that shouldn’t have been there.

A few moments later, he put his CID away and gestured, and Colton joined him, shutting the door behind them. The lock clicked automatically.

His lock’s working.

Colton and Gerard quickly searched the small room that contained Baines’s bed and the set of drawers built into the wall beside it, their gloves preventing them from leaving fingerprints.

When they finished, they moved through the open hatchway that led to the rebel’s bathroom.

Colton checked the toilet area on one side of the bathroom while Gerard checked the shower directly across from it. Finding nothing, Colton turned his attention to Baines’s uniform rack, positioned against the wall between the toilet and the shower, Gerard joining him.

Nothing here either—His CID buzzed with a message from Albert, their lookout in the main section of engineering.

Can’t meet for lunch.

Colton’s stomach tightened as he turned the device so Gerard could read the message too.

Something had called Albert away, which meant they were on their own—the automatic lock clicked.

Gerard darted into the shower, Colton right behind him. They flattened themselves against the wall close to the hatchway and held their breath.

Someone entered the main area of Baines’s quarters and began searching it, opening and closing drawers and moving the rebel’s bedding.

Whoever it was would reach the bathroom in a moment.

Gerard signed, “Pillowcase,” then shrugged off his jacket and held it by the lapels, the inside facing him.

Pillowcase? Colton understood a split second later when Engineer Webb entered the room, walking right past them.

Gerard lunged and flung his jacket over Webb’s head.

Webb yelped and tried to twist away, but Gerard held him fast.

Colton sprinted into the main room, grabbed Baines’s pillowcase, and then rushed back to the other two.

Gerard saw him coming and moved to the side, pulling his jacket with him.

Colton pulled the pillowcase over Webb’s head, then ran with Gerard. The other engineer reached the locked hatchdoor and pulled it open, leaping into the hallway with Colton on his heels.

They raced into the main section and found a crowd of engineers gathered around the computers. One computer was on fire, and Albert and several other engineers were spraying it with fire extinguishers. Gerard hurried to grab one, and Colton took advantage of everyone else’s distraction to leave the area.

He had to tell the general that Webb had been in Baines’s quarters.

After that, if there was time, he’d try to find out why he hadn’t heard any of the section’s smoke detectors go off when the fire started.

Thank you for reading “Informed Consent” (Part 1). The next part of this episode drops next week.

The previous installment in this series is “Bugguffin” (Part 4). Read it here.

If you enjoyed this story, please hit the like button!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 9, 2051

Gonzalez shook his head. “I will ask the station guards to take the other prisoners out—unless they have anything to say?”

Station Guard Stewart hefted a dazed Barclay to his feet. The engineer groaned.

Baines only snarled as Station Guard Hernandez cuffed him, Claire covering Quinn with her weapon.

Gonzalez turned back to Izzy. “But the pilots stay.”

“All right.”

“And you’ll both be handcuffed and fully searched for weapons.”

“Fair,” Quinn answered.

The guards didn’t find any weapons on them other than their electrical pistols, which they confiscated. When they checked their boots, they found two thin plastic bags, one in Izzy’s left boot and one in Quinn’s. Each thin bag held an even thinner envelope.

Station Guard Hernandez eyed the one he’d found, then glanced at the one his partner held up. An unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them, and they returned the envelopes to where they’d found them. Station Guard Hernandez turned to the general. “I think we should have these analyzed for any toxins or communicable diseases, sir.”

Gonzalez nodded. “I’ll have a doctor collect them.”

“Yes sir.” The guards spoke together, then left with the other two prisoners.

The general focused on Izzy and Quinn. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“The contents of those letters, actually.” Quinn looked him in the eyes. “When you read them, you’ll find that they’re from the government, authorizing us to quietly look for rebels at the station and do whatever we can to disrupt them here and through their networks.”

“Networks?” Claire asked.

Quinn faced her. “Yeah. The rebels have more than one.”

He turned back to the general. “They also have at least two opposing factions. We haven’t figured out what caused the division, but some of the rebels on Earth are working with the ones in space, and some of them are not—in fact, they’re actively fighting them. But some are fighting them while they pretend to work with them. That’s where we were supposed to come in.”

Alex frowned. “The government wanted you to trick one set of rebels into thinking you were working for them against the others?”

“Yeah.” Quinn didn’t take his eyes off the general. “We were given the letters in case something went wrong—if we were suspected by our own side, for instance.”

His jaw tightened. “And in case our words needed extra weight. So, after the letters are checked for contamination, we ask you to read them and then contact the people who signed them. They’ll tell you. And watch your back while you’re doing all of this, because I don’t think half your people can be trusted.”

Quinn turned to Claire. “I don’t know if you’re involved—you were friends with my friend once, so I hope you aren’t—particularly since you know what the rebels are like.”

Claire’s spine tightened. He knew she’d been captured.

He went on. “We know Fletcher’s involved, or he wouldn’t have lied about seeing the engineers give me the diagram. Pilot Goldberg watched for me while I grabbed it—which I did to help catch those engineers and expose them as rebels—and he told me Fletcher was speaking to the oh-so-trustworthy Close while I was collecting the paper.

“Since Close was the only one who got close to Pilot Goldberg’s bag—when he tripped and fell into it—we figured he took the diagram. At first, we thought he was after rebels too, and suspected us, but if he had, he would have reported us when the theft took place, and he didn’t.

“In fact, I suspect he worked with Fletcher and Linton to help set us up. Fletcher lied about our activities. Linton spilled paint on me so he could take my jacket. Close provided the stolen diagram which Linton sewed into my jacket.

“I’ve got to hand it to the three of you—I never would have seen that coming. Not even after Linton brought the cleaned jacket back and asked me to try it on to make sure it hadn’t shrunk. Unless…” His voice trailed off.

Out of her peripheral, Claire saw the general glancing between her and Alex. Without taking her eyes off the other two, she nodded, and guessed Alex did the same.

I believe them too, sir.

The general broke the silence. “You are right that Pilot Fletcher didn’t see you. Engineer Close did. There was a report about what happened—given to me in person, and then sent again, directly to my CID, so we’d have an electronic record of it to work with. Pilot Price is the one who lied. Not for nefarious purposes, but to draw out the rebel engineers.”

Quinn nodded slowly, as if the general had confirmed what he was already thinking. “Thank you for telling us that, sir.”

Gonzalez nodded. “If you were rebels—particularly ones with allies in the government—you would already know from reports that all three of them have been instrumental in fighting the rebels, in which case, your complaints against them would only be a futile effort to throw my suspicion on them.”

Izzy spoke. “We have read those reports sir, but we couldn’t help but wonder.”

The general smiled. “No, they did not decide to betray the country. Nor do I believe you did. However, until we can read your letters and confirm they are genuine, you will remain in your room, guarded by other pilots.”

“We can stay in holding cells, sir,” Quinn answered. “That would preserve our cover if there are other rebels on board.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez shook his head. “None of them would be able to visit you, and if we allowed you CIDs, that would make them suspicious. We would have to release you before long anyway. It would be better if you avoided it completely. Besides, by working with us to apprehend the engineers here, you can still maintain your cover with the other faction.”

“Thank you, sir.” Quinn smiled for the first time since he’d entered the room. “There is one other thing. We have a contact on Earth who sent us to retrieve the diagram and send a picture of it to him so he could see what progress is being made on building a magnetic field.

“He suspected the opposing faction here was preventing rebels on Earth from getting an accurate report of what they were working on by concealing some of their designs from the Head of Engineering, whose reports to the government the rebels on Earth somehow get access to. He gave us a code to get us into a network where we could upload an image of the diagram.

“We have another contact working for the rebels here who gave us a code to get into their network here. That’s where Baines and Barclay thought we’d be sending the diagram, to their teammates in space, wherever they are—they keep their location secret from a lot of their people—”

Maybe that’s why Taylor, Harley, and Yorke were killed, Claire thought. Maybe they knew too much, and their side thought they’d tell the government—

“But the government gave us a fake diagram to send to both factions instead. If the rebels build the magnetic field it depicts, they’ll burn a lot of time and resources and get nothing for it—it’s designed to not work.

“But if you check the intranet logs, you’ll see I logged off the intranet—I did that to access the networks and send the fake diagram to them.”

“Thank you.” Temporary Station Head Gonzalez smiled again. “Pilots Fletcher and Price will uncuff you and escort you to your quarters.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Colton stacked rations on an empty corner table, then took a seat that put his back to a wall. From there, he could watch the room while he waited for his friends. They hoped to have dinner together after their long day. He’d been in engineering for most of it, but Topaz had been by multiple times to update him, for which he was very grateful—he’d been worried about Claire and the other four.

After Alex and Claire had taken Izzy and Quinn to their room, they’d joined Topaz for their afternoon patrol, then waited with her in the medical bay while Autumn and Henry checked the needle and examined Quinn and Izzy’s letters and the bags they’d been stored in.

Once the doctors had determined the latter items weren’t contaminated, the group had brought them back to Gonzalez, and he’d contacted the officials who’d written and signed the letters.

The officials confirmed the letters were genuine, but the general still asked his own people to look into the situation too. As far as they could tell, Quinn and Izzy were on America’s side.

The general was concerned about—and more than a little angry over—his government’s keeping that information from him.

If he had known the pilots were on their own mission, he could have assisted them or at least stayed out of their way. Instead, everyone’s wires had ended up crossed—his own words, according to Topaz—and two innocent pilots were nearly arrested.

My fault, not his. Colton’s stomach turned. He was grateful to have been wrong about Quinn and Izzy, but he hated that he’d nearly gotten them sent back to Earth as traitors.

Izzy entered the rec area from the corridor directly in front of him. He and Quinn were now free to walk around the station.

Colton tensed as the pilot’s eyes met his, and then Izzy moved toward him.

Before Colton could speak, Izzy asked, “May I talk with you, Engineer Close?”

Colton nodded. “Would you like to sit?”

“Thank you.” Izzy sat across from him. “I’m going to meet Quinn in the pilots’ bay—to find our space fighters’ locations for tomorrow—but I wanted to thank you again for the electrical pistols.”

Colton assumed Izzy wasn’t actually thinking about the pistols—he was just being nice after what happened. “I’m sorry I came up with that plan to catch you. If I had left it alone—”

“No need to be sorry.” Izzy smiled a little. “If I’d been in your position, I would have done the same thing. You were right about the situation, you just didn’t have the full picture.”

“…Thank you.”

“Thank you for all you’ve done to protect this station—and our country.” Izzy smiled again. “I’ve heard about some of it.”

Colton frowned. “Did Alex—”

“No, I read it in reports.” Izzy rose. “Alex hasn’t talked to me much. It’s too bad since…Never mind.”

“Pilot Goldberg—”

“Izzy.”

“Izzy. Were you about to mention that you and Alex fought a group of engineers?”

Izzy looked at him. “Did he tell you about that?”

Colton nodded.

“Then why didn’t he say something when we met in engineering?”

“He probably assumed you would. And when you didn’t, he probably thought you didn’t remember.”

Izzy half-smiled. “He could have said something.”

“He probably thought it’d make things awkward—and he really doesn’t like making people feel awkward or uncomfortable.”

Izzy cracked a full grin. “Could have fooled me in that fight. Not that those cadets didn’t deserve it, ambushing him with weapons.”

Colton suppressed a shudder, even though he knew Alex and Izzy had won.

Izzy’s smile faded. “I’ll leave you alone now.”

“Thank you for talking with me.”

For the briefest moment, Izzy looked surprised. Then he smiled again. “Thanks.” He hesitated. “I’d like to do it again.”

Colton understood now why Izzy hadn’t kept in contact with Alex and Claire—he’d probably thought they’d make the first move if they wanted to. “So would I—you and Quinn are welcome to join us for dinner…or any time you’d like the company.” He thought of Gerard. “Unless you think it would hurt your cover.”

“Thank you…I’ll talk to him about it when I see him.”

Colton hesitated, then decided to voice his question. “If it’s not too personal, is your name short for Isaiah?”

“No, Israel. That’s where my mother’s from.” Izzy’s expression turned serious. “My father’s ancestors fled Germany to escape the Holocaust and came to America. If my mother’s family hadn’t moved to the U.S. over two decades ago, they never would have met…That’s one of the things I love most about America. People who otherwise wouldn’t meet can find each other in our land of freedom…That’s why I’d die to protect it.”

He started to leave, then glanced back. “I’ll…see you around?”

“I’ll see you.”

The pilot smiled again, slowly, then left the rec area.

Henry appeared a few moments later and sat across from Colton. “Autumn’s speaking with the general again, but she’ll meet us. Alex and Claire are with them too.”

“Thank you for letting me know. I invited Izzy and Quinn to have dinner with us.”

“Good.” Henry smiled.

Colton lowered his voice. “Do you and Autumn know what’s in the needle?”

Henry let his breath out. “Not yet. She’s discussing that with the general. They will probably have to contact someone in the government and ask if they can identify it from the data we’ve compiled. The needle is small—easy to conceal. There could be more—not again—look out!”

Colton turned.

A black streak shot into his lap, and a chuckle reached his ears as Topaz took a seat on the side opposite the other wall. “I figure she needs exercise now and then, and she doesn’t mind sprinting if it’s to someone she loves.”

Colton grinned and stroked the already purring Bugguffin.

Henry kept his eyes on the cat as he took a ration packet from its stack.

“I’ve got her, Henry.” Colton tried to put his friend’s mind at ease. Topaz had told him why Henry was uncomfortable around Bugguffin, and he didn’t want to make it worse.

Especially since Bugguffin was now eyeing Henry.

Henry sighed. “I know—I don’t dislike her, Colton. In fact, since Barr visited the medical bay insisting he needed stitches for what she did—which he did not, he only needed a bandage—I’ve liked her much more than I did before.”

“Henry, what if you tried petting her just a little?” Topaz asked. “You don’t have to let her on your lap, of course, but…well, you should get to enjoy her company too.”

“…All right.” Henry let her sniff his hand first.

She licked it, and he jerked back.

“I think that was meant to be friendly…” Colton felt awful.

“I know.” Henry looked embarrassed. He tried again, and Bugguffin licked him, but that time he didn’t pull back. Not even when she rubbed her head against the backs of his fingers.

Topaz grinned.

Colton smiled at Henry. “I think she’s cleaning you.”

Bugguffin licked his hand again, then rubbed her head more vigorously against it.

That time Henry pulled back. “No, she isn’t cleaning me—she’s using me to clean herself!”

Thank you for reading “Bugguffin” (Part 4). Read Part 1 of the next episode, “Informed Consent,” here.

The previous installment in this series is “Bugguffin” (Part 3). Read it here.

If you enjoyed this story, please hit the like button!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 09, 2051

A bin full of CIDs sat on the table in front of Colton, and he leaned over it, performing maintenance on the devices while allowing his shadow to conceal the folded jacket and miniature shield he’d placed behind it.

On the left side of the room, Dr. Burke and Albert worked at a computer, creating another design for a potential magnetic field for the station. Gerard performed shield maintenance several tables to Colton’s right.

The four kept an eye on their surroundings, Colton paying particular attention to the direction he assumed Lew would be coming from.

The pilot’s patrol had recently ended, but Lew would have to file a report before coming to engineering for Quinn’s jacket.

Major Barr’s door opened, and Colton’s spine went rigid. No, not now...

The major glanced at him, but strode off in a different direction, one hand ungloved, but wrapped in a bandage. He eventually stopped at a table to talk to Engineers Webb and Burrell, both of whom had arrived at the station on the second-last transport carrier.

Colton couldn’t hear what they were saying over the clatter of other engineers, but Webb shrugged, then walked over to where Morgan was checking electrical pistols a table away from Gerard and started talking to him.

Burrell turned back to whatever he and Webb had been working on, and Major Barr went back into his office.

Colton would have breathed a sigh of relief, except that the major hadn’t shut his door yet. Colton took another CID out of the bin and was about to open its battery case when a scream stopped him.

It came from the major’s office.

Webb and a few others hurried to see what was wrong.

Colton was torn between joining them and guarding the items on his table. Before he could decide anything, something twisted around his boots.

He looked down.

Bugguffin.

With her claws out.

Oh no.

Major Barr pushed past the engineers gathered just inside his office. His ungloved hand was now bandage-free. Red lines stretched across the back of it, and the overhead lights deflected off them. The claw marks weren’t superficial.

Colton wished he could disappear and take Bugguffin with him.

“If any of you finds that cat—any of you—I want you to bring it to me immediately.” Barr turned and stomped off, heading for the hatchway closest to the medical bay. As soon as he disappeared through it, the engineers clustered, apparently discussing what had happened.

While they were preoccupied, Colton scooped Bugguffin up, put her on the table, and slipped the shield over her back. He’d made it like a small vest with a belt, which he buckled across her stomach, trying to tighten it so it would stay on without squeezing too much. He hoped it wouldn’t bother her.

As he finished, Lew and Topaz appeared, headed in his direction.

When they reached the table, Colton passed Lew the jacket and handed Bugguffin to Topaz. “She scratched the major’s bite for him. Get her out of here.” And don’t ever let her near him after this. He knew that went without saying.

“Sorry if that caused you any problems.” Topaz cradled the cat. “Janet was playing with her, and she ran off.”

Lew folded his arms over Quinn’s jacket. “I’ll message you as soon as I give this back.”

“Thank you.”

The two humans and the cat left together, and Colton let his breath out, then started on the next CID.

Several minutes passed, and his stomach tightened. Why hasn’t Lew—he felt someone’s gaze, and somehow knew whose it was. He picked up another CID, using the movement as opportunity to tilt his head so his peripheral vision could confirm it.

Major Barr glared at him from just outside his office, then turned and headed for the hatchway that led to the pilots’ quarters and bay—and the general’s office. What on Earth is he—Colton’s CID buzzed, and he quickly checked it.

I got him to put it on. I don’t think he noticed anything, or if he did, he pretended not to. He and his friend are in their room now, supposedly to put the other jacket away.

Great. Thank you. Colton sent the response, then brought up a report he’d typed on his CID. He skipped sending it through the Engineering Database and sent it directly to Temporary Station Head Gonzalez.

____________________________________________________________________________

Claire stood just to the left of the general’s unoccupied desk, studying the office’s bare walls. She felt Alex’s eyes and glanced toward the closed hatch door, where he waited to let the others in.

They didn’t have to say anything; Claire knew neither of them liked the situation. The general had received Colton’s report and been about to move on with the next part of the plan— questioning Quinn, Izzy, Baines, and Barclay—when Lew sent him a report filled with bad news.

Lew had delivered the jacket as intended, and then he and Station Guard Duy had tailed Quinn and Izzy to the pilots’ quarters. While the new pilots were in their room, the other two hung out in the main area, pretending to discuss Lew’s recent patrol.

Station Guard Duy suggested they check the CIDs issued to them as part of the general’s plan to track anomalous device signals, and although they didn’t see any suspicious signals sent out in that moment, they found a record of unfamiliar signals from earlier that morning—right after Quinn and Izzy would have gotten to their room.

Now they were certain Quinn was a rebel.

Was Izzy?

The general came out of his bathroom and sat behind his desk.

He’d had Alex and Claire join him for the questioning of the suspects. Station Guards Stewart and Hernandez would be joining them too, both as part of their initial plan and because if all four suspects turned out to be rebels, the general wanted the Americans to outnumber them.

Gonzalez had instructed Alex and Claire to let him handle the initial questioning, but to jump in afterward with any thoughts or questions that seemed relevant to them. He’d told the guards the same thing.

A quick knock came at the door, and Alex answered it.

Quinn was at the front of the group. “Pilot Fletcher. I didn’t expect to see you.”

Claire guessed his sudden formality was the result of being in the general’s presence.

Izzy nodded a greeting, but Engineers Barclay and Baines didn’t bother to acknowledge Alex’s presence.

Station Guards Stewart and Hernandez entered last, nodding to Alex and then joining the other four in front of the general’s desk, as if they’d been summoned without hearing the reason for it too.

Major Barr appeared before Alex could shut the door, and without saying a word, the division head strode into the office and up to Gonzalez’s desk.

The other six gathered there moved out of his way.

Claire held back a frown. What’s he doing here?

Barr rested both hands on the general’s desk as he leaned forward to face him. His glove that had previously looked bumpy due to the bandage underneath it stuck out even more now. “I want something done about that cat. This station is no place for it. I want it out of here.”

The general raised his eyebrows. “She’ll be going back to Earth on the next transport carrier.”

“That’s not soon enough.”

“Why? What happened?”

“It invaded my office.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez retrieved a small notebook and a pen from one of his desk drawers. He started writing, but kept his attention on the Head of Engineering. “How did she accomplish that?”

“I—my door was open. I was waiting for an update from one of my engineers. The cat got in right when I was about to put a new bandage on, and when I tried to grab it, it scratched me.”

The general finished writing. “Duly noted.” He closed his notebook and returned it to its drawer along with the pen. “Anything else?”

The major glowered. “What are you going to do about the cat?”

“I’m going to send her back to Earth on the next carrier mission.”

“That’s it?” Barr sputtered. “What was all that writing for?”

“I made a note of your complaint. Now you are dismissed to return to your duties. And after what happened, I’d suggest always closing your door behind you.”

Barr straightened. “You’re not going to do anything else?”

The temporary station head met his eyes. “No, I am not. And Major—don’t barge into my office like this again.”

Barr stared at him, then spun on his heel and marched out. Alex locked the door behind him.

The general cleared his throat and turned to Quinn and the other five. “Now. About why I called all of you here. I’ve received a report from engineering that a physical copy of a very important diagram has gone missing.”

He took out his CID and lifted it as if to read the report. “It was last seen this morning.” His gaze swept the group. “You were all in engineering today. Did you witness anything unusual? Anything different?”

The engineers shook their heads.

The other four appeared to be thinking. Then Quinn exchanged a swift look with Izzy, and Claire’s chest tightened. They’re trying to figure out what to do next—or they’ve just decided.

The general’s eyes moved between the pilots and the guards. “I don’t expect you to know what the engineers are doing, but did you see anything that seemed strange?”

The guards shook their heads.

Quinn frowned. “No, I didn’t.” He looked at his friend. “Did you?”

“No.” Izzy nodded to Alex. “The only thing that might have been unusual was that Pilot Fletcher was in engineering.”

What? Claire didn’t understand Izzy’s response—was he trying to throw suspicion on Alex?

Quinn was talking. “That’s right, he was…Did you see anything, Pilot?”

Alex shook his head. “If I had, we wouldn’t be here now.”

Engineer Baines darted a glance at Quinn.

The general went on with the next part of the plan. He sighed. “All right. I hoped this was just a mistake, but…Pilot Fletcher, please search the guards.”

Alex gave them a basic pat-down and had them empty their pockets, then take off their boots so he could check them. “Nothing.”

“Then they can search the others.”

The guards started with the engineers.

“Just the usual tools, shields, and weapons.” Station Guard Stewart stepped around Baines to search Izzy.

Station Guard Hernandez searched Quinn, pausing as he touched his jacket. “There’s something…please remove your jacket.”

Quinn hesitated, then complied.

Station Guard Hernandez felt over the jacket, pressing the thick lining in the front.

Something crinkled.

Quinn froze, then turned to face Alex.

Izzy faced the engineers.

Baines and Barclay tensed, then exchanged a look.

Station Guard Hernandez looked at the general, who nodded. The guard removed a knife from his belt and slit open the jacket, exposing paper. He immediately handed the jacket to the temporary station head.

Brigadier General Gonzalez frowned. “This is the diagram, Pilot Peyton.”

“I wonder how that got there…” Quinn eyed the engineers. “That jacket’s been out of my sight for a while—someone spilled paint on it and then offered to clean it for me…Were you part of that?”

Barclay glared at him. “What, your rebel hide got caught and now you want to pretend we’re traitors too?” He shook his head. “Although I have to say, hiding something in your jacket that could easily be searched…”

“I put it in Goldberg’s bag,” Quinn retorted. “And I think your friend Close lifted it right after—he’s the only one who was near the bag.”

There it is. Claire hadn’t expected him to just blurt it out like that—but wait a minute, Quinn was talking like he was guilty of the theft, yet also somehow framed for it.

“What?” Barclay stared at the pilot.

“None of us stole—or lifted—anything,” Baines quickly added.

“Oh yeah? Why’d you signal us over, then?” Quinn stepped closer. “Our contact on Earth told us that when we got to engineering, there’d be two engineers pretending to put some prototype together, and they’d have the paper we were supposed to grab. When I came over, you passed it to me.”

“I did not!” Baines snarled.

Claire remembered what Colton had told her; he had thought the engineers hadn’t noticed when Quinn took the paper. Maybe Quinn was just trying to drag two innocent parties down with him, but something felt off to her. She took a risk. “Yes, you did.”

Izzy glanced at her, then focused on the engineers again.

“Pilot Fletcher lied,” Claire continued. “He saw you hand the diagram over—but he didn’t know exactly what was going on, so we set this up, hoping for answers. And now we can tell that you’re all traitors, stealing an important diagram—”

“Listen, rebel reject.” Barclay’s eyes turned to flint. “Baines and I weren’t even working on the magnetic field prototype. We were working on a new shield.”

“You’ve just admitted your involvement,” the general replied. “I never specified which diagram went missing.” He nodded to the guards, who, along with Claire and Alex, already had their weapons out. “Arrest—”

“You idiot.” Something flashed in Barclay’s hand as he lunged at Quinn.

Izzy stepped in between them. His left hand seized Barclay’s wrist and twisted it, redirecting the needle’s tip away from them. Barclay yelped and brought his other hand up to punch, but Izzy’s right hook connected with his face, knocking him sideways to the floor.

The needle fell from Barclay’s fingers, and Izzy caught it.

Baines tried to flee, but Quinn grabbed him.

“Hold it, all of you.” The general had his weapon out. “Goldberg, turn around with that needle. Slowly.”

Izzy did as he was told. “May I place it on your desk, sir?”

Gonzalez’s expression didn’t change. “You may.”

Izzy stepped forward and set it down carefully. “Please have the Head of Medical check its contents, sir. I don’t know what’s inside.” He glanced at Quinn, who nodded. “And before you arrest us, we’d like to talk with you…alone.”

The general smiled grimly. “Why alone?”

“We have important information to share that it’d be best for only you to hear.”

Thank you for reading “Bugguffin” (Part 3). The next part of this episode drops next week.

The previous installment in this series is “Bugguffin” (Part 2). Read it here.

If you enjoyed this story, please hit the like button!

And don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments. Is Bugguffin just too much cat for the major to handle?

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 09, 2051

Alex kept his voice low. “Lew’s probably eating breakfast with Janet in the rec area—Gerard’s on his way over.”

“Thanks.” Colton returned to the electrical pistols.

Alex nodded and made his way out of the section, heading for the corridor that would take him to the pilots’ quarters.

As soon as Colton had gotten a chance to look at the diagram he’d retrieved from Izzy’s bag, he’d recognized it as one Albert had uploaded to the Engineering Database on the previous evening. How it had ended up printed out and on the table where Engineers Baines and Barclay were supposed be working on a completely different project was anyone’s guess.

Quinn had been the one to take the paper, but he had slipped it into Izzy’s bag while Izzy had been casually scanning engineering. Izzy might have been Quinn’s lookout, or he might have been innocent of the theft and Quinn was only using his bag to conceal what he’d stolen.

Alex hoped Izzy wasn’t a rebel. He’d hate to think the guy who’d jumped into a fight to back him up against five angry engineers—all armed with wrenches, the cowardly little weasels—was selling out their country now.

Of course, there could be a reasonable explanation for Quinn’s actions. He might be on some sort of covert mission on America’s side. Or he might secretly be a kleptomaniacal stoat.

Alex found Izzy and Quinn in the main area of the pilots’ quarters, talking with Claire.

The new pilots still had their bags.

It hasn’t been that long since they were in engineering. They probably haven’t gotten a chance to unpack yet. Alex wondered what would happen when they did.

If only he could be there and see their reactions.

Unless they’re good at hiding them. Still, there’s always the chance—

“Alex! Nice to see you again.” Quinn smiled at him.

Alex smiled back. “Yeah, long time no see.”

Quinn chuckled.

Claire turned to Alex. “Izzy and I were just recounting one of our simulated flights.”

“Which he never said anything about before.” Quinn mock-frowned at his friend.

Izzy’s mouth twitched.

Quinn continued. “I wish I’d been in the same class as Claire at some point. Izzy says she killed it in training.”

Alex shook his head. “I’m sorry to interrupt then—”

“That’s all right,” Izzy said. “You weren’t.”

Alex was still wondering what would happen when they unpacked. “Have you seen your rooms yet?”

“Room. Thankfully I already know one of my roommates.” Quinn grinned.

Alex grinned back. “I guess you’ve been friends for a long time.”

Quinn nodded. “Yeah, a couple of years. But to answer your original question, no, we haven’t seen it yet.”

Izzy gestured to their bags. “Quinn thought it would be more efficient to go to engineering first. We were on our way to our room when we met Claire—”

“Alex! Claire!”

Lew’s voice made Alex turn. “Hey, Lew—what are you—”

Lew strode toward them with a large container, not unlike the one Oakes had tried to spill on Henry’s cookies days before. Something sloshed within. Lew was moving too fast for whatever was inside.

Claire must have sensed the same thing. She stepped a little closer to Alex.

Lew lifted the container as he got closer to the group. “I tried an experiment. What do you think of my new water-acrylic paint—ack!” He’d stopped too abruptly. A thick, beige substance shot over the rim of the container and splashed Quinn’s jacket. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine.” Quinn chuckled. He looked at the splatter, then shook his head. “I better change and wash this thing, though.”

Lew looked chagrined. “Let me wash it. It was my fault.”

“Thanks.”

Claire glanced between them. “I’ll…see you guys later?”

“Yeah.” Izzy smiled at her. “It was good seeing you again, Claire.” He held out a hand for Quinn’s bag. “Let me take that.”

Quinn passed it to him, then headed for the hallway that would lead to their room, Lew following to collect his jacket. Alex and Claire lingered in the main area to make sure Lew came back safely.

Alex glanced at Claire. “So, did you and Izzy train together a lot?”

Claire smiled. “You know the parts of training where you’d pair off with someone to spar or fly virtual fighters? We got assigned to work together a few times, and then we paired up whenever we could. And we studied for tests. We hung out a little in our free time, too, but…Well, Izzy tended to keep to himself. And I guess I did the same.”

In a way, it made him feel better to hear that about her. In the months he’d known Claire, he’d sometimes wondered if her quiet demeanor was the result of what the rebels had done to her.

“Then we ended up at different facilities,” Claire added, “and lost touch.”

Lew reappeared from the hallway, carrying Quinn’s jacket. He nodded to them.

Although Alex doubted anyone could hear them, he still lowered his voice. “Why’d you—”

“Colton asked me to get Quinn Peyton’s jacket—he thinks he knows how we can figure out whether one or both pilots are rebels.” Lew held it carefully. “He mixed this stuff. It’s just flour and water and won’t take too long to clean up.

“I stopped off at my room to pretend I put the jacket in something to soak, but I’m actually going to give it to Colton. After that, Janet and I have a patrol.” He glanced between them. “And we didn’t see you in the rec area earlier, so are you guys going to have breakfast?”

Claire nodded. “I’m just going to meet Topaz first. We figured Bugguffin could eat with us.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry’s stomach growled as he entered the rec area, his eyes scanning the large room for his friends. He spotted Alex at a corner table with ration packets piled in the middle of it and moved toward him. Six chairs, including the one Alex was sitting in, were arranged around the table, two on every side not against the wall.

Henry guessed they’d only need five chairs. Autumn had eaten a ration packet in her office and then hurried to the general’s office to discuss something with him. Henry doubted she’d finish in time to meet the others for their overdue breakfast.

Henry reached the table and sat across from his friend.

“Hey,” Alex greeted him.

Before Henry could reply, Colton appeared and took a seat next to him. “Dr. Burke’s doing her laundry. When she dries it, she’ll dry the other thing with it.” He lowered his already-quiet voice even more. “The engineers shouldn’t try to tamper with anyone’s uniforms, but just in case, we figured hers would be the safest from them.”

Alex smirked. “Yeah, I doubt any of them would have the guts to mess with her stuff.”

“Has Gerard noticed the two engineers doing anything suspicious?” Henry asked.

“Engineers Baines and Barclay have been at a computer together. They haven’t reported the diagram Quinn took as missing or stolen yet. No one else has either.

“Lew told me the pilots weren’t doing anything suspicious while he was in their room collecting Quinn’s jacket, but we know that doesn’t mean anything. I talked to the general, and as far as he knows, they’re not on any kind of secret mission.”

Alex shook his head. “I keep going back and forth over this. If they’re rebels, why would they stop a rebel attack?”

Henry frowned. “Unless it is like what happened to Taylor and the other two rebels.”

“Like the rebels wanted to eliminate their own?” Alex asked.

Henry nodded. “Or they could be doing what Clark did—disobeying orders for their own ends.”

Alex sighed. “I didn’t think of that. It’s just that Izzy…he helped me once when he didn’t have to.”

“Olive seemed like a nice person too,” Colton said quietly.

Alex stared at a ration packet in silence. Then he looked at the engineer. “I’m not getting incautious, Colton. I just hope it isn’t what we think it is—”

Movement near the hatchway off to Colton’s right attracted Henry’s attention. Bugguffin stood just inside the rec area, and an operator and a station guard were petting her. Then they glanced up and moved back, and Claire and Topaz entered the room behind the cat.

Bugguffin’s tail stood up as she turned and beelined toward Colton.

“Colton,” Henry whispered, “the cat—”

Bugguffin jumped into Colton’s lap. He chuckled and reached down to pet her, and she rubbed her head against his jacket, purring. Colton’s smile lit his face, and Henry relaxed slightly. It was nice to see his friend happy, and besides, his pants looked strong enough to protect him from cat claws.

Claire and Topaz joined the others at the table, Claire taking the seat beside Alex, and Topaz taking the chair from the remaining side that was closest to Colton. She grinned at him. “Aw, she really likes you.”

“Do you want her—”

“No, she looks comfy.”

Claire looked at Alex. “Anything new?”

Alex updated them, adding, “Now that we’re all here, I guess Colton can tell us the rest of his plan.”

Henry turned to face Colton as the engineer started talking. “I ran it by the temporary station head after I dropped off the jacket with Dr. Burke—”

Henry’s chest tightened as an unwelcome figure stepped into the room.

“—when the jacket’s dry—”

“Major Barr,” Henry whispered.

Colton stopped talking. He gently scooped up Bugguffin and hid her under the table, brushed the hair off his jacket, and picked up a ration packet.

Please clean your hands first. Henry couldn’t help but think it; he’d read about toxoplasmosis in a textbook. It said people tended to contract the parasitic infection from touching kitty litter or anything contaminated by cat feces and then eating (or otherwise touching their mouths) without washing their hands first.

Although Colton didn’t touch anything like that, Henry reminded himself.

Alex and Topaz began discussing a book her parents had sent her, and Henry pretended to listen while watching Major Barr with his peripheral vision.

The major moved to approach them, and Henry tensed even more.

He felt Colton do the same as Barr’s shadow fell across Topaz and the two of them.

He’d stopped a couple of feet away from Colton’s chair—and close to Topaz’s.

As if they’d only just noticed him, Alex and Topaz stopped talking. Both turned, with Claire, to face the major.

The division head didn’t even glance at them. “Late breakfast, Close.”

Henry’s blood burned in its vessels. Oh, how he hated Barr.

“Yes sir—I couldn’t get to it until now.” Colton met the major’s eyes. “I hope you’ve eaten, sir?”

“I did, Close. I also heard there’s now a cat at this station, and that you discovered it in one of the crates.”

“Engineer Morgan discovered the cat, sir.”

“Hmm. Have you seen it since?”

“No sir.”

“If you do…” Major Barr leaned closer at the same time Bugguffin’s tail brushed Henry’s knees.

Henry managed not to flinch, but somehow, Barr must have known he’d been startled. “Is something wrong, Dr. Phillips?”

Henry cleared his throat. “I was…only thinking of your spider bite, sir. I hope you haven’t been scratching it?”

The major stiffened.

Henry went on. “Scratching would make it much worse—potentially provoking a rash, for instance. At the very least, it would prevent it from healing—”

The major glared at Colton. “If you see the cat in engineering, remove it immediately. I won’t have it in my section. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

The major eyed him a few heartbeats longer, then turned and stormed out of the rec area.

Topaz glanced at Colton. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Are you?”

“I’m not the one he”—she set her teeth. “I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry if I just made the situation with him worse,” Henry said.

Colton smiled. “You didn’t—he’ll act however he decides to act. But thank you for getting him to leave.”

“You’re welcome. Perhaps we should get Bugguffin out from under the”—Henry glanced down and found the cat rubbing her face against his boots where they pressed against his shins. Why?

Alex must have noticed too. He gave Henry an apologetic look, then reached for the cat. “I got her.”

Claire’s jaw tightened. “Colton, could you make Bugguffin a personal shield like what we have? If she does run into Barr…”

The engineer nodded. “I’ll do that right after breakfast.” He took a cleaning wipe packet out of his jacket, ripped it open, and swiped his hands. Then he swiped his ration packet and opened it.

Henry let his breath out. Thank you.

Bugguffin mewed.

Thank you for reading “Bugguffin” (Part 2). The next part of this episode drops next week.

The previous installment in this series is “Bugguffin” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 09, 2051

Alex ran as hard as he could. The corridors had never felt so long. And he didn’t know why he was carrying extra weight. He looked over his shoulder to find Topaz clinging to him, piggyback.

“Faster!” she cried.

“I’m going as fast as I can!”

“It’s right behind us!”

“What?!” He glanced back again and almost plowed into a corner that hadn’t been there before. He swerved and kept running.

“Here it comes!”

For some reason, even knowing he might smack into a wall wasn’t enough to keep him from looking behind them.

A giant shampoo bottle careened around the corner they’d just passed, then charged after them.

What the—

“Don’t worry. I’ve got it!” Topaz whipped out a giant gun that looked nothing like her normal pistol and fired a huge blast of—something. It hit the bottle, and the entire thing exploded, sending a flood of gooey shampoo their way…

Alex jerked awake on his bunkbed. Oh, for crying out loud. Stupid dream.

He looked at his watch and suppressed a groan. It was about half an hour before he was supposed to get up, but if he went back to sleep, he might dream something worse.

At least he hadn’t dreamed about what happened on Earth four days ago. He hadn’t been there, but it was still bothering him.

Not to mention it raised the age-old question, What’s going to go wrong next?

Alex refused to consider it.

He pulled out his CID so he could message the others about breakfast. A new transport carrier was coming in that morning, so Colton and Henry were probably already awake and awaiting its arrival so they could help unload it.

Autumn was probably awake too, but it occurred to Alex that Claire and Topaz might still be asleep. He decided to wait half an hour before contacting them and instead messaged the other three.

They messaged back they’d have time after the carrier was unloaded.

Good. He’d get them all a table then.

When he entered the rec area, it was relatively quiet, with the majority of personnel there focused on eating before they went on duty. The conversation was mostly between Morgan and a few other engineers apparently waiting for the carrier to land so they could unload it.

Alex smirked. After the bug incident, Colton was the only one authorized to handle cargo meant for the engineers’ section; these engineers would only handle the crates meant for the main storage area—boring stuff like rations.

He turned to the left and found Topaz and Claire already sitting across from each other at a corner table, fiddling with ration packets.

Topaz noticed him and smiled.

He joined them, sitting next to her. “You two okay? You’re up earlier than you need to be.”

Claire looked down. “I had a dream and accidentally woke her up again.”

Alex winced. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“Was it about the attack?” His mind flashed to what the general had told them in his office four days before.

Rebels on Earth had tried to shoot down a plane carrying senators and U.S.G.F. members before it could land at a base in Texas. Two young pilots had learned about the conspiracy and killed them before they could get any ordnance off.

Those two pilots were now en route to the Moon Station on the transport carrier, but only the general and the personnel he trusted knew that; the government had kept the identities of the two pilots quiet. Hopefully that would prevent the traitors from being able to single them or their families out as targets.

“Thankfully, no.” Claire gave him a sympathetic look, then shook her head. “It’s ridiculous. It wasn’t even a bad dream. Only weird. I was being chased by a giant shampoo bottle.”

Alex stared. “What?”

“I know. Like I said, ridiculous.”

“So…did you get away from it?”

“Actually, it caught up to me, but I climbed up to its pump, then used it to empty the bottle. Once I did that, it stopped moving. Then I climbed down and got stuck in the shampoo. But then a giant puppy pulled me out. So come to think of it, it was a good dream.”

“I’m glad the puppy rescued you.” Topaz frowned. “I wonder why I don’t dream about puppies more.”

“I’m trying to figure out why I’m dreaming of giant shampoo,” Claire replied.

Alex glanced up as Henry passed by. “Hey, Henry. Has the carrier landed already?”

“Yes. I will see you three later.” Henry disappeared through a hatchway, the engineers following him.

Topaz grinned. “He always moves so fast when there’s a carrier landing.”

“He doesn’t want anything broken,” Alex answered. “I wonder if this transport carrier’s bringing more rebels.”

“How many haven’t?” Topaz retorted. “At least we’re getting two pilots this time, though.”

Claire lowered her voice. “Yeah. I was in a couple of classes with one of them.”

Alex looked at her. “Which one?”

“Izzy”—their CIDs buzzed.

Alex checked his. A message from the general: Pilots’ bay. There’s a cat in one of the crates.

That had to be code for something, but Alex didn’t know what. He whispered the message to the others as he rose, and they confirmed they’d received the same one as they stuffed their ration packets into their jackets and shoved back their chairs.

They drew their weapons and sprinted to the bay. Alex entered first, and when he took in the unexpectedly calm scene, he holstered his electrical pistol and moved forward, the other two doing the same.

Beside the transport carrier that had returned, a small group of personnel was gathered. Brigadier General Gonzalez, Henry, and Colton stood among them, looking down at something.

Alex moved past Engineer Morgan, a noxious stench greeting him. He froze when he saw what everyone was looking at. Inside an open-slatted crate, something moved. The flash of green eyes and flicker of black fur told him the rest.

____________________________________________________________________________

Claire stared. “Is this another NASA ‘experiment’?”

The general shook his head. “They didn’t mention sending a cat.”

One of the carrier pilots, Pilot Hauer, chuckled. “I think we picked up a stowaway.” His smile faded. “My guess is it squeezed into this crate of food and somehow wasn’t discovered during the loading.” He nodded to Morgan. “It went berserk when he tried to open the crate.”

“That cat’s sick,” the engineer snapped. “Good thing I’m wearing gloves, or it would have lacerated my hands.”

Claire held back a smirk.

“I ought to shoot it,” Morgan added.

The general’s eyes flashed. “You will do no such thing. We’ll have medical personnel examine it. If it’s carrying something communicable to us, we’ll isolate it and treat it and anyone who’s had contact with it will isolate and receive treatment so the disease can’t spread. Now, Engineer Close, open the crate.”

Claire would have liked to see Morgan try again, but she supposed the poor cat had been through enough dealing with him once.

Colton carefully lifted the lid, murmuring to the cat. “It’s okay, you’re safe here”—he broke off. “I think it pooped and threw up in the crate—probably the stress of launch and microgravity—could someone pass me a ration packet? He or she’s probably starving now.”

“Here.” Claire pulled hers out.

“Thank you.” Colton ripped it open, then folded it so it formed a kind of box, which he held in one hand as he opened the crate.

The cat bared its teeth and hissed, but then it must have realized Colton wasn’t there to harm it, as it abruptly stopped and stretched toward the food he was offering.

Colton held the packet steady while the cat devoured its contents, then gently pulled back when the feline started trying to nibble the wrapper. “Don’t eat that.”

Still stretching to follow the packet, the cat mewed.

Claire felt a piece of herself go out to it. She stepped closer, and the cat whirled.

Claire crouched and held out her fingers for it to smell. “Poor thing.”

Whether it liked the sound of her voice or just somehow knew it could trust her, Claire didn’t know, but the cat relaxed, and Claire cautiously stroked its furry chest.

It leaned in to her touch.

“Wow, nice,” said Pilot Hauer. “It likes you.”

The general smiled. “You can take it to the medical bay, Pilot Price.”

“Thank you, sir.” If it’ll let me.

“Careful of the…” Colton indicated the mess inside the crate.

Claire nodded and tentatively slipped both hands around the cat. When it didn’t protest, she lifted it. The cat seemed to warm to people quickly. Claire hoped it wasn’t missing someone now. “Ah. She’s a she.”

“How nice.” Morgan smirked. “We can make her our mascot. What are you going to name her?”

“That’s a good question.” The general nodded.

Morgan looked even more annoyed.

“I haven’t thought of a name, sir.” Claire glanced around. “Any ideas?”

“How about Bugguffin?” Topaz asked.

Claire smiled at the now purring cat. “Bugguffin. I like it.”

“Actually, I said MacGuffin, but Bugguffin sounds better.” Topaz grinned.

“Then I guess we’re headed to the medical bay, Bugguffin.” Claire scritched behind the cat’s ears as she turned to leave.

“Talking to a cat,” Morgan muttered behind her.

Alex shot back, “Well, she talks to you, doesn’t she?”

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry placed the last crate of medical supplies near the cabinets in the medical bay and glanced at his friends.

Autumn, Claire, Topaz, and Alex had Bugguffin on one of the examination tables and were going over her lab reports.

“So, she’s not carrying anything?” Claire asked.

“No,” Autumn answered, “she’s fine. Not even any fleas. If she was a stray, she wasn’t for long.”

“No collar,” Topaz said, “so she probably was.”

“Although, she seems comfortable with people,” Claire pointed out. “Maybe she has a person somewhere. Can we find out?”

“The temporary station head will ask when he reports this,” Autumn answered. “Whether she belongs with someone or not, she’ll have to go back to Earth on the next carrier. We don’t know what kind of effects space radiation could have on her.

“In the meantime, keep her in your room. You can let her out every now and then, but make sure you keep an eye on her. Morgan doesn’t like her, and she could make other enemies too…Not to mention if there are any rebels on board…” She didn’t finish.

“Thank you,” Claire answered.

“Got it.” That came from Topaz.

Bugguffin made a noise Henry couldn’t identify the meaning of, and then Claire turned and came toward him with Bugguffin in her arms. The black cat flicked her tail contentedly. No doubt she knew she’d established supremacy over the humans.

Claire’s uniform would be covered in cat hair before long.

Henry cleared his throat. “Is something wrong?”

“I was going to take her to my room, but I figured you’d like to pet her.”

That was thoughtful, and unfortunately, mistaken. “No thank you.”

Claire’s face fell. “You don’t like cats?”

The others had joined her.

Henry shook his head. “It is not that. One of the facilities I trained at had a cat, and one day she approached me during lunchtime. I think she wanted some of my food, but her method of requesting it was to go up on her hind legs and sink her front claws into me.”

As if on cue, Bugguffin stretched her rabbit-like hind paws, and Henry suppressed a grimace. He still remembered what the tiny needle-claws felt like. Goodness! She can’t even reach me at this distance.

Or at least he hoped she couldn’t.

Claire backed up. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“The cat probably wasn’t trying to hurt you,” Topaz said gently.

“I know. And I have no ill will toward Bugguffin, but I would rather not pet her.” Or deal with her in any other way.

Alex gave him a sympathetic smile. “We’ll keep her away from you.” He stepped back. “See everyone at breakfast? I’m going to check on Colton.”

They agreed to meet later, and Alex left.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex entered the perennially loud engineers’ section, and was not surprised to find Colton fiddling with electrical pistols. The pilot navigated around tables and engineers until he reached his friend. “Those couldn’t wait?”

“Gerard’s taking a bathroom break,” Colton answered.

“Ah”—Alex paused as the two new pilots entered the area, still carrying their duffel bags from Earth. One of them talked to the other as they moved through engineering.

Colton followed his gaze. “I think I recognize them from the files the general showed us…Quinn Peyton and Izzy Goldberg?”

Alex nodded. “Claire had two classes with Pilot Goldberg. I was in a class with him when I was 15.” He smirked. “He helped me with an…engineering problem. He’s got a killer right hook.”

Colton chuckled. Then he abruptly stopped.

Alex glanced around, but didn’t see Major Barr or anything else that would explain Colton’s sudden seriousness. “What’s wrong—”

“Tell you later. They’re coming this way.”

The new pilots joined them and introduced themselves.

Izzy didn’t seem to recognize Alex, so to avoid any awkwardness, Alex pretended not to recognize him either.

Quinn told Colton, “We’re here for the upgraded electrical pistols issued to us. Another pilot described you and said you’re the most trustworthy engineer, so…”

Alex grinned.

“Right.” Colton checked the numbers on the pistols, then selected two. He carried the weapons around the table toward them. “Here they are—oof!” He tripped and crashed into Izzy’s bag, dropping both weapons. “I’m sorry…” He crouched to pick them up.

“It’s all right.” Izzy accepted the pistol Colton handed him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thank you.” Colton handed the other pistol to Quinn.

“See you both around?” Quinn asked.

“Yep.” Alex smiled.

As soon as the other pilots left, he turned to Colton. “What was that about?”

Colton showed Alex a thin paper concealed in his jacket. “It’s a diagram from one of the tables by the door.” He tilted his head to point it out. “I don’t think the engineers noticed, but when the pilots were on their way over…” He explained quickly.

Alex’s jaw tightened. “They stopped an attack. It’d be miserable to find out they’re rebels. But I’ll watch them, and I guess you and Gerard watch the engineers, just in case they’re in on it? And can you tell the others about this?”

“I’ll ask Gerard to watch the engineers while I tell the others. Do you know where Lew is right now?”

Thank you for reading “Bugguffin” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Cookies” (Part 3). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 4, 2051

Alex waited for Topaz to explain.

She did. “Sent images to the general. He says they resemble a pilotless prototype recently developed on Earth that’s controlled remotely and meant for transporting supplies—which probably means explosives in this case.”

The fighters were getting closer.

Topaz talked faster. “The general says no trackers. It’s unlikely the fighters will return to base. He thinks the rebels are controlling them through their network and will destroy them attacking the station and your fighters. Operators might be close to accessing their network. Do what you can to keep them back, but try not to lose anyone.”

Alex’s heart rate picked up. “What if we wing-lock them, then fire our engines for extra velocity and release them? That would throw them away from the station, and if we could get them to crash into each other, their explosives might do the rest.”

“Or we could throw them into the Moon.” Claire spoke. “That reduces the risk to us.”

Much better.

Topaz answered, “I’ll relay that.”

A few moments later, every flight leader signaled his pilots, and the Americans broke formation and flew forward.

When they met the pilotless fighters, Alex swerved and caught one in a wing-lock, then engaged his engines. A split second later, he released the lock. The enemy fighter spun toward the Moon.

Claire launched another fighter the same way, and Alex wing-locked a second fighter. More enemy fighters hurtled past theirs as the other Americans caught and threw them at the Moon, the lunar orbit jerking them toward the surface.

“Approaching orbit!” Topaz warned, and Alex and Claire engaged their reverse engines, pulling back from the Moon.

Two enemy fighters shot past, and Alex and Claire turned in pursuit.

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry and Autumn stood by the cabinets in the main area of the medical bay, pretending to inventory their contents.

The general had messaged them about the current situation but told them to stay focused on watching for Rogers and Long until further notice.

The main area was empty except for the two of them. Ordinarily during an attack like this, Autumn would have wanted the on-duty doctors waiting there, but since they weren’t actively needed, she preferred having them out of the way.

Henry and Autumn’s CIDs buzzed, and they checked them.

Instead of an update from the general, Henry found a message from Dr. Oakes. Theyre in my room help

He put the device away and pulled his electrical pistol from its holster, his eyes meeting Autumn’s as she put her CID away. “Oakes—”

“—needs help in his room.” Autumn drew her weapon.

“This could be a trap—or another distraction.”

“I know. I messaged the station guards”—she sprinted, and he raced after her—“but if they do have him, I doubt we have time to wait.”

When they reached Oakes’s room, Autumn banged on the door, then pulled back to one side of it, Henry with her. When the door opened, it would hide them.

The door didn’t open.

Henry’s heartbeat echoed in his ears. What have the rebels done to him?

Autumn hit the door with her gun. “Open up!”

Several seconds passed.

Then the door swung open.

“What?!” Oakes sounded irritated.

Henry glanced at Autumn, who nodded, and signed, I’ll cover you.

Henry gripped the hatchdoor’s handle, then swung himself around the door and dropped into a crouch, weapon ready to fire. Autumn joined him.

Oakes leaped back, then grasped his right side. “Ow! Not you too!”

“What?” Henry entered the room with Autumn, the two glancing back and forth, but finding no one.

“What’s going on, Oakes?” Autumn didn’t put her weapon away. “You messaged us that you were in trouble, and no one’s here.”

“Of course no one’s here! Your friends pounded on me earlier! And I bet the temporary station head lets them get away with it!”

Henry spun as Station Guards Stewart and Hernandez sprinted into the room.

Oakes glared. “What are they—”

“Oakes, you just messaged Phillips’s CID and mine saying there were people in your room and you needed help.” Autumn gestured to the guards. “I called them in over it.”

“But I didn’t send a message.” Oakes dug in his pocket. “Wait, where’s my—oh, right, one of the new doctors needed to call an engineer—”

“One of them borrowed it?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, what’s it to you—”

“They must have crept past this room before the guards got here.” Henry tore out of there, Autumn and the guards right behind him.

As they reached the main area, Autumn muttered, “Where would those two go?”

Henry swallowed hard. “If the operators are trying to get into their network, they might be after them.”

Station Guard Stewart moved past him. “We’re on it—can you call for backup?”

Autumn was already typing. “I’m also calling a stationwide search.”

“Thanks.” Station Guard Hernandez sprinted after his partner.

Henry turned to Autumn. “What do we do?”

“We wait here in case they come back.”

Henry nodded, then stopped. “Wait—the general’s communicating with the operators. What if he’s their target?”

Autumn already had her CID out. “Go!”

Henry sprinted out of the medical bay. His heart pounded in his ears as he swept through the corridor, taking a left. The noise of engineering drowned out the sound of Autumn’s footfalls, but she drew up alongside him as he raced through the section.

A quick glance told him Colton wasn’t there—he was likely in the pilots’ bay, waiting with coolant and a fire extinguisher. Gerard and the only other two engineers Henry trusted weren’t around either. Unless he and Autumn met some guards or pilots who weren’t flying, it would just be them and the general—assuming the rebels hadn’t already done something to him.

They crossed the final corridor to the general’s office and reached his closed door.

Autumn touched the keypad, then tried the handle instead.

It was unlocked.

She looked at Henry. “Ready?”

He nodded and tried to steel himself.

Autumn turned the handle, then kicked the door completely open and leaped inside. “Freeze!”

Henry leaped in after her.

Long was rifling through folders on the general’s desk, and Rogers was standing by the general’s closed bedroom door. Both complied.

Then Rogers sprang sideways, and her hand flashed.

Henry’s body reacted before his mind did.

He pushed Autumn to the side at the same time he swung his pistol, deflecting Rogers’s throwing knife.

Autumn fired at Rogers.

The prongs of her weapon were just out of range.

Autumn dashed forward to close the gap as Henry aimed his pistol.

Two prongs slammed into it, knocking it from his hands. His wrists pulsing with pain, he yelled a warning to Autumn and whirled to face Long, who dodged around the general’s desk, lifting his pistol to fire again.

Henry launched himself at the rebel.

Long staggered as Henry’s hands landed on his wrists. They struggled, and then Long pulled his right foot back and turned both hips, jerking Henry in a semicircle. The next moment, the rebel lunged and slammed him into the desk.

Henry lost his grip on the gun. As he fell, his hands automatically reached back to catch him, and his fingers brushed one of the general’s folders.

Outside his line of vision, something clanged.

Long lifted his weapon.

Henry threw a folder at his face, then threw himself toward the doctor’s legs.

Long reflexively smacked the object way from his eyes at the same time Henry crashed into him, knocking him backward onto the floor.

Henry pulled back into a crouch. He tried to spring forward and seize Long’s weapon, but tripped on his lab coat. He fell onto his hands and knees.

Long struggled to his feet, and Henry pushed off the ground and drove an elbow into the doctor’s unguarded ribs. The rebel gasped, his grip loosening on the pistol, and Henry grabbed it and turned both hips, slamming Long’s wrists into the open hatchdoor.

Wrenching the weapon from the other doctor’s hands, Henry pivoted and smashed it into the side of Long’s head. The rebel tumbled to the floor, unconscious, and Henry whirled in search of the others.

They were nowhere to be seen.

A noise sounded on the other side of the general’s bedroom door, and then the handle came off and the door flew open. Brigadier General Gonzalez emerged, pistol drawn.

His bathroom door opened a moment later, and Autumn came out. She threw a hasty look at the general, then flicked a glance across the room, her face relaxing as her eyes met Henry’s. She turned back to the general. “Rogers is unconscious. She fled into your bathroom when I disarmed her—and it looks like Henry knocked out Long.”

The general frowned. “Thank you both. I got your message, Doctor, and I moved my computer to my bedroom so they couldn’t damage it in a fight, but they must have arrived just after and done something to my door. I had to drill it to get out.”

“Sorry, sir.” Autumn frowned too, then glanced at Henry. “Why did you hit Rogers’s knife away instead of trying to get out of its path?”

He let his breath out. “I don’t know. I saw Colton deflect Clark’s gun with a knife—maybe I was trying to do the same in reverse—”

Long’s CID buzzed.

The general turned toward the sound. “Grab that, please.”

Henry pulled it from the rebel’s belt, then moved to hand it to the general, who checked it, then gestured. “With me.”

They followed him to his room, where he sat in front of his computer, pulled on a headset, and typed.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex wing-locked another enemy fighter into the Moon, then swerved to catch one flying after Claire.

Claire returned the favor.

Topaz’s voice came over his comms. “Done.”

They’re in the network?

The next moment, he knew they were.

The enemy fighters’ movements turned erratic—uncontrolled. Fighters veering toward the Moon kept traveling in that direction. Others crashed into each other and exploded.

The Americans pulled back to let them finish themselves off.

____________________________________________________________________________

Later, Henry gratefully sank into the chair Colton had moved closer to Autumn’s desk for him. There was a small crowd in her office, consisting of her and the general on one side of the desk, Dr. Burke and her son to their left, Gerard, Lew, and Janet on their right, and Alex, Claire, Topaz, Henry, and Colton across from them. Station Guards Stewart, Hernandez, and Duy sat behind Henry and the others.

On the desk was the package and card Henry’s parents had sent him. Autumn had asked him to bring them to her office so they could have a party for him there.

The general spoke. “Dr. Hampton and I searched the rebels’ rooms. They had interesting equipment hidden under their beds—from weapons to small surveillance systems.”

“Do you think they placed the recording equipment on the spiders, sir?” Alex asked.

“I do. I believe that’s how they got my passcode to get into my office—through what the one spider’s camera picked up. It likely didn’t help I had to use my inner keypad that night because the regular lock system was sticking.”

Claire frowned. “Do you think the rebels set that up too?”

“No, I think it was a coincidence that worked in their favor.” The general half-smiled. “Engineer Close and Operator Bailey confirmed that our former doctors—or someone else—modified their CIDs so they would look like they were on our intranet when they weren’t.”

He exhaled. “And we confirmed the rebel network uses two factor authentication. When the operators’ brute force password breakers got in, we were prompted for a code. Which came through Long’s CID.”

He looked between Autumn and Henry. “You said you saw them going through my files. That makes me wonder what their plan was, but I have no doubt it included killing me. So I want to thank you again for stopping them and saving my life.”

“You’re welcome, sir.” They spoke together.

He smiled, his gaze sweeping the others. “And thank you for everything you did.” He turned to Janet. “Especially with the rebel network.”

“The password breaker got us in, sir.” She sighed. “I just wish the rebels inside weren’t masking their IP addresses. We still don’t have their location.”

Topaz grinned. “You booted them off their own network, though.”

“True.”

“Now that it’s over, for now.” The temporary station head looked around. “A celebration is in order.”

“That’s right.” Autumn gestured to the package and card. “Open them, Henry.”

Henry opened the card first. His parents had taken turns writing it, as usual, and he smiled at their words. Then he gently returned the card to its envelope.

“What’d they say?” Topaz asked. “If it’s not too personal.”

“They sent their love.”

His friends smiled.

Inside the package was a CD player.

Claire handed him a thin, square-shaped present. “This goes with it.”

Henry found two CD cases inside, each containing a disc.

“Topaz, Claire, Colton, and Autumn and I came up with playlists for those some time ago,” Alex explained, “and my uncle burned them to discs for us, then mailed them here. Some songs you know. The others are ones we thought you’d like.”

“It has classic groups and some contemporary ones, like Bread,” Colton added.

Henry exchanged a look with Alex.

Alex’s mouth twitched, and Henry turned back to Colton. “Bread is from the 1970s, Colton.”

The engineer looked down. “Oh. I heard an instructor play them, so I assumed they were recent.”

“That makes sense.” Henry slid the first CD into the player.

“One other thing.” Colton left the main office as “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest started playing.

When he returned, he placed two pans on the desk. Each held an enormous cookie.

Henry blinked hard. “I thought…”

Autumn smiled. “It was true. I didn’t trust the rebels not to poison your ingredients, so I made it look like they were ordered by different people. Then”—she gestured to Colton, Alex, Claire, and Topaz—“they did the rest.”

“Here’s a candle for you.” Alex placed it on one of the cookies. “Minus the fire.”

“Thank you.” Henry looked at Colton. “So, you borrowed her office…”

“To put the cookies away.”

Autumn smirked. “He didn’t lie either—he never said what he used it for.”

“It was really fun making these.” Topaz grinned. “Oakes tried to ruin them with salt, but we took care of that.”

“What?”

Alex chuckled. “I tripped and, unfortunately, fell on him.”

Topaz continued. “And when I hurried over to make sure they were all right, I accidentally got his ribs with my foot.”

Oh dear. That’s why he was so upset earlier. Henry managed to keep a straight face. “Thank you very much.”

Claire smiled. “Happy Birthday, Henry.”

Thank you for reading “The Cookies” (Part 3). Read Part 1 of the next episode, “Bugguffin” here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Cookies” (Part 2). Read it here.

If you’d like to prepare a cookie like Henry’s, follow the recipe here, but remove the granulated sugar and reduce the brown sugar to 1/4 cup. (If the resulting dough doesn’t stay together very well, add water by the teaspoon until it sticks together better.)

If you’d like to hear “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest, it’s in “The Moon Station Series Playlist” here (or wherever you listen to music). (There isn’t any Bread in the playlist, but “Dance on the Moon” by Bread’s James/Jimmy Griffin is.)

And if you are used to unhappy birthdays, I am very sorry. I hope someday you’ll have a happy birthday, or at least something resembling one.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—eve3n if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 4, 2051

Henry, Autumn, and four other doctors finished administering the supplement injections to the pilots flying the first morning patrol, and then they all went to the rec area to eat breakfast.

The other four doctors sat at a table in the middle of the room, and Henry and Autumn took a corner table, sitting on the same side of it as if waiting for their friends to join them.

They were waiting, but they were also keeping watch.

The new doctors’ CIDs were not on the list of devices that disconnected from the station’s intranet, but if Long and Rogers were rebels, neither Henry nor Autumn put it past them to somehow disconnect other doctors’ CIDs as a cover.

Autumn ripped open a ration packet. “Looks like our new personnel have no trouble making friends.”

Henry nodded as he opened his packet. “From what I’ve seen of them, they are very open and talkative—and they are very good at getting other people to talk too.”

“They must find you and me quite annoying.” Autumn half-smiled. “Though probably not half as annoying as Station Guard Duy.”

Station Guard Duy had put on a good performance of having a pained, but not sprained ankle, if the doctors’ prescription of mild pain medication was any indication.

Henry sighed. “At least they didn’t tamper with the medication they prescribed him.”

“You were nearby when they retrieved it from the cabinet—who knows what they might have done if you hadn’t been.”

“I’m glad you still tested it afterward. Although I know he wasn’t planning to use it.”

Autumn studied her half-eaten packet of food. “I almost wish they would do something so we could catch them in it. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore.” She looked up. “Although I prefer that they do something after your birthday.”

“Thank you.”

“Speaking of which.” She smirked. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you.” Henry smiled. This would be his first birthday in nine years celebrated with friends. During his time at the training facilities, he hadn’t made any friends among the medical cadets, and his instructors had taken a dim view of associating with anyone from the other divisions.

And since his birthday wasn’t around any major holidays, he couldn’t take time off to visit his family or have them visit him. Every year, his parents had sent him a birthday gift, a card, and their traditional dessert, and he’d always video chatted with them, but seeing them on a screen just wasn’t the same as seeing them in person—although he’d certainly miss it this year.

He doubted he’d get to do a VCS call with them, as Claire had with her parents on her birthday. That would require Internet usage, and the temporary station head was trying to keep Internet usage to a minimum for security purposes.

At least Henry would be spending his birthday with Autumn and the others.

Alex, Claire, and Topaz would be flying the second afternoon patrol, which left most of the morning and evening open. And Colton had said he’d spend the evening with them.

And while Henry wouldn’t get to talk with his parents, they’d sent him a present and a card—he’d still be holding a gift they’d picked out for him, still reading the words they’d written to him.

He hoped they’d make birthday cookies. If only he could have made some to share with his friends.

For security reasons, no one at the Moon Station was supposed to receive food mailed by friends or family, but they were allowed to order food and have it sent to them.

Henry remembered the regret in Autumn’s voice when she told him she had to cancel his order for cookie ingredients because the risk of a rebel in the government finding out the items were meant for him and then tampering with them was just too high.

Autumn had looked as sorry as he’d felt, even though it wasn’t her fault and he’d told her that.

Oh well. Having friends like her took a lot of the edge off his disappointment.

His CID buzzed, and he found a message from Alex. Sorry, but the rest of us will have to miss breakfast.

____________________________________________________________________________

Claire entered the medical bay with Topaz right behind her.

As they headed toward Autumn’s office, movement caught Claire’s eye, and she touched Topaz’s shoulder and pointed to their right.

A bit of U.S.G.F. uniform stuck out past one of the curtained exam tables.

Claire signed, Stay here, to Topaz, then drew her electrical pistol and moved toward the table. The person the uniform belonged to backed up and whirled before she was halfway there.

“Alex.”

“Claire.” He let his breath out. “I thought you were one of the wedgie head doctors.”

“What are you doing here?” She holstered her weapon as Topaz joined her. “I thought you were having breakfast with Henry.”

Alex held up a blue candle. “I had to borrow one of medical’s portable heating grids to make Henry’s birthday candle.”

Claire frowned. “I thought you were going to do that in engineering—like you did with mine.”

“Yeah, and I was going to do it yesterday, but with all the stuff Colton and I ended up having to do—not to mention as soon as he was done placing the CIDs he got roped into helping upgrade our space fighters—did you hear those special tracking bullets are finished?”

“No.” Claire looked at Topaz, who shook her head.

“Well, they’re finished. And with all the fighters there were to upgrade, I’m guessing he was up a lot of the night doing it.” Alex sighed. “Anyway, he’s in Autumn’s office—”

“Who’s with Henry?” Claire asked. “If you’re not with him—”

“It’s okay. He’s with Autumn. They’re eating breakfast and watching the two doctors. I mean the major wedgie-headed ones, Rogers and Long.”

Topaz giggled. “Technically Barr’s the only official Major around here…so maybe they’re more like junior-major.”

“Junior-major wedgie heads…I like the repetition of the juh sound.”

Claire smiled. “Does Colton have the ingredients ready?”

“Yeah.” Alex gestured toward the heating grid in front of him. “The grid’s definitely ready when you guys are. I don’t think the butter will have to be on here ten seconds.”

“Gotcha.” Topaz jogged over to the division head’s office, and Claire followed.

The operator knocked on the door, and Colton let them in, then locked the door behind them.

Topaz grinned. “So, Autumn’s officially retired, and you’re the new Head of the Medical Division, huh?”

Colton smiled back. “Last night, when we went over the plan for today, she gave me her passcode in case she wasn’t here to let us in.”

“Alex said he thought you were up late working on our space fighters,” Claire said. “Sorry about that.”

He smiled again. “I wasn’t up that late. But thank you.” He let his breath out. “I’m glad you’ll be able to use the trackers now.”

“We just have to wait for the rebels to show up.” Topaz frowned, then glanced at Claire. “On the one hand, I don’t want you guys in another battle—but on the other hand, if it meant actually finding their base…”

“I know what you mean.” Claire rested a hand on her shoulder. “When they come, we’ll be ready.”

“You’re right.” Topaz turned to Colton. “Alex said you had all the cookie ingredients ready.”

“Yes.” Colton gestured for them to join him at Autumn’s desk. Bowls, pans, utensils, and containers of ingredients were arranged on top of it.

One container was marked “Handle With Care.”

Claire eyed it. “Are those eggs?”

“Four bottles. Each containing the equivalent of one egg. Since we’re making two giant cookies, we’ll only need two eggs. Autumn ordered extra in case something happened.”

“And the recipe?” Topaz asked.

Colton pulled a scrap of paper from his jacket and handed it to her. “I wrote down what Henry told me in November.”

“Nice handwriting.”

Colton smiled. “Thank you.”

Topaz frowned. “Only a quarter cup of brown sugar per cookie? That seems small.”

“It’s the amount Henry told me.”

Topaz passed the recipe to Claire, who read through it and then handed it back to Colton.

“Too bad we can’t bake them in here,” the pilot muttered. “Then we wouldn’t have to worry about watching for the other doctors.”

Colton nodded. “I know. But this room isn’t wired to support her computer and a heating grid.”

“It’ll be okay.” Topaz reached for a measuring cup. “If anyone tries to pull anything, we’ll take care of it.”

In minutes, they had the two batches of dough ready, Colton briefly leaving the room to soften the butter. He and Topaz shaped the two giant cookies on trays, which they carried out of the office together. Claire watched for doctors while Colton locked the door behind them.

The three of them joined Alex and put one pan on the grid to cook and the other on an exam table close by.

Colton stared at the baking cookie. “Wow. You can see it coalesce!”

Claire grinned at his excitement, taking her eyes off the surrounding area to glance at the dough.

Then heavy footfalls sounded through the bay, and she spun toward their source. Dr. Oakes rushed toward her and the others from the direction of the doctors’ quarters. He was carrying a large container.

Claire didn’t know what he was going to do, but she knew she wasn’t going to let him do it. “Oakes!”

The other three were already moving—they must have all spotted him at the same time. Colton snatched up the other cookie and whirled, shielding it and the baking cookie, while Claire, Alex, and Topaz moved to intercept Oakes.

Alex and Topaz got to him first.

____________________________________________________________________________

Breakfast over, the other four doctors headed back to the medical bay, still conversing, and Henry and Autumn followed.

Henry wondered why Alex and the others hadn’t been able to come to breakfast.

Either they were planning a surprise…or they were having a secret meeting with the general.

I hope nothing’s happened.

The bay was empty when they entered it, and the other doctors continued through it toward their quarters.

Henry and Autumn stopped outside her office, and Autumn let out a sigh. “Think they’ll stay in there the rest of the day?”

“That would be nice.”

She smiled. “I guess we better inventory or something so we can be out here to wait for them.”

Henry was about to agree when her office door opened.

Henry’s hand automatically grasped his electrical pistol, then released it as Colton walked out. “Colton.”

“Hello, Henry. I’m sorry I startled you.”

“Don’t worry. I am all right.”

Colton hesitated, then gave him a hug. “Happy Birthday.”

Henry returned it. “Thank you.”

Autumn gave the engineer a sympathetic smile. “I hope you were able to rest.”

Colton nodded. “Thank you for letting me borrow your office—it was very quiet. And no one messaged my CID, either.”

Poor Colton. That’s why he couldn’t come.

“You can also always borrow my room again, if you need it,” Henry said.

“I know—and thank you—I just wanted a place with…fewer doctors moving around. Not that I think anyone has your passcode, Henry. I better head back to engineering now.”

“See you later.” Henry smiled.

“See you both.” Colton returned the smile, including Autumn in it, then headed for one of the bay exits.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex, Claire, and Topaz sat at a corner table in the rec area, waiting for Colton and quietly discussing the current status of the operators’ mission to get into the rebel network.

“The CIDs are linked to the switchboards.” Claire looked down at her hands. “So if there’s no record of the new doctors disconnecting theirs from the intranet…Could they have borrowed or stolen other doctors’ devices and used them?”

“That’s a possibility too,” Topaz answered. “It’s also possible they modified their CIDs so they don’t link to the switchboards the same way”—their CIDs buzzed, and they checked them.

Alex’s stomach clenched and he threw a look at the other two. “The general says to join the current patrol.”

“Same,” Topaz answered.

“Same.” Claire pushed her chair back.

Several other pilots and operators in the rec area hurried with them, the operators stopping when they reached their area, and the pilots continuing to the pilots’ bay.

Colton and Albert were checking Alex and Claire’s space fighters while other engineers checked the other pilots’.

I hope none of those engineers are rebels...Alex pulled on his space suit alongside the others, and then they all raced to their fighters.

The engineers backed up, nodding to them that their fighters were ready, and Alex threw Colton and Albert a hasty grin before hopping into his.

When they left the station, their operators directed them toward the moon to join the pilots assigned to the second morning patrol. The pilots had formed a wall of fighters. Beyond it, giant black circles looked like gaping holes in the moon.

What the—Alex’s mind didn’t get to complete the thought before the circles exploded into individual space fighters, far more than Alex had ever seen before.

He guessed Topaz had already zoomed in on them. “How many rebels?”

“Looking…”

A gap of silence.

Then her voice came over his comms again. “Those aren’t regular space fighters.”

Thank you for reading “The Cookies” (Part 2). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Cookies” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 3, 2051

Topaz and Claire moved through the large room filled with operators and their workstations. Half of the workstations were active, their computers humming, while the other half remained powered off until they were needed. Operators on the second morning patrol watched over their pilots. Others on regular monitoring duty watched the feeds of the Moon Station’s exterior cameras.

The remaining operators, Topaz knew, were working on getting into the rebels’ network.

Janet wasn’t among them.

Topaz’s stomach tightened, but before she could speak to Claire, her CID buzzed, and she checked it.

A message from Janet: I think something’s in a vent near your room. Can you come here?

Topaz showed the message to Claire. “Should I alert the others in case it’s a rebel trap?”

“If it’s not, dragging the others in won’t help anyone.” Claire rested a hand on her electrical pistol. “Just stay behind me.”

They left for their quarters.

Janet met them halfway there. “My room,” she whispered, gesturing for them to follow.

Once they were inside, Janet shut the hatchdoor and locked it. “Sorry for the misleading messages. It occurred to me it’d be better to meet in private. I found something, and I wanted you to check it before I report it to the temporary station head—I don’t want anyone else to see this.”

She pulled out her CID and typed, then passed the device to Topaz.

Topaz held it so Claire could see too, then frowned at the image on the screen. “Intranet logs?”

“That’s right.” Janet lowered her voice. “Our assumption was any rebels here would connect to their network using their own devices, but it occurred to me, what if they used the CIDs they were issued instead? Those devices aren’t meant to connect to more than one network at a time, but if they disconnected from ours…” Janet pointed. “There.”

Topaz’s eyes scanned a column of numbers. “Eight disconnections from the intranet last night…After the general’s announcement about the recording equipment.”

“Uh-huh. Then twelve this morning—right before the first patrol.”

Claire spoke. “The first eight were CIDs registered to doctors and engineers.”

Janet nodded. “Those eight disconnected once last night and once today. The remaining four were registered to engineers. But you know how the rebels are.”

Topaz set her jaw. “Yeah. Any of these people could be traitors, or none of them could be, and their devices were made to disconnect by rebels who suspected someone would check the logs and wanted to throw us off.”

“Which is why I wanted you to see this first.” Janet’s gaze moved between them. “I want to report this directly to the general, not put it in a report that others could see. Because if they’re accessing our databases…”

“We hear you.” Topaz straightened. “Should we see if the general’s available to talk now?”

____________________________________________________________________________

They decided against contacting the general by CID and instead opted for visiting his office.

When they reached it, Topaz knocked on the closed hatchdoor.

A few moments later, the general answered it, waved them inside, then shut and locked the door behind them.

Alex and Colton stood in front of his desk.

Topaz’s stomach tightened. Oh no, what—oh. She’d seen what was on the desk.

She grinned, feeling a surge of pride for the pilot and engineer. “So, we’re officially bug-free.”

“Yes. I doubt NASA will be happy about it, but yes.” The general took his seat. “I assume it’s all right for Pilot Fletcher and Engineer Close to hear what the three of you have to say?”

Janet nodded. “Sir, please excuse me for not uploading this to the database or sending it to your CID, but I thought it might be best if I didn’t send it through potentially traceable channels.” She offered him her CID.

He took it. “Commendable foresight, Operator—intranet logs?”

“Yes sir.” Janet explained it. “If the CIDs were tampered with, that means the rebels could have any number of theirs among the engineers, the operators, or both.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez nodded. “And they could even be working alongside you and Operator Bailey.” His eyes moved between her and Topaz. “No new Pilots Division personnel came in on the last two carriers, and after what happened on January 19, I’d like to assume there aren’t any more rebels in your section, but at this point, we can’t be certain. From now on, if either of you finds anything else, bring it to me immediately. Don’t put it in a report or tell the others.”

“Yes sir.” Janet and Topaz spoke at the same time.

The general returned Janet’s CID. “We all better be more careful with our intranet usage—anytime you upload something to a database, double-check that it went through. Then read the file within the database later to make sure it’s still the same as the one you added.”

He studied his desk. “As for myself and the other division heads, we’d better limit our use of the Internet, starting by staggering our reports to the government. We can’t risk the rebels finding a way into our network and exploiting it…” He frowned. “Like they did with Barr’s email.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez turned to Colton. “We also need to find out how the rebels access their network, whether it’s through CIDs or other devices. CIDs can scan for signals. I want you and Engineer Burke to place some throughout the station to do that and also alert us to any anomalies. Make sure they are well-hidden.”

“Yes sir.”

“Another thing—make sure you place devices around personal quarters, particularly near the rooms of our new medical personnel, Dr. Rogers and Dr. Long. Dr. Hampton will tell you where their rooms are. She suspects them of being rebels.”

Oh, wonderful. Topaz thought. More rebels in medical, just in time for Henry’s birthday tomorrow.

“Any thoughts or questions?”

“Yes sir.” Colton spoke. “Is there a way Dr. Hampton could get Drs. Rogers and Long out of medical so they won’t see Engineer Burke and me there?”

“I’ll speak with her about it.”

Alex stepped forward. “I might have an idea, sir. If there were a medical problem somewhere, doctors would be sent out to deal with it. If Dr. Hampton sent those doctors…”

Topaz eyed her pilot. “You’re not thinking of fake-injuring yourself, are you?”

“No. If I did, they might suspect a setup. I was thinking of asking Station Guard Duy to do it—I think we can trust him, and I don’t think the rebels would automatically suspect him. He hasn’t worked as openly with us on apprehending rebels as, say, Station Guards Stewart and Hernandez.”

The general nodded. “You and Dr. Hampton can coordinate that with him.” He stood. “I’ll inform the others of this new development.”

____________________________________________________________________________

As the first evening patrol started, Alex hid in the corridor that led to the engine room. His weapon drawn, he kept watch over Station Guard Duy sitting on the last step of the stairs to the station’s second level, holding his ankle and groaning.

They would have done this earlier, but it had taken Colton and Albert a while to get the CIDs from the main storage area and modify them for the general’s purpose. It took even longer to plant them in different parts of the station, starting in engineering.

Now all that was left was medical. And that would soon be taken care of.

Drs. Rogers and Long appeared from behind the station guard, and Alex watched them crouch in front of him. Alex didn’t think they’d pull anything, but one never knew.

“What happened?” Dr. Rogers asked.

Ordinarily, doctors coming to help an injured person would already know what had happened because that person (or someone with him or her) would have explained in a CID message.

Station Guard Duy had made sure to be as vague as possible. “I slipped. I’m sure it’s not serious…”

Dr. Long tried to pull the station guard’s hands away from his ankle. “Let me see.”

Duy resisted. “Ow! I don’t like doctors.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Planting CIDs near the doctors’ quarters was surprisingly simple. Between every two rooms was a low bench perfect for two people to sit together, or for one person to lie down (especially in the event of a medical emergency).

Colton attached a CID to the underside of each bench, after thoroughly checking to make sure the rebels hadn’t had the same idea.

Albert kept an eye out for doctors. “Is that the last one?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

They’d had to modify the CIDs’ software so the CIDs would automatically scan for signals, identify them as coming from specific devices (as much as was possible, given how many signals they’d be receiving), record the data, and then send it to other CIDs Colton and Albert had modified. Those CIDs would be divided between the general, Autumn, and the personnel they trusted, including Lew, Janet, and Station Guards Hernandez, Duy, and Stewart.

The engineers headed to Autumn’s office to test whether the devices would properly communicate with the other CIDs.

Autumn let them in when Colton knocked. “I have to meet with the general. If you finish with the CIDs before I get back, please wait for me.” She lowered her voice. “Alex will alert us when Rogers and Long are on their way.”

Colton nodded. “Thank you.”

She closed the door behind her, and the two engineers began checking the CIDs.

“This one’s receiving signals.” Colton separated it from the others.

“So is this one.” Albert placed another one next to it.

When they finished, each engineer collected the CID meant for him, and then they sat and waited.

Albert broke the silence. “Hey, I’ve been wanting to ask you, what’s the deal with you and Major Barr?”

Colton’s chest tightened. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, he always seems mad at you.”

Colton didn’t want to think about it let alone talk about it. He considered himself fortunate to have only had brief contact with Major Barr since January 21. The longest conversation they’d had after that had been when Colton and Alex were in the major’s office earlier. He was sure that at some point, Major Barr would call him to his office again, and he dreaded it.

After a heartbeat of hesitation, he said, “A long time ago, he got mad at me, and he’s been mad ever since.”

Albert shifted in his chair. “Let me guess, you didn’t actually do anything wrong.”

“No.” It had taken him far too long to realize that.

“I figured.” Albert gave him a sympathetic smile.

That reminded Colton of something he’d wondered. Maybe that was too personal of a question. Well, he apparently didn’t think it was too personal to ask about Major Barr’s problem with me. “Albert, why does Major Barr dislike your mother? Not that he needs an actual reason—”

“I know what you mean. It probably started when they first met and he realized she wouldn’t be another lemming for him. But once she became a name for helping build the station, I think it got way worse.”

I’m sure it did.

Albert’s mouth twitched. “He reminds me of my father, actually.”

Colton hadn’t expected that—he’d assumed Albert had a good dad. “I’m sorry.”

The other engineer shook his head. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t be…And don’t feel compelled to, but if you ever want to talk about him, you can.”

Albert smiled sadly. “Thanks. Same goes for you. Speaking of which, there’s another thing I wanted to ask you…what happened the day after your fingers got injured? You left engineering looking…I don’t know. And then Henry was outside your room looking for you, and he looked so…distraught.”

Colton swallowed hard. Henry thought I was dead.

Albert fidgeted. “Sorry. It’s not my business. Forget I asked.”

Colton hesitated. He didn’t want to tell Albert about it, but maybe Albert needed to know what the major was capable of. Then again, he doubted Albert would believe a division head would do what Barr had.

And if Colton told him what he’d almost done, Albert might take it the wrong way and try to report it to someone.

Besides, what Henry and the others had said and done for him—Colton couldn’t express the half of it, and he doubted he ever would.

No, he couldn’t tell him. “Don’t worry about it—it was just a bad time.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you…And thank you for stopping the engine.”

“You already thanked me for that.” Albert smiled. “You’re still welcome.”

The door opened, and Autumn walked in. “Ah—I see you’re finished.”

They rose, and Colton held out a device. “Yes, Doctor. Here is your CID.”

She took it. “Thank you. I guess you can return to your regular duties now. And Colton, I finished checking the ingredients. You can bake Henry’s cookies tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

She got the door for them, shutting it as they entered the main section of the medical bay.

Albert glanced at him. “Henry’s cookies?”

Colton nodded. “It’s a surprise.”

“Oh. Birthday?”

Colton figured Henry would be okay with Albert knowing. “Yes.”

“Nice. That’s cool you can bake.”

“Thank you. This will be my first time preparing Henry’s family’s recipe, though.”

They entered the corridor, heading for engineering but taking the long way through the rec area so it wouldn’t look like they’d come from medical.

They passed through the rec area in silence, then as they entered another corridor, Albert asked, “Do you think Henry would mind if I knew the recipe”—he broke off as Dr. Oakes appeared in front of them.

They all stopped, and the doctor smirked. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Met any good rebels lately?” Colton retorted, then fought a smile. That sounded like something Alex or Claire might have said. Colton hated how the other doctors treated Henry.

Oakes glared at him, then smiled at Albert. “You said something about Henry and a recipe…” He raised his eyebrows. “Henry cooking something? Oh, wouldn’t it be awful if it somehow got ruined?”

Colton knew that wouldn’t happen; when she wasn’t testing them, Autumn kept the ingredients locked in her desk. “Why don’t you ask Henry?”

Oakes must have expected more of a reaction. He stared at the two engineers, then shouldered past Colton.

Colton watched him until he disappeared. “If he ever messed with Henry’s food, I’d have to rewire his room.”

Albert’s eyes widened. “Wow. You’re always so quiet and polite, I didn’t expect that from you.”

Colton was surprised to find himself smiling. “No one told you that it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for?”

“I’ve heard that, and I do, but I still feel like it’s more the loud pillars-of-the-community type I need to watch out for.”

Colton hadn’t expected that either—it sounded a lot like how he felt.

Thank you for reading “The Cookies” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Bugs” (Part 3). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 03, 2051

Alex couldn’t see his friends in the dark of the engine room, but he bet all of them were struggling to keep straight faces, including Topaz.

His operator read him too well. Or he gave himself away.

But there was no point in lying now.

Alex bit his lip. “This is stupid—and embarrassing—but when I was six, a spider ran right up my pantleg. I screamed for help. One of my aunts was there, but she didn’t know what was wrong because I wasn’t coherent enough to tell her. Then she saw the fabric moving and squished the spider for me.

“That same day, I was hanging out with her and my mom, and a spider dropped onto my shoulder and started running down my torso…My mom had to get that one.”

He waited.

His friends were quiet.

“Oh, go ahead and laugh.”

“It’s not funny,” Topaz retorted.

“And it’s still not something to be embarrassed about,” Claire added. “It’s creepy to have bugs crawl on you.”

“But I’m an adult now.”

“And?” Henry asked gently.

Colton spoke softly. “Would it help if I told you I’m terrified of mice?”

“No, it won’t, because I know you’re just saying that to make me feel less pathetic.”

“Do you think it’s pathetic for me to be afraid of mice?”

“No—that’s—it’s different.”

“How is it different? Is it because it’s not you?”

Alex didn’t answer.

Colton waited a few seconds, then went on. “One night, when I was seven, I had to get out of bed and go the bathroom. While I was in there, a mouse crept into the light, and I was so sleepy I thought I was imagining it. And then I heard it, similar to a noise I heard last night—I’ll tell you about that later—but it was something between a crinkle and a tap, and it was the mouse’s feet on a scrap of paper—probably from a notebook or something.

“I screamed, and the mouse darted away. My parents came running, but for the first few seconds after they got to me, I was too incoherent to tell them what was wrong, and then all I could get out was that something ran away.

“My dad went down the hall looking for it while my mom stayed with me. He found the mouse running along the baseboard and caught it with an old shoe box. He wanted to show it to me so I’d know it wasn’t a horrible monster but instead just a mouse who was as scared as I was, but I couldn’t even look at it.

“So, he took it out to release it in a large field where hopefully it wouldn’t find a way into anyone else’s home.” Colton paused. “The mouse didn’t bite me—it never even touched me—but I’ve been scared of mice ever since, and any noise that sounds like mice feet on paper—including spider steps.”

“Ugh,” Topaz muttered. “That really stinks.”

Alex doubted Colton had just made that up on the fly. “Colton, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry for you. And I’m glad you don’t find my fear embarrassing.”

“…It’s not.”

“Yours isn’t either.”

Alex didn’t agree. Part of him felt embarrassed that he was still bothered by events that had happened more than ten years ago, and part of him just felt wrong for being scared of spiders when he was a pilot.

Then again, he wouldn’t have thought it was wrong for Lew to be scared. Or Claire.

Maybe—around him, CIDs buzzed, and then Henry announced, “Autumn needs to see me in her office.”

“Janet wants to show me something,” Topaz replied.

“I’ll go with you to see her,” Claire offered.

“Thanks.”

Colton spoke. “Alex and I will walk with you back to the main level—unless you want to stay here, Alex?”

“No, let’s go.”

The five of them made their way back up, saying quick goodbyes before Henry turned toward the medical bay and Claire and Topaz turned toward the corridor that would get them to the operators’ area faster.

Alex turned to Colton. “What are you—”

Colton wasn’t looking at him. “There’s the last spider.” He drew his pistol and started forward, then glanced back at Alex. “Stay here. I’ll get it.” He broke into a sprint.

Alex’s stomach tightened. He hesitated for only a second, then drew his own weapon and hurried after the engineer. No way was he going to let Colton face that thing on his own.

He caught up to him in a few seconds. “Where is it?”

“It darted through a vent.”

“Well, shoot.”

“I think it was heading to the left, though.” Colton didn’t slow down.

Alex followed him through different corridors, pausing whenever the engineer did to check different vents along the way. “Nothing here.”

Alex was both relieved and disturbed. Where is that thing going?

They drew up close to the engineers’ area, and Colton halted again. “If it’s the one Major Barr sent Engineer Morgan after—unless Topaz or Station Guard Stewart already killed it—maybe it headed back this way.” He turned to a nearby vent. “In which case—”

A piercing scream reached their ears, and Colton rushed into engineering, Alex on his heels.

The engineers on duty had backed away from their work areas, sticking close to the walls, their eyes scanning the floor, with the exception of Engineer Morgan, who was backed up against a table, his mouth hanging open.

That high-pitched scream was you? Alex would have felt sorry for him if not for how he’d treated Colton previously—and for how he’d gotten in Henry’s way days ago.

Not to mention if Colton had screamed like that, Morgan would have mocked him endlessly.

Colton turned, apparently trying to follow Morgan’s gaze. “Did you see it? Where did it go?”

Shaking, Morgan pointed.

Underneath the tables? Alex’s stomach was doing flip-flops now. He gripped his weapon and stepped closer to Colton. “If it’s in the main area—”

“It ran in there!” Colton sprinted away, and Alex raced after him. The engineer bolted through an open hatchway, and the pilot followed, stopping beside him in front of a desk.

Colton spun. “Alex, do you really want to be—”

“Forget me. Where’d it go?”

“Somewhere in here.” Colton slammed the door shut behind them.

Alex’s chest tightened, and he forced himself to exhale. Just breathe.

“Alex.”

He glanced at Colton, but instead of continuing to speak, the engineer switched to American Sign Language. Try not to make noise. We may be able to hear it move.

Alex nodded, grateful Colton had gotten his attention by saying his name rather than tapping him.

Then the engineer signed, I’m sorry about this.

Alex gave him a tight smile. It wasn’t any better for Colton.

The pilot stepped forward as quietly as he could, his jacket almost brushing against the desk before he noticed it and moved further away.

He kept the engineer in his peripheral vision so he’d know if he started signing again. Colton’s eyes were quickly scanning the room. No doubt he was straining his ears too, trying to pick up a sound he dreaded.

Colton froze and held up a hand, and Alex immediately stopped.

A moment later, he heard it—something between a crinkle and a tap.

And then he saw it.

Just past the desk, in a corner near another closed door.

Alex’s heart lurched, but he didn’t stop to think—he charged toward the spider.

It scuttled backward into the wall and started to climb.

Colton leaped over the desk, rushing to join him. “Aim for its body!”

Alex lifted his weapon with both hands. As he reached the spider, he dropped into a crouch, bringing the electrical pistol down at the same time. The blow knocked the spider off the wall to land on its back.

Colton struck it a split second later, smashing its front legs.

Alex’s second strike splattered its body. He pulled his arms up to hit it again, then realized he didn’t need to.

Colton looked at him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah.” The engineer smiled and turned back to the spider. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out two cleaning wipe packets. He passed Alex one and then ripped the other open, using the wipe inside to swipe his weapon. Alex quickly did the same with his own electrical pistol and then holstered it.

He got out a plastic bag, but Colton shook his head, taking one of his bags out. “I’ve got it.” He scooped up the spider’s remains.

“…Thank you.”

As Colton zipped the bag, Alex tried to relax. “We—”

CLANK.

They leapt to their feet and spun toward the now-open hatchway.

Major Barr stood just beyond it, his face dark red. The back of one of his gloves seemed to stick out more than usual, as if—Wait, is that where it bit him?

Alex managed to keep his face neutral.

Puffing with rage, Major Barr stomped toward them. “What are you doing in my office?”

Your office? Alex’s mind finally registered where they were. Of course, the desk—

Colton held up the bag. “We killed the last spider, sir.”

Barr froze and stared at it, then turned several shades of nausea and sprinted past them. He shoved open the hatch door and rushed through, throwing a nasty back kick that just grazed the door, sending it on a slow closing trajectory. It finally clicked shut, but not before his retching reached their ears.

Alex raised his eyebrows. “Is he…?”

“I think we better get out of here.”

“Yeah.” Alex followed him. “You know, I think my fear of spiders has been cured.”

Colton grinned. “Really?”

“Yeah. Anything to keep me from being in the same club with Barr—hey, could you hold that thing further away?”

“Sure. Sorry.”

They re-entered the main area, the rest of the engineers staring at them as they passed by with the spider.

Morgan, no longer afraid now that it was dead, moved toward them, smirking. “I bet you’re going to get it for going into the major’s office without his permission.”

Before Alex could reply, the engineer’s CID buzzed. “Ah, he wants to see me.” He sneered at Colton. “I’m sure you’re wondering what that’s about.”

Much to Alex’s surprise, Colton smiled. “I think I already know.”

Morgan looked a little taken aback. Then he sneered again. “Well, have fun delivering that thing.”

“We will,” Alex assured him, but the engineer kept walking.

Alex grinned at Colton. “All right, let’s take it to the general.”

As they left engineering, he asked, “What do you think Barr called Morgan for?”

Colton smiled. “Remember when your toilet clogged two weeks ago? I think Barr’s just did too.”

Alex laughed and threw an arm around Colton’s shoulders, and they headed for the general’s office, Colton holding the bag away from them.

Thank you for reading “The Bugs” (Part 3). Read Part 1 of the next episode, “The Cookies” here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Bugs” (Part 2). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 02, 2051

Colton checked over his entire quarters twice and stretched duct tape over the shower drain in his bathroom (engineers’ quarters didn’t have sinks) before he lay down.

He was tired, but hearing what Topaz had discovered had made him even less inclined to sleep than the news about the spiders.

Not to mention how he felt about his room.

Had it only been twelve days?

He didn’t want to think about it, or the letter he’d sent home, letting his parents know he’d been injured but had recovered safely. What he’d been going through inside during that time, he’d decided to save for when he talked with them in person, when he returned to Earth in April.

And he meant to return.

He just hoped nothing came through the vents while he slept. He wasn’t that bothered by spiders, but he had heard spiders walk before, and the sound was similar to—his CID buzzed, and he checked it.

A message from Henry: Goodnight.

A warm feeling spread through Colton’s chest. His friends were an indescribable comfort. Smiling, he typed back, Goodnight. See you tomorrow.

Colton put his CID away, turned out the lights, and curled up under the covers.

He closed his eyes and was almost asleep when he heard a quiet click.

His door had unlocked.

Only his friends knew the passcode to his quarters.

Colton’s stomach dropped. As quietly as possible, he got off the bed.

Silently, he stepped to one side of it, reaching for the lights with one hand and his electrical pistol with the other.

The door opened just enough for the light outside to edge its way into the room, and then a very faint sound reached Colton’s ears.

He’d heard one like it before, when he was seven years old.

He flicked the lights on and aimed. “Freeze!”

The door slammed shut.

Colton glanced at the floor. Nothing. He bolted forward and yanked the hatch door back open. Ducking into the hallway, he looked around. Footsteps pounded away from his room, and he sprinted after them, lifting his weapon.

He caught up to the intruder in seconds. “Stop!”

The intruder was almost to the open hatchway that led to the main area of the engineering section. He kept running.

Straight into the arm that appeared in front of his face.

Engineer Morgan fell backward. “Ow!”

Dr. Lucinda Burke stepped through the hatchway. “What have we here?”

Colton moved to stand beside her, sighting his gun on Morgan. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Anytime.”

Colton kept his expression blank as he stared down at the other engineer. “What were you trying to do back there? Opening my door?” A thought flashed through his mind. “How’d you unlock it?”

Morgan didn’t answer.

Colton remembered the engineer’s previous fear of him. “Would you like me to turn you over to the temporary station head as a traitor?”

“No! I’ll tell you, okay? Two weeks ago, when you fled your room, you didn’t hug the keypad like you usually do, you just typed the code right in for anyone nearby to see.”

Of course. For some reason, the automatic lock hadn’t activated when he’d shut the door that day, so he’d used the keypad. “Go on.”

“Well, I was nearby. I was saving your code for the perfect prank. I didn’t know you were still awake.”

Dr. Burke eyed him. “What prank?”

“I…” Morgan looked embarrassed. “I made a fake spider. May I?” He gestured to one of his jacket pockets.

Colton nodded, but didn’t take his aim off him.

Morgan sighed and dug a small bundle of wires out. “I know it doesn’t really look like a Goliath Birdeater, but I thought it would still freak you out.”

“How thoughtful.” Colton kept his tone neutral. “I will be letting the temporary station head know—I don’t think he’ll appreciate your prank.”

“You can’t!”

Colton holstered his gun and took out his CID.

Morgan smirked. “Fine, go ahead. Nothing’s going to come of it. Major Barr likes me. We all know how he feels about you, though.”

Oh, you don’t know the half of it. Colton finished typing and hit send.

____________________________________________________________________________

February 03, 2051

Alex jerked awake under the blanket he’d septuple-checked for spiders. He shoved the covers off and felt over his jacket. Nothing there. He grabbed his right pantleg and pulled it up. Nothing there either.

He fell back onto his pillow, hoping none of his roommates had heard him.

They’d only triple-checked their bedding.

Thank goodness none of them had commented on his search. And thank goodness no one in the general’s office had noticed his reaction to seeing the photo, or hearing that the spiders were carrying cameras and microphones.

They were all pretty sure a rebel had placed them, but whether that same rebel was now at the station was anyone’s guess.

But Topaz had been able to determine from the tiny device that the camera and microphone were streaming to an unidentified network—which was also password protected.

Another thing for the operators to work on.

And now everyone at the station had to be really careful about what they said and did in case they were being recorded—by spiders, of all things.

What kind of sicko attaches recording equipment to a spider?

At least Autumn had examined the dead ones and was 90 percent certain the rebels hadn’t found some way to make them venomous, although she warned that that didn’t mean the others hadn’t been altered.

And at least there were only four left—maybe everyone would get lucky, and the remaining spiders would move into Barr’s office.

No, Colton was in engineering, and with his luck, the spiders would stalk him.

Alex shuddered at the image his mind helpfully conjured without his permission.

The spiders wouldn’t want to bite Barr anyway—that’d be cannibalism.

Alex’s bunkmate turned over. Everyone would be up soon. He might as well get up now.

Claire, Topaz, and he would be on an afternoon patrol, so they’d have time for breakfast with their friends. Alex hoped the others would be available.

Messaging Autumn and Henry confirmed they would be. It also confirmed another spider death—Autumn had killed one that she and Henry found in her office.

Three left.

Alex decided to ask Colton to breakfast in person. After what Barr had done, he thought it might be good to make a point of visiting the engineers’ section more often—let the major know Colton wasn’t alone.

Lew caught him on the way out of the pilots’ quarters. “Hey, just wanted to warn you, a spider got away from me earlier. Darted through one of the vents.”

Alex stopped. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It didn’t bite me, and the general said they’re not venomous if they do.”

“Right. Uh, I’m headed for engineering.”

Lew nodded. “I’ll walk with you, then I’m going to meet up with a couple of station guards. They want to look for the spiders, and I thought I’d join them before patrol. Are you coming?”

“Mind if I grab breakfast first?”

“Not at all.”

Lew left him at the entrance to engineering, and Alex held back a shudder. He did not want to join a spider hunt, but if they could actually kill the rest of them that way…He glanced around, looking for Colton.

Colton was checking CIDs with Gerard at one of the tables. The Burkes were at one of the computers, messing with a schematic.

Good, he’s close to Gerard and not far from the other two. He approached the two engineers at the table. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Alex.”

“Hello, Pilot Fletcher.”

“Got time for breakfast, Colton?” Since Gerard had to pretend he wasn’t associated with the general or them, Alex didn’t invite him.

“I should—”

CLANK.

Alex whirled in time to see Major Barr charge out of his office—the noise must have been his door smacking the wall when he threw it open.

Most of the engineers looked up, then quickly turned their attention back to their work as if afraid of him noticing and directing his rage at them.

“Engineer Morgan!” The major bellowed.

Morgan hurried over. “Sir?”

The major’s voice abruptly lowered, and Alex missed what he said. Morgan looked nervous, but nodded and entered the major’s office, leaving the door open.

Barr stormed through the closest exit and disappeared into the corridor.

Alex glanced at Colton. “I wonder what that was about. Want to go to the rec area before he comes back?”

“Yeah. We’re finished with the CIDs now.”

The personnel in the rec area were trying to eat breakfast while constantly looking around for the remaining spiders. Conversation existed, but it was somewhat stilted as people broke off to make sure there weren’t any spiders nearby.

As usual, Alex and Colton snagged an empty corner table. This time, Alex regretted it. They were sitting directly below a vent. “Colton, what if we went—”

“Hey guys.” Claire took a seat next to the engineer.

Topaz shot both young men a grin before plopping into a chair beside Claire, apparently leaving the two near Alex for Henry and Autumn.

“Hello.” Colton smiled, then looked at Alex. “You were say—”

“Autumn couldn’t make it.” Henry took the chair closest to Alex. “She decided to stay and oversee one of the new doctors treating Major Barr.”

The rest of them froze.

Alex forgot about the vent. Something actually happened to Barr? How?

Claire voiced Alex’s thoughts. “Something…actually happened to him?”

Henry lowered his voice. “A spider got into his office and bit him.”

If it had been anyone other than Barr, Alex would have felt sorry about it. Since it was Barr, he snorted and threw a grin at Colton. “So, that’s what it was about.”

Claire was grinning herself. “What?”

Alex told the group what happened in the engineers’ area. “I guess he was hurrying to the medical bay.”

Topaz giggled and glanced at Henry. “Was it nasty? Please tell me it was nasty.”

Henry covered his laugh with a cough.

Colton’s mouth slowly turned up. “So, he called Morgan over to deal with the spider.”

Alex started to laugh, then stopped, his stomach tightening. That means when we were at the table, we weren’t far from where...He didn’t feel like eating anymore.

He really didn’t feel like eating when a spider came down the wall to land on the table.

Noooooo!

Alex didn’t think; he reacted. Leaping to his feet, he grabbed Henry’s sleeve and pulled both of them back against the wall, knocking over their chairs in the process.

At the same time, Topaz lunged and smashed her gun down on the spider.

Claire pulled out a bag. “I’ll get this one.”

“Thank you.”

Claire zipped it closed. “Four dead—wait, are the spiders the same gender? Because if they aren’t, we could end up with more spiders.”

“Thanks Claire,” Alex muttered, then realized he still had Henry by the sleeve. He quickly let go.

Too late.

The room was staring at him.

Feeling heat creep up his face, Alex looked down. He wanted nothing more than to sneak away and not be found by anyone. Including his friends. They’d seen him scared by a spider. He couldn’t look any of them in the face again.

A pilot from a nearby table approached, his concerned eyes flicking between Henry and Alex. “You two okay?”

Henry nodded. “We’re all right. We just weren’t expecting it to…”

“Come from up top? Yeah, I thought I needed to watch the floor. I should have watched the vent more—”

“Four down!” Station Guard Stewart entered the room carrying a bag, and several members of the Pilots Division cheered. The engineers and doctors remained silent, but probably weren’t fooling anyone.

“Five.” Topaz corrected, nodding to the bag Claire was still holding.

“Great! One more to go!”

“In fact,” Colton said quietly, “maybe we should look for it.”

“Good idea.” Claire agreed.

Topaz took the bag from her and offered it to Station Guard Stewart. “If you’re dropping yours off with the general, could you…”

“Absolutely.”

“Thank you.”

Henry helped Alex pick up the chairs, and then the five of them left the rec area in silence.

Colton led the way to the second level of the station, and Alex felt his stomach tighten at the hum of the engines. Why are we going here? Why would Colton want to go here if he didn’t have to?

They entered the room, and Colton led them to the motion sensors’ blind spot near the right of the stairs. “If there are any spiders in here, their recording equipment won’t be able to see or hear us.”

Alex sucked in a breath. “Uh…Maybe we should look for the last spider.”

“I don’t think you should be looking for it,” Topaz said gently.

“Actually, Lew said some station guards and he were going to go spider hunting—Station Guard Stewart’s probably part of that group, and he found one. So maybe I can help—”

“Alex.” Claire spoke. “We know you’re afraid of the spiders. And we could tell that embarrasses you, but it shouldn’t. These spiders are so…awful.”

“Autumn and I were both disturbed by the one that appeared in her office,” Henry added, “and it didn’t appear…the way the one in the rec area did.”

Alex opened his mouth, then closed it as he realized what they were saying. They thought he was only afraid of the spiders they were dealing with now; they didn’t recognize his fear for what it really was.

If they don’t know, then maybe no one else in the rec area knew either.

Maybe it was okay.

“Alex?” Colton asked softly.

“Um…” Alex bit his lip. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be embarrassed, but…Could we not talk about it, either? I mean, it’s just these spiders…The rest are no big deal.” He probably shouldn’t have added the last part.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” Claire somehow located his shoulder in the dark and rested a hand on it. “But you also don’t have to go looking for the last spider, okay?”

“Okay.”

Except Lew expected him to. What if everyone but him was looking for the spider, and—“I think I should conquer my fear, though.”

“Alex,” Topaz said, “if you’re worried about other people making fun of you…Well, who cares? You don’t have to prove anything to them. Or us, for that matter. And…it’s not just these spiders that bother you, is it?”

Thank you for reading “The Bugs” (Part 2). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Bugs” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

February 02, 2051

Dr. Henry Phillips eyed a new box of pain medication, his mind drifting to the first morning after Colton’s injury, when he’d given the engineer some. It had been twelve days since then, twelve days since Colton had almost…Henry shuddered, remembering it.

Ever since January 21^st, Henry had kept thinking of what Colton had told him earlier in the month, just before he’d gone to confront Taylor. “...when I came to this station, I didn’t expect to find people who’d be like siblings to me, but that’s what you are.”

But you didn’t feel you could tell us what you were going through.

He tore his mind away. Colton was alive, and he was doing much better now than he was then.

The doctor finished putting away the supplements and medications the transport carrier had brought in that night.

Alex and Lew had flown the mission, transporting the rebel prisoners to Earth and bringing back supplies. And new personnel.

Autumn had informed him they’d be getting two new doctors to replace Alvarez, Harley, and Yorke. When he asked why two instead of three, she’d replied, “Governmental efficiency.”

Henry hadn’t met the new doctors, but he’d seen them while he was unloading the medical supplies. They’d left the bay immediately, along with a few other passengers, which had given him a few minutes to talk with the pilots before they had to file their reports.

Autumn had asked him to help her keep an eye on their new medical personnel, and he was not looking forward to it. Hopefully, both doctors would just want to stay in their assigned quarters tonight and sleep off their flight.

After he told the others goodnight, he hoped to go to sleep.

Since they’d confirmed Colton’s fingers were all right, the engineer had moved back into his own quarters (after he’d carefully gone over his bedroom and bathroom/closet to make sure no one had added anything to them while he was gone.)

Henry missed having the engineer around.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and he whirled.

The new personnel, a young man and woman, stood there, smiling.

And no one else was around.

He found himself wanting to draw his electrical pistol. Settle down. Not every new person is a rebel.

The young woman greeted him. “Hello, I’m Dr. Rogers.”

The young man gestured to himself. “Dr. Long.”

“We just got in,” Dr. Rogers added.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Phillips.” Henry didn’t offer to shake hands.

Dr. Rogers started to put her hand out, then dropped it. “Ah, still nervous. One of the other doctors told us what happened to you last year.”

Henry kept his gaze on her, relying on his peripheral vision to track Dr. Oakes moving toward them from the direction of the doctors’ quarters.

Since their last conversation in January, the other doctor had kept his distance.

What is he doing now?

“Hey, Henry. Yeah, I told them about Dr. Hughes the rebel.” Oakes smirked. “I also told them how crazy you were acting two weeks ago, tearing all over the station yelling for Engineer Close.”

Is he just trying to make it clear he doesn’t like me, or is he still trying to find out what happened that morning? If it is the latter, this is not the smartest way of doing it.

Henry’s chest tightened, but he forced himself to sound calm. Friendly. “Ah, yes. Did you also tell them how two rebels tricked you into helping them with their plan? Remember, when they tried to murder an operator?”

Dr. Oakes’s taunting smile faltered.

Henry’s CID buzzed, but he didn’t dare check it in front of them.

“Aren’t you going to…” Dr. Long gestured.

“No, it just means it’s low battery…”

Autumn was coming from the direction of her office. She glanced between the four of them as she approached, then focused on Dr. Oakes, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Yes, Doctor.” Oakes spun on his heel and marched off in the direction of the doctors’ quarters.

Autumn turned to the new doctors. ”I suggest you try to sleep as well—I know what hours spent in microgravity during flight can do.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Dr. Long answered. He nodded a goodnight to Henry and Autumn, as did Dr. Rogers before she joined Long in heading for the doctors’ quarters.

As soon as they were gone, Autumn turned to Henry and lowered her voice. “What was that about?”

He told her.

Her throat muscles tightened. “I don’t trust them, Henry.”

“Is there something in their files that doesn’t look right, or is it just their demeanor?”

“Their demeanor. Their files look fine. Rebels’ files always look fine.” She frowned. “I don’t like how…casual they were in their reference to what Dr. Hughes did.”

Henry nodded. “I feel the same way.”

“Good. Never let your guard down around them—and keep several pairs of gloves in your pockets. Speaking of which, I need you to carry some bags for me.”

“Am I taking them somewhere?”

“We have a meeting.”

Henry finally checked his CID. “Ah, so that’s what the message was.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Claire stood between Topaz and Colton in front of the general’s desk, Autumn and Henry on Topaz’s other side, and Alex next to Colton.

Temporary Station Head Gonzalez placed a folder on his desk. “When Gerard arrives, we’ll begin.” He glanced at Colton. “It’s good to see both your hands healthy, Engineer Close.”

Colton smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

Someone tapped on the door, and the general rose and crossed his office to it. He typed in the passcode that unlocked it, then swung it open and gestured. “Come in.”

“Thank you.” Gerard entered the room, and Claire’s chest tightened.

He started toward them, then halted, glancing at Colton. Guilt flitted across his features. He looked down and moved to stand slightly apart from the group.

Good.

Claire took the general’s word for it that Gerard wasn’t with the rebels, but she was still wary of him. And while she guessed the look Colton threw him was a smile, she knew she saw her friend’s fingers twitch.

Topaz gently nudged her, and she focused on the general.

“First, Barr’s little suggestion to Colton on January 21^st.” The general’s voice took on an edge. “My people have completed their research and have concluded that yes, the major’s friends in the government would make removing him from his position difficult. Given that he is technically qualified, I would need a very good reason for replacing him, and considering there isn’t any recording of what he said to you, Colton, I’m afraid I don’t have one.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez gave the engineer an apologetic look.

“I understand,” Colton said softly. “That’s why he scanned me and confiscated my CID to begin with—so I wouldn’t have any evidence.”

“There’s another angle to consider, too.” The general let his breath out. “We know what Barr is. With any replacement division head, we’d be starting over, and he or she could be worse—perhaps even turn out to be a rebel.” He turned to Gerard. “I want you to help Colton keep tabs on Barr. Dr. Lucinda Burke and her son will already be doing the same thing, but they’ll be more focused on getting the tracker built.”

Gerard nodded. “Yes sir.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez turned to Topaz. “Your last report two days ago stated that you and your team hadn’t found anything else in your systems that might have been left behind by the rebels, and that after examining a series of deletions, you think you’ve finally determined what the file found on your computer on January 20^th was related to. I’d like you to explain it for everyone here.”

“Yes sir.” Topaz glanced back and forth to include the others. “We believe the file was linked to the station’s cameras’ failure to capture any footage of the enemy fighter or fighters that placed the bomb on the station sometime between the last two exterior maintenance checks.

“The file contained several lines of code that would very briefly turn the cameras off—similar to if they were disconnected for maintenance. Pretty clever attack that doesn’t look like malware to our systems but instead looks like a normal prompt. Except it wouldn’t work if the operators monitoring the cameras saw it happen.

“So, we believe the deletions were the missing pieces—probably code for tricking our systems into thinking the cameras were still connected, and static images that would be displayed on the monitors of the operators on duty so they’d be tricked into thinking they were looking at live footage.” She looked at the general.

“Thank you, Topaz.” His gaze swept the group. “I wanted all of you to hear that so you’d know what kind of new attacks we might come under in the future. And now, more bad news.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez opened the folder on his desk and took out a photo that he held up for the group to see.

“What the—” That came from Alex.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex’s eyes fastened on the photo, his heart dropping into his stomach.

A close-up of a freakish, light brown spider—a Goliath Birdeater, according to a line of text under the picture—filled his vision. He blinked and looked away, but the image was already cemented in his mind.

The general returned the photo to the folder. “NASA didn’t bother to ask my permission before they sent them to us, probably because they knew what I would say. Unfortunately, they were loaded with supplies for the Engineers Division, and the engineer who collected the supplies accidentally released them.” He looked at Colton. “From now on, I’d like you to unload everything intended for the engineers.”

“Yes sir.”

Brigadier General Gonzalez took out his CID and started typing. “There are six of them at this station now.”

“Six?” Alex stared at the folder. “They sent six?”

The general nodded. “A scientist emailed me about it a little before I called this meeting. His team wants to ‘test the survival capability of lower life forms in space.’”

Alex’s stomach tightened. “Why didn’t they just send scientists then?”

The temporary station head smiled. “A fair question, Pilot. I’ll be putting out an announcement warning everyone, but I wanted to warn all of you first.” He finished typing. “I’m sending you each a copy of NASA’s email—it will tell you more about the spiders.”

They checked their CIDs, and then Gerard cleared his throat. “Sir—does leg span mean what I think it does?”

“Yes.”

“These things are huge.” Gerard shook his head. “I’d hate to have one of them sneak up on me.”

“With their size,” Colton said, “you’d hear them coming—if you were in an area that was mostly quiet, like your room.”

Alex’s stomach turned. Thanks, Colton, I needed that! He managed to keep his voice steady. “We can just shoot them, right?”

“Better to crush them,” the general answered. “Some spiders are resistant to electricity—NASA was helpful enough to inform me of that.” He put the folder in a desk drawer, completely unaware of Alex’s horror. “Stick to your normal duties as much as you can, but keep an eye out. Especially watch where you sit. As the email says, they are not venomous, but their fangs are sharp—”

Alex wasn’t listening anymore. He was frozen, staring at the arachnid slowly crossing the temporary station head’s desk. He opened his mouth, trying to warn the general, but no sound came out.

“Ah, there’s one.” The general slammed his gun down, then looked at the result in disgust. “Another thing. The bags please, Autumn.”

Autumn pulled several large, clear plastic bags out of her lab coat, and Henry did the same. They placed them on the other end of the general’s desk.

The general took one and used his gun to scrape what was left of the spider into it before zipping it closed. “Each of you carry several of these bags. If or when you kill a spider, put it in one. I want to make sure we don’t lose count. I want them cleared out.”

“Yes sir.” They spoke in unison.

“Watch the drains in your bathrooms. And the vents everywhere else. Considering my door is closed and locked, it must have entered this office through a drain or vent. You’re all dismissed.”

“Yes sir.” They collected their bags.

Alex shoved his into his jacket, trying not to shudder in front of the others. Why did it have to be spiders?!

____________________________________________________________________________

Topaz stood in the room she shared with Claire, her back to the pilot while she shook out her pillowcase, then shoved it back on her pillow and started in on her sheets. “I hope none of us dreams of spiders tonight.”

“Me too.”

Topaz could hear the ruffling of Claire checking her own bed.

“Claire, do you think it was really NASA behind this?”

“I’d think the rebels would send us venomous spiders, not ones that can’t poison us. Unless they were trying to distract us from something…Topaz!”

Topaz whirled as Claire rushed past her to the foot of her bed, pistol in hand. She ground to a halt and clubbed a spider off the wall.

Topaz whipped out one of her bags. “Ew!”

“You said it.” Claire held out her hand.

“I got it.” Topaz used the bag to scoop up the mess, grimacing as she zipped it shut. “I don’t mind killing spiders, but why’d they send us such gross ones—Claire, take a look at this.” She held the bag up, pointing to one corner of it. “Do you see what I see?”

Claire’s eyes narrowed. “A small piece of reflective material? On a spider?”

“Yeah…” Topaz opened the bag and reached inside with her gloved hand. “There it is.” She grasped a device with just her thumb and index finger. Pulling it out, she turned it more toward the light. “Looks like a tiny…microphone? And a camera? With a computer chip. We need to”—she stopped, then grabbed a backup battery for her electrical pistol from her belt.

She moved it to one of her jacket pockets and slipped the device in with it. “Whoever’s listening can enjoy all that interference while we tell the others that the bugs are bugged.”

Thank you for reading “The Bugs” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “Silence Pt. III” (Part 2). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes (and some semicolons).

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

If Henry was wrong about where his friend was, he needed the others checking the rest of the station.

Autumn messaged back. I told them. I’ve asked the general to look in his area, too.

Good, although he guessed Colton hadn’t gone there.

The hum of the engines reached Henry’s ears as he approached the final level.

In the dimly-lit engine room, he couldn’t see Colton anywhere, but as he reached the bottom of the stairs, an automatic light came on, illuminating the engineer’s hiding place to the right of the lowest step, where he must have gone to avoid the motion sensors.

Colton sat with his knees pulled to his chest, his arms folded across them, and his face hidden in his sleeves. His shoulders shook. He didn’t react to the light coming on above his head.

But he was alive.

Autumn and Henry had been wrong.

For a moment, all Henry could do was lean against the stairs’ railing and breathe, watching Colton and waiting for his own trembling to pass.

Then he quietly moved to crouch in front of his friend. “Colton.”

Colton jerked, then lifted his head. His eyes met Henry’s, and he swallowed hard. “Henry”—his voice cracked—“please go away.”

Yesterday, Henry might have done just that. But now—“I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Colton stiffened. “Please.”

Henry didn’t know what to say, but he knew what he couldn’t do. He shook his head.

Colton said it a little more quietly the third time, his voice fragile. “Please, Henry. Just leave me alone.”

“Colton”—Henry heard his own voice break—“you cannot hold my hand while I’m dying and then expect me to walk away from you.”

Colton sucked in a breath.

Henry cleared his throat and tried again. “If you’re scared about your fingers—I’m sorry I frightened you. I never meant to give you any indication I thought they wouldn’t heal—I only wanted you to know it was possible. And I took it too far. I’m so—”

Colton’s sobs cut him off. They came in jerky gasps, shaking his body. “It’s not—it’s not you. It’s not—your fault.”

“Then what is it?” Henry leaned closer. “Are you worried about Major Barr? If he objects to you taking the time your body needs to heal, then he’ll just have to deal with it. He can’t—”

Colton laughed, a sound somehow worse than his sobbing. It shook Henry to the core. “Major Barr can do whatever he wants, Henry.”

“No, he can’t. If he—”

“Yes, he can. He’s done it for years. I was a fool back in December, to think it was possible he didn’t dislike me as much as I thought—he doesn’t just dislike me, he hates me—you don’t—you don’t understand, Henry. I’m glad you don’t.

“I’m glad none of you do—you had the other Dr. Hampton as an instructor and as your division head, but it still—it wasn’t like this. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you’re stronger than me.”

Henry wanted to tell Colton the truth, that he wasn’t stronger, but he kept quiet and let Colton continue uninterrupted.

“But I—Major Barr—it doesn’t—it’s not—it’s that I couldn’t…This is why.” Colton sobbed more violently. “This is why I don’t talk. I shouldn’t talk. I never do it right. I can’t even tell Mom and Dad”—he broke off, tears racing down his face.

Henry swallowed hard. He hadn’t told his parents what had happened to him in the previous November. It felt better not worrying them about things they couldn’t control. Apparently, Colton felt the same way. But how did not telling his mom and dad translate to not being able to?

And what did he mean by “I shouldn’t talk. I never do it right”?

“Whatever’s bothering you…You don’t have to try to tell me now. It’s hard to explain anything in a situation like this. Just don’t say it’s your fault.”

“It is my fault.” The words came out so quietly, Henry almost missed them.

“It’s not—”

Colton was crying more softly now. “I couldn’t go through with it. The major offered me a way out, and I couldn’t go through with it. Of course, he probably would have sent it anyway. Wouldn’t he?” He looked at Henry pleadingly.

Henry’s heart rate picked up, and then the questions spilled out, one after the other. “What way out? What did Barr do? You couldn’t go through with what?”

Colton didn’t answer, and Henry’s heart hammered harder.

And then without meeting his eyes, his friend said, “I’m sorry, Henry.”

Autumn had been right.

And he’d been right.

The possibility alone had torn him apart, but it was worse now that Colton had confirmed it.

And then Henry saw the rest. “Major Barr…Told you…To kill yourself?”

“But I couldn’t do it.” Colton’s voice quivered. “I set it up. I meant for it to look like the rebels sabotaged my room. So my parents would have something for all of this…And I couldn’t do it.”

He drew a shaky breath. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how it’d break their hearts—I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and Topaz, and Claire, and Alex, and Autumn, and General Gonzalez. I couldn’t stop thinking that it was wrong…”

The tears came faster again. “But if I’d just gone through with it—and now—he’s going to have me thrown out of the U.S.G.F. No disability, no pension, no insurance, nothing!

“I won’t even be able to take out government loans for any kind of education because it’ll be in my file why I was discharged from the Galactic Force. I’ll probably be on a government list for the rest of my life, and so will my mom and dad. Everything my parents and I went through, all the years we lost…Major Barr’s going to destroy us.”

“No, he’s not.” Henry ground the words out through his teeth, his tone sharp enough that Colton looked at him. Henry met his eyes. “Nothing is going to happen to you. We won’t let it.”

“It won’t be up to you.”

“I don’t care.”

Colton blinked. No doubt he remembered a similar exchange they’d had two months before.

Henry continued. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with your fingers, but I know you’re going to receive the best care you can get for them. And I don’t know how this situation will turn out, but I know you won’t be thrown out of the U.S.G.F.”

“Major Barr let me know a long time ago that he’s fully capable of having me removed from a position here—and even before that, it was well-known among the instructors and cadets that he knew people in high places. I think that’s how he became division head.”

“He was lying to you—playing psychological games. If he could so easily have you removed from your position here, he wouldn’t have let you stay in the program on Earth.

“And even if he does know people in high places, so does the general. No doubt Autumn does as well, at some level—she is a division head. As for Major Barr”—Henry felt his hands clench into fists—“he will answer to God for what he’s done.”

He forced his hands to relax. “And you…Whatever happens, we’re here with you and for you. You aren’t going to face any of this alone. And if you do lose full use of your hand…We’ll help you, and your parents. Your days of fighting by yourselves are over.” His voice cracked. “We love you, and we’re not going to leave you. Do you understand? Colton?”

Colton didn’t answer right away. Then he choked back another sob and nodded, his expression a war between hope and disbelief.

Henry’s legs ached from crouching. He started to straighten them, then changed his mind and set both knees on the floor, shifting forward and holding his arms out.

Colton hesitated, then shifted onto his own knees and moved into the offered hug, wrapping his arms around Henry and letting his face rest against the doctor’s shoulder.

Then the sobs started again and he choked out, “I’m sorry.”

He started to pull away.

Henry’s eyes filled with tears as he tightened his grip on his friend. “It’s all right, Colton.”

For a few moments, they sat there while Colton cried.

Then Henry heard rapid footfalls. He gently released the engineer. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Wha—”

Henry sprinted back up the stairs. If that was someone coming to harass them—it wasn’t. It was Topaz. And Alex, Claire, and Autumn were behind her.

Topaz ground to a halt in the hatchway, forcing the others to stop before they ran into her. “Henry—did you find him? Is he okay?”

“He’s”—Henry broke off as Colton joined him, wiping very bloodshot eyes.

“Hi, Topaz.” The engineer whispered.

“Colton”—she staggered toward him, biting her lip. “When we met Autumn on our way over here, she said”—she didn’t finish, likely afraid of saying the word, of putting ideas in his head.

Alex must have been too frantic to think anything like that. “She said she thought you might try suicide, but I—what the heck happened to your eyes?!”

Colton blinked. “Wh—”

“They’ll be all right,” Henry said softly. “He broke some blood vessels in them. They’ll heal.”

“What—how did he break blood vessels in his eyes?!”

“By crying.” Colton took a deep, shuddering breath. “Autumn was right. But don’t worry. Henry helped me—”

Topaz and Alex gasped, and Autumn looked down, squeezing her eyes closed.

Claire brushed past Alex and started toward the engineer with an expression of pure anguish. She stopped in front of Colton, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

Henry saw tears glisten in her eyes before she blinked hard and whispered, “Colton, I’ve been there. But please, don’t—don’t—”

“I won’t, Claire. I’m sorry.”

“Why would you even think of doing something like that?” Alex demanded. “Why?”

“Insurance,” Autumn said softly, immediately figuring it out. “Life insurance.”

Alex rounded on her, then spun back to face Colton. “Wh—Insur—”

Topaz closed in to hug Colton when Claire let go, then drew back to look up at him. “Were you trying to get the money for your family? Did you—think you’d lose your position here, and you wouldn’t be able to get another one somewhere else?”

He nodded, sniffling. “It was—more than that, but yes.”

“Colton, your parents would rather have you than any amount of money. They need you. We need you.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something for you to apologize for—just—if you ever go through something like this again, and you start to think killing yourself is the solution…tell us. Please. Maybe we can’t change the situation, but we can give you a list of reasons to survive it.”

Alex moved closer. “What she said. Colton, we love you. Why didn’t you tell us?”

Colton took another shuddering breath, hesitated, and then told them the whole story.

When he finished, no one said anything for two seconds, and then Alex spoke through his teeth. “I’m going to put Barr through the incinerator.”

____________________________________________________________________________

January 31, 2051

Alex stood behind Colton’s chair in Autumn’s office, hoping no one could see how nervous he was. Thankfully, no one was looking his way. Autumn sat across from Colton, behind her desk, Henry sat in a chair beside him, and Topaz and Claire stood on either side of Alex.

Henry had the EMG set up—the second one he’d performed on Colton since the engineer had been injured. Over a week later, his hand seemed to have healed, but they had to be sure.

Depending on how this test turned out, Colton might have to return to Earth for surgery on his nerves. One thing was sure, though, he wouldn’t be kicked out of the U.S.G.F. No matter what Barr said.

The day Barr threatened Colton, they’d gone to the general about it, and the general had made that clear to them, although he hadn’t spoken to Barr as far as they knew.

Alex couldn’t think about Barr without feeling a surge of anger. He doubted any of the others could, either.

Henry looked at Colton. “Now, remember, even if this test does indicate nerve damage, nerve damage can heal.”

“I know.”

“It might take a while, but it can—”

“Henry.” Colton’s voice was soft. “You told me.”

Henry inhaled through his teeth. “That is right, I did. Okay. I’ll start it now.” Henry fiddled with the creepy device (why were almost all medical devices creepy?) and Alex held his breath.

Several seconds passed.

Henry blinked hard and faced Colton. “Your muscles are responding correctly. Their electrical activity is normal.”

“So, that should mean”—Claire broke off and looked away, her eyes filling with tears.

Topaz grinned through her own tears. “He’s okay!”

Autumn wiped her eyes, smiling.

Alex blinked hard, then gave up, knowing no one would make fun of him. He bent to hug Colton around the shoulders.

Henry managed to stay dry-eyed long enough to gently remove the cathodes from Colton’s skin, releasing him from the EMG. Then the doctor began crying softly too.

Colton turned his palm up and wiggled his fingers.

Then he laughed.

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. III” (Part 2). Read Part 1 of the next episode, “The Bugs,” here.

The previous installment of this series is “Silence Pt. III” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Note: If you’re using an agentic browser, please don’t have it summarize webpages. Read 0x03 of this article to learn why.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

When Colton reached engineering, he found Major Barr waiting just past the hatchway. The major jerked his head at Colton to follow him into his office, then slammed the door behind him and pulled out a scanner.

“…Sir?”

The division head waved the scanner at Colton. “Only your CID, I see. Give it to me.”

Colton handed it over automatically, then asked, “Why?”

Major Barr removed its battery. “Just making sure. Join me, Close.” He moved to his desk and sat, gesturing at Colton to stand across from him.

He dumped Colton’s device and its battery into a desk drawer, closed it, then leaned back, looking up at him. “It’s a pity your career here ended this way.”

Colton’s heart stopped. “What?” He looked down at his hand. “Sir, I’m sure Dr. Hampton made you fully aware of my medical situation. My fingers were only—”

“I’m not talking about injuries, Close.” The major leaned forward. “I’m talking about the stunt you pulled with the engine.”

“The…What?”

“You sabotaged it on last week’s maintenance check so you could injure yourself—I’m still not completely sure why. Perhaps you wanted disability? Or perhaps it was an attempt to throw my suspicions off? It’s too bad, Close, because after our time in the storage area, I was convinced you weren’t a rebel. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, but either way, you will not be a threat anymore.”

The major unlocked a desk drawer and retrieved a folder from it. He opened it, then placed it on the desk for Colton to see. “Inside is a report on my questioning of the two engineers who were with you. They agree they had no indication that the engine was damaged before your injury, so I have no choice but to assume you allowed yourself to be injured so—”

“I told Engineer Reed not to turn the engine on.” Colton shook his head. “I didn’t do this to—they both know what happened. It will be in the reports they filed—”

“Yes, I’ve seen their reports.” Major Barr closed the folder. “And I’m concerned that you got them to lie for you afterward—both in their reports and to the temporary station head’s face. It makes me question their loyalty. It makes me wonder if perhaps the rebels might influence them…I’ll have to watch them more closely after this.

“In the meantime, I’ll be forwarding my conclusion regarding your future in the U.S.G.F. to the proper officials—but I think we both know they’ll agree. With you out of the Galactic Force and away from this station, you won’t have access to anything the rebels could want, and you won’t be a threat to the United States.”

Lord Jesus, help me. This wasn’t happening.

“Do you want to say something, Close?”

Major, this is wrong, and you know it’s wrong. Colton didn’t say the words. Nothing he said would change anything.

He’d failed.

He’d failed his parents, and he’d failed himself.

There was no changing that.

The only thing he could do was not let the major see what he was feeling.

“Of course…” The major smiled. “I haven’t forwarded my conclusion yet…I suppose, if you had another accident, a fatal one, I could, out of the goodness of my heart, accidentally delete this information from the database so that your family could still collect your life insurance…That would be $100,000, if I’m not mistaken.”

Colton just stared at him. A mixture of horror and disbelief stole the air from his lungs again.

He’s telling me to—his mind wouldn’t even complete the thought.

And then it did.

And he nodded slowly. “Yes sir.”

The major’s smile froze. Then he got Colton’s CID and battery out of his drawer, rose, and shoved them at him. “Well. Then, you are dismissed, Close. It’s been a pleasure working with you. And don’t bother telling anyone about this conversation. Without a recording, it’s your word against mine.”

“Yes sir.” Colton returned his device and its battery to his pocket.

Then he walked to the door, opened it, stepped out, and closed it behind him, his mind calm, his nerves settled.

It would be okay.

It would look accidental—no, it would look like the rebels killed him.

There was the possibility that Henry or Claire might guess that wasn’t what happened, but they wouldn’t know for sure, and if they did, they’d never tell.

He swallowed hard.

He knew what it would do to his friends. They loved him enough they never would be quite the same after this. Their lives would be forever marked. He wished it didn’t have to be that way, but he didn’t have any other choice.

The same went for his parents. They’d never stop grieving him. They’d blame themselves, even though it wasn’t their fault. He knew when he left home that his choice to join the program had devastated them as much as it had him, but he’d convinced himself it would all be worth it in the end.

Well, this was the end.

And it was worth it.

His parents would be taken care of. Their most recent letter had talked about several investment decisions they’d made that had actually paid off. If those investments had worked, then they could do a lot more with the insurance money. It would last them the rest of their lives.

They’d be okay.

Colton didn’t remember walking to his room, but somehow he was there, looking around, planning his own death, setting it up.

His hands shook, and his heart rate accelerated.

Oh God, what am I doing?

He sank onto his bed, trying to catch his breath.

He’d never believed suicide was the unforgivable sin, the one act of wrongdoing that permanently separated a person from God. Only choosing to be separated from God by rejecting His Son could do that.

But he did believe suicide was wrong.

God had given him his life, and it didn’t feel right to end it. Colton knew if he did, God would still take him home, but once he got there, once he stood before his Creator and Savior—would He be disappointed? Would He be saddened?

Tears burned Colton’s eyes.

God, I don’t know what else to do—when Henry told me my fingers might not heal, I was scared, but I knew You’d get me through whatever happened. But if Major Barr is going to destroy my career...

Colton took a shuddering breath, then rose to put the last of the pieces in place.

God would understand why he did it.

It was the only way to ensure his parents’ lives weren’t over as his was. To make sure they had a future even if he didn’t.

It was the right thing to do.

Wasn’t it?

Lord, please forgive me.

Someone knocked on the door. “Colton!”

Couldn’t Albert lower his voice?

Colton turned and yanked his door open partway, startling the other engineer. “What?”

“Henry messaged me because he couldn’t reach you.”

Of course. He hadn’t put the battery back into his CID.

“Anyway, he wondered if you were here, and he was right. He said it’s time for you to have supplements, and then breakfast. Come on, I’ll walk you to the medical bay. How are you this morning?”

“I’m a lot better. Thank you for asking.” Colton left his room, shutting and locking the door behind him. He gestured for Albert to go ahead. “After you.”

If he didn’t come, Henry would know something was wrong. So, Colton would go to the medical bay, have his supplements, then tell Henry that the general had asked to see him alone.

The doctor would believe that, and then he could return to his room.

He could fake being okay for a little while.

____________________________________________________________________________

Henry waited with Autumn in the medical bay, clenching and unclenching his hands, trying not to check his CID again to see if Colton had finally answered, or if Albert had.

It would alert him if—when—it received a message.

Until then, Henry needed to steady his nerves. He didn’t want Colton to see him looking nervous.

Autumn touched his arm, and he grasped her hand for a moment, not saying anything because she already knew what he was trying not to think and was likely doing the same.

That morning, he’d had a nightmare about Colton.

In the dream, there hadn’t been a note, but somehow Henry knew. And when he found Colton on the floor…No! Henry tore his mind away, wishing he could forget the horrible images. It wasn’t real. It didn’t happen. It won’t. Colton won’t—

Henry had woken up with tears running down his face and had immediately leapt off the cot to check on Colton, only to find his friend still asleep. He’d looked peaceful.

The doctor needed to be up anyway to give the pilots their supplements, and he’d managed to mask his fear long enough to do so, but Autumn had seen him before they came in, and she’d known something was wrong.

When she asked afterward, he told her, and she echoed his current thoughts, that Colton would never do anything like what he did in that dream.

She hadn’t looked so convinced of that when they went to check on Colton and found Henry’s quarters empty.

Henry’s CID buzzed, and he tore it out of his pocket.

A message from Albert: Colton and I are on our way over.

Henry still couldn’t relax. “He says they’re coming.”

“Good.” Autumn didn’t relax either.

After what felt like hours, Colton and the other engineer appeared, and Henry let his breath out. “Hello, Colton, Albert.”

The other engineer smiled, then with a nod, left the bay.

Colton had his injured hand up, elevated above his heart. “Hello. Sorry I wasn’t here earlier, but I wanted to make sure no one had messed with my room. And yes, it looks fine. Don’t worry.”

“It’s okay. But next time, have one of us go with you.” Henry led him to an examination table, Autumn joining them with Colton’s file.

A couple of minutes later, Henry carefully put a used needle in a trash bin to eventually be dumped into one of the station’s incinerators. “That’s the last one.” He opened a packet containing a pain medication tablet and grabbed a cup he’d filled with water and then kept an eye on earlier. “And here’s something for the pain.”

“You don’t need to—”

“Colton, I know it hurts.” Henry looked at him. “There’s nothing wrong with you taking something for it.”

While Colton took the medication and finished the water, Autumn made a couple of notes in his file. “When the swelling in your fingers goes away, we’ll run an EMG to test your nerves.”

“Great. I look forward to it.” Colton got off the examination table and headed for the exit to the corridor.

Henry was about to ask him where he was going when Autumn did. “Colton, where are you going? I thought we were going to eat in my office.”

Colton looked apologetic. “The general asked me to meet with him.”

Autumn frowned. “Oh. We’ll walk you there, then, and we’ll have breakfast afterward.”

Colton checked his CID. “Actually, Station Guard Duy’s waiting for me in the corridor.” He looked up. “You two go ahead and eat. You’re both probably hungry.” Colton stopped at the hatchway and glanced back. “I forgot to say thank you, Doctors.” He smiled, then left.

Something didn’t feel right.

A disturbing uncertainty crept over Henry, and he tried to shake it off. He said the general asked to see him. He’s going to his office. Then the station guard will bring him back.

Autumn looked at him. “I’m not really hungry, are you?”

“No, but we should eat something.”

They headed for her office, Autumn locking the door behind them. They sat on opposite ends of her desk and opened two ration packets.

Autumn stared at hers.

“Autumn, is something wrong?”

“No, I don’t think so. But something just doesn’t feel right about what Colton said. The general didn’t tell me he wanted to meet with him when I talked to him this morning before you got up.”

“Maybe it’s just something last-minute, or”—Henry stopped. “Did you see anything…off about his smile?”

“Yes, and he called us ‘Doctors.’” She looked at him. “He usually calls us by our first names. I don’t know how it was with you, but it took him a while to get to that point with me. And before you assume I’m overly worried—”

Henry’s heart pounded, images from his nightmare flashing through his mind again. “Please just say it.”

“Sometimes when people are about to die, they revert.”

Henry was already moving, unlocking and pulling her office door open. “And someone planning their suicide may try to create distance between themselves and their loved ones—Colton!” He sprinted out of her office and through the medical bay. Dashing through one of its exits, he collided with a doctor coming in. “Did you see where Colton went?”

“Why should I care where an engineer—”

Henry kept going. His room. That’s where he’d do it.

He ran forward, only to get blocked by several more doctors. “Excuse me!”

“You’re the one in the way!”

He was losing precious time.

Autumn appeared behind him. “Get out of his way! That’s an order!”

That finally got them moving.

Henry sprinted forward again.

He raced through corridors, dodging other Moon Station personnel. His shoulder smacked into an engineer’s, and the young man snapped something. Henry kept running. Engineering was just ahead.

He rushed into the main room and was turning to sprint past the tables when Engineer Morgan blocked him. “What do you want?”

“Out of my way!” Henry charged forward, shoving Morgan aside.

“Hey! You little—”

Henry snarled a response, but didn’t stop running until he reached Colton’s room. “Colton!”

He banged on the door.

No response.

He pulled on the door handle, but found it locked. “Colton, please open the door! Colton!”

Silence.

Henry’s knees knocked together, and he gasped for air. He hit the closed door as hard as he could. Pain ricocheted through his arm, and he pressed his face against it, leaning on the door. Tears stung his eyes. “Colton, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re looking for Colton?” Albert’s voice startled him.

Henry spun around. “He’s not here?”

“He was, briefly—he came through the main room and headed straight to his, then came out maybe two minutes later looking totally out of it. Seemed like he didn’t even hear me call his name. When I started to follow him, Major Barr demanded I return to my table, and—”

“What direction did Colton go in? Where was he headed?”

“I don’t know. Hey, what’s wro—”

Henry was already moving again. He dug out his CID and messaged Autumn. If the other three have finished their patrol, tell them to look for Colton.

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. III” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “Silence Pt. II” (Part 2). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 21, 2051

Colton jerked awake, then looked around, frantic. This wasn’t his room. Where—he recognized his surroundings. Henry’s quarters. Except that Henry wasn’t on the cot. Instead, it was neatly made, with a note resting on the pillow.

Colton eased himself into a sitting position, lifting the arm with the injured fingers so they’d stay elevated above his heart, then stood. He crossed to the cot and lifted the note with his good hand.

Colton,

Got up early to give Alex and Claire their supplements before their flight. They’re on the first morning patrol, and then they’re free for the rest of the day. So are Topaz and I.

Autumn and I will have breakfast with you when you get up.

Love,

Henry

Colton carefully folded the note one-handed and slipped it into his jacket. He glanced at his watch. I actually slept for a long time. No wonder I was dreaming.

He shuddered. The last time he’d slept in Henry’s room, he’d had a nice dream. A dream of home where nothing bad had happened.

Not like the dream he’d had this morning. He was sorry Henry had to get up early, but part of him was glad Henry wasn’t in the room when he woke up. Henry would have asked him what he was dreaming about. And Colton wouldn’t have wanted to discuss it.

He’d been fifteen years old again, in a class on computer maintenance.

The room he’d been in with the other cadets was spacious, all four walls lined with desks holding computers, and a cluster of tables in the center of the room holding several more.

An engineer-in-training ran his fingers over them.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to touch them yet,” Colton muttered.

“Oh, right.” The cadet smirked at him. “Sorry, instructor.”

A couple others chuckled.

Colton wished he could disappear.

The door on one side of the room banged open, and Major Barr strode in with another instructor.

His face looked especially red in the room’s bright overhead lights. The other instructor stopped on one side of the tables, but Major Barr kept going until he reached the opposite side, close to where Colton was.

Colton backed up, his muscles tensing more than usual as the major glared at him.

“What’s wrong with you, Close?” Major Barr pointed to one of the computers. “You can help us demonstrate today’s lesson.”

“Yes sir.” Colton moved to stand in front of the computer, then glanced at the major, waiting for instructions.

Major Barr moved to Colton’s right, increasing the cadet’s nervousness. He raised his voice to address the whole class. “Close will help me walk all of you through a basic maintenance check on one of these models. Close, start dismantling the computer.”

The first step of computer maintenance was to remove its source of power to prevent possible electrocution or electrical damage to its internal components, so Colton reached for the computer’s power cord.

But as his fingers approached it, he felt heat emanating from the computer. Excessive heat.

He touched one side of it, then pulled his fingers away.

“Close, what are you doing?!”

Colton jumped. “Sir—this computer’s overly hot—”

“Shut up and get out of the way.” Major Barr shouldered him to the side, reaching out to touch the computer. “What’s this about—”

Colton acted on impulse. He threw all his weight into the major, knocking both of them to the floor.

“Close—”

Colton looked over his shoulder just as the computer screen exploded in a flash of light. Shards of glass hurtled through the air where Major Barr had stood only seconds before and shattered against the floor.

The acrid scent of scorched computer parts reached him, and then the other instructor rushed forward with a fire extinguisher to put out the burning computer.

Colton turned back to make sure the major wasn’t hurt, only to find himself on the floor as the major shoved him. Colton was grateful the glass had gone forward, not sideways, or he would have landed on it.

Before he could get to his feet, Major Barr yanked him up, the instructor’s face twisted with fury. “You. Outside.” Gripping Colton’s sleeve, he practically dragged him out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind them and then pushing Colton away from him.

The cadet’s feet skidded, and he barely managed to regain his balance.

Major Barr stalked toward him, seething, and as he invaded Colton’s personal space, the cadet backed into a wall.

The rage in the major’s eyes terrified him.

“You.” Major Barr spat the word. “What did you think you were doing in there?”

“D-d-doing?” Colton’s heart hammered against his ribs, and he struggled to breathe. “W-what d-do you m-m-mean?”

“You sabotaged that computer.” Major Barr ground out the words. “You sabotaged it so you could make yourself look good by ‘saving’ me from it.”

“I d-didn’t! I w-w-wouldn’t!” Colton had never stuttered like that before. He took a deep breath, then forced each word out. “I just wanted to remove its power cord so it could be opened up to remove its battery—when I felt how hot it was, I—it didn’t feel safe for anyone to be in front of it.”

“You knew what would happen.”

“I didn’t!”

“I know what you’re doing, Close.” Major Barr took another step toward him. “You’ve been doing it since the first class you ever had. Trying to be smart. Trying to make us impressed with you.

“You’re looking for an angle, Close, and I, for one, am not going to let you get it. One more stunt like this, and I’ll find a way to get you thrown out of the program. Do you understand me? No one’s watching out for you. It doesn’t matter if you graduate and go on to work at the Moon Station. I won’t let you get away with anything. Understood?”

Colton nodded. He couldn’t speak. It felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of his lungs. Out of the room. He didn’t know how the major could still talk.

“Good.” The major stepped back. “Now get back in the classroom and help clean that mess up.”

Colton nodded again.

Over four years after it happened, Colton swallowed hard and turned to make Henry’s bed. It was harder to do with just one arm, but he did it.

His stomach clenched, and he took slow deep breaths, trying to calm his frayed nerves.

He didn’t feel like breakfast, not even with his friends. In a way, he was glad Alex, Claire, and Topaz wouldn’t be there.

He didn’t have it in him to pretend to be okay.

But then again, did they really expect him to?

He’d seen the looks in Henry and Autumn’s eyes. The way Topaz stayed with him while Henry wrapped his fingers instead of going to her room to sleep. The way Claire tried to conceal her reaction under a mask of calm. The way Alex tried to encourage him, then apologized when he saw him flinch.

He hadn’t meant to flinch. He hadn’t meant to let Alex—or anyone—see his fear.

What he had meant to do was not make them any more worried for him than they already were. It was bad enough they were worried about him at all.

He shouldn’t make it worse.

They had enough problems without his too.

“I can listen as well as you can, if you ever need to talk.”

Colton smiled bitterly at the memory. He’d almost said yes. He’d almost told Alex about the nightmares, about the terror he’d felt at the prospect of losing him and Topaz, about how afraid he’d been that Alex and he had suffered permanent hearing loss.

He’d almost crossed a line that wasn’t his to cross.

He wasn’t like the others. They could talk things through. Say what was bothering them. Be normal people. He couldn’t. He didn’t know how to anymore, not even in letters to his parents.

The few times he’d told his friends stories from his past, he’d misrepresented events. Softened them. Highlighted humorous moments to distract from darker ones.

“You’re the guy who got us out of the storage area, remember? A sprain’s nothing you can’t handle.”

Hearing the words in his mind made Colton wince again. You don’t really know me, Alex, and I hope you never do.

Alex fit perfectly with the others. Water always found its level. It could defy gravity to get where it belonged. That was Alex.

Colton was more like oil, unable to mix with water, except when they were combined with something else, like the other ingredients in his family’s chocolate cake recipe.

Colton couldn’t fit with the others, except under extenuating circumstances like a rebel attack.

Without those circumstances, without the other ingredients—it didn’t work. Pour oil and water together, and the oil would rest on top of the water. Never combining with it, just—holding it down.

Adding to its problems.

No. No. No.

Colton couldn’t let himself think that way. It wasn’t true—he was just freaked out over what happened to his fingers. Just frightened by his dream.

And it was making him—his CID buzzed.

Close, where are you? Get in my office, now.

Colton’s stomach twisted with dread. Not Major Barr. Not now.

He couldn’t ignore the message.

Taking a deep breath, he slipped out of Henry’s room, using the doctor’s passcode to lock it behind him, then tried to leave the medical bay as quietly as possible.

Henry and Autumn weren’t in the main area, so Colton guessed they were in her office. Good. They wouldn’t catch him leaving and ask questions he didn’t have time to answer.

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. II” (Part 2). Read Part 1 of the next episode “Silence Pt. III” here.

The previous installment in this series is “Silence Pt. II” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

Alex followed the droning hum to the bottom level. Lights glowed in the center of the room, with more switching on and off as engineers moved around.

Alex moved toward a small group of Moon Station personnel gathered around an engine.

Temporary Station Head Gonzalez stood in the center of it, listening to a worried-looking engineer. Another engineer stood beside him, and Claire stood a little behind the general.

She looked calm, but as Alex moved closer, he saw her whole body was rigid. She glanced at him, but didn’t even nod before refocusing her gaze on the talking engineer.

“I just—I didn’t react like I should have.” He shuddered.

Footsteps clanked behind the pilots, and Major Barr appeared. “What’s going on?”

Brigadier General Gonzalez pointed to the engine. “The situation I messaged you about.” The general’s face was expressionless, but Alex still thought he detected disgust. “What took you so long to answer your CID?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I was asleep.”

‘I’m sorry, sir’? What’s gotten into Barr?

“I’ve finished questioning Engineers Reed and Burke about what happened here. Get the full reports of last week’s maintenance check on the engines, then meet me at my office to go over them.”

Major Barr nodded. “Do you mind if I question these two first?”

Brigadier General Gonzalez was quiet, apparently considering it. Then he nodded. “Go ahead, if you think you’ll learn anything new.” He strode back toward the stairs.

Major Barr faced the engineers. “Engineer Reed, did you have any indication something was wrong with the engine when you approached it?”

“No. I didn’t get a good look at it. I just saw Engineer Close in front of it. If I had—”

“Thank you. What about you, Engineer Burke?”

“I didn’t immediately get a look at the engine either. Engineer Close screamed, and I ran over, and his fingers were stuck, so I got the engine turned off as fast as I could. It wasn’t until after he left that I saw the—the crack.” He pointed it out.

Major Barr looked. “Good thing you turned it off when you did. If it had leaked…”

Engineer Burke nodded. “I know.” He shuddered. “Poor Colton.”

Alex realized Claire was gone. He looked around to see if she was still in the room, and when he didn’t spot her anywhere, he turned to leave.

Major Barr whirled. “Fletcher. What are you doing here?”

“I came to speak with the temporary station head.”

“What about?”

“The sabotaged engine.” Alex didn’t much like the look in Barr’s eyes. “But I guess I’ll have to talk to him later. Excuse me.” He turned around and took quick strides to the stairs.

They’re probably in his office.

When he knocked on the door, the general answered almost immediately, as if he’d expected him. He gestured Alex inside and then shut the door.

Claire stood beside the general’s desk, eyes blazing. “I can’t believe that engineer didn’t know what he was doing.”

“Claire.” The general exhaled. “He’s not involved with the rebels.”

“It fits too well. The timing of his arrival—the fact that Colton told him not to start the engine, and he did anyway…He has to be working with them.”

“You heard his explanation, Claire.”

“Yeah—he didn’t react like he should have.” Claire frowned. “What kind of defense is that?”

“A truthful one.”

“Everyone knows most engineers are full of it. But they’re still trained not to make stupid mistakes. How did he get here if he can’t handle responding to a situation correctly?”

“Claire.” The general’s voice was soft. “He made a terrible mistake—a stupid mistake—and I’m not going to defend it. I don’t know how he made it. But, I know for a fact he’s not with the rebels. I’ve known him his whole life. His parents are very close friends of mine, and both are working to find rebels on Earth.

“Their son made it into the Space Explorer Program the same year all of you did, and he got there by scoring in the top percentile. After what happened with Taylor, I secretly requested he be sent here so we’d have another engineer we could trust. So I could get a better handle on what’s going on in engineering because we can’t expect Colton to watch everyone and everything there.

“I was going to tell all of you later, but I guess you and Alex will know now. You are not to mention my connection to Engineer Reed to anyone because I don’t want it known that he reports to me. But you can trust him.”

A bitter smile spread across Claire’s face. “Yeah, we can trust him—as long as it’s not with our safety.”

The general’s eyes flashed, then softened. “Try to get some rest, Claire. I’m going to put you and Alex on the first morning patrol so you’ll have more time in the rest of the day to spend with Colton. You’ll fly the same patrol for the next seven days—or however long it takes for him to recover and go back on active duty. Until then, I want someone keeping an eye on him…With his injury, he’s more vulnerable to attack.”

He turned to Alex. “You try to get some sleep too, Alex. You’re both dismissed now.”

“Yes sir.” They spoke simultaneously, and then Claire moved toward the door, Alex opening it to let them out and then shutting it behind him.

“I’ll walk with you back to your room,” he offered. “Topaz is probably already there.”

“Thanks.”

They walked in silence for a few moments, and then Alex said, “Claire…I know you’re worried, but Colton’s going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I do. Henry and Autumn think he’s going to be fine, don’t they?”

“They think.” Claire faced him. “They don’t know. Did you see how gingerly he held his arm?”

Before Alex could answer, she continued. “I don’t think he was just trying to protect his fingers—I think he was trying to protect his whole arm. Which means he likely had pain in it before they gave him medication for it, and if he did, that could mean nerve damage. And when nerves go haywire, anything can happen. That’s why I’m worried.”

Alex didn’t know what to say.

“And it’s all because of Reed.” Claire spoke through her teeth. “If it weren’t for him, Colton would have reported the damaged engine and completed the rest of the check, and nothing bad would have happened. No, it’s not just his fault. It’s also Clark’s.”

Her voice got quieter. “I’m going to get him out of that cell. And then I’m going to put him through one of the station’s trash incinerators.”

Alex looked at her quickly, unable to tell whether she meant it or not. Maybe it helped her to say it. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel a little better to hear it.

They’d almost reached the operators’ quarters when he finally asked. “You don’t mean that, do you?”

“Do you really think I’d be wrong to do it? Clark meant for the engine to leak. Imagine what would have happened if it had.”

“No, I don’t think you’d be wrong to do it. I’m for murderous scum getting what’s coming to them same as you are. But if you took care of it here, with him in custody as a prisoner, you’d get in trouble for it—and you know how that’d make Colton feel.”

Claire swallowed hard. “Yeah, I know. But why should Clark get to sit safely in that cell now—maybe even get his sentence reduced to life in prison on Earth if he tells the government something useful about the rebels—when he may have just ruined Colton’s life?”

Alex’s chest tightened. “We don’t know that Colton’s life is ruined.”

“You don’t think it will be a problem for him to lose full use of that hand?”

“We don’t”—he stopped talking as several operators came down the corridor from the opposite direction. After they were gone, Alex whispered, “Please—just don’t do anything to Clark, okay? It won’t help Colton for you to be arrested.”

“…I know.” Claire blinked hard. “I wish I could help him.”

“Stick close to him. I think that’ll help.” Alex thought back to his conversation with the engineer that morning.

Alex thought he knew what Colton had been about to say. There was no way Colton wouldn’t need someone to listen to him at some point, the same way he listened to the others.

Claire nodded. “You’re right—it’s just not fair.” She sucked in a breath. “It was bad enough they caught me. Why’d they have to hurt him?!”

“Claire.” Alex looked both ways to make sure no one else was in the corridor, then gently pulled her into a hug. Her arms hung limply, her body tense, and then she reached up and returned it.

After a moment, she stepped back, and looking down, whispered, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I hate this too. And for what it’s worth, I also want to put Clark through the incinerator.”

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. II” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment in this series is “Silence Pt. I” (Part 2). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

Henry caught himself fidgeting as he studied the X-ray images on a board in Autumn’s office.

He hadn’t felt right about leaving Colton in the main area of the medical bay, but at least Station Guards Stewart and Hernandez had hurried from their quarters to stay with him when Henry messaged them, and at least Engineer Burke had waited for them to arrive before he left.

Henry would have called the pilots instead, but Alex and Claire’s patrol wasn’t finished yet.

He let his breath out as his eyes traced the white outline of Colton’s finger bones. “They’re intact. Nothing is broken.”

Autumn nodded. “You’re right—so his fingers were only sprained.”

“And I think it is only a first-degree sprain.”

The muscles around Autumn’s throat relaxed. Then they tightened. “When the swelling in his fingers goes down, we’ll assess nerve damage with EMG.”

Electromyography. Evaluating the health of nerves by inserting cathodes into their corresponding muscles and stimulating them with electricity to determine their electrical activity—in other words, how they responded or didn’t respond to stimulation.

Henry wasn’t looking forward to performing the test, but it would help confirm that Colton was all right.

Unless it registered electrical activity lower than normal—which could indicate nerve damage.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Autumn’s eyes hadn’t left his.

The worry in them turned his stomach. “No, I will.”

“What are you going to tell him?”

“What we found, and what we know—that none of his bones are broken, that his fingers are sprained, but it appears to be only a first-degree sprain, and that we can’t test for nerve damage yet.” Henry slid Colton’s X-rays into a folder, then moved to place it on Autumn’s desk. “And then I will start P.R.I.C.E. treatment, and—”

“Henry.” Autumn followed him, picking up the folder and shoving it into a drawer in her desk. She locked it, then stood there, holding the key and watching him. “I don’t think you’re seeing the whole picture. It’s only a first-degree sprain, but it’s also in space. We’ve been fortunate in that none of the head injuries that have happened at this station have turned serious, but this is a new situation, and we don’t know what will happen.

“The radiation in space—it could slow his healing or prevent it altogether. The swelling needs to go down, and we need to keep it from going up again, and the radiation could make that worse by attacking the damaged cells in the area. We don’t know one way or the other. Have you taken that into account?”

Henry exhaled. “Yes—and I was going to say, I’ll put him on extra supplements to hopefully counteract the effects of the radiation.”

Her eyes drifted back to the board where Colton’s X-rays had been moments before. “Good…But Henry, he needs to know what he’s up against.” She looked back at him. “Especially if it turns out he does have nerve damage—I’m worried about the pain he felt going up his arm.”

“I’m worried too. But even if his nerves are damaged, they can be repaired with surgery—with nerve grafts, if necessary. Maybe we wouldn’t want the risk of performing surgery here, since we’ve never done surgery in space before, but he could return to Earth for it.”

“It might not be successful.” Autumn set her teeth. “I’ve studied a lot of cases where surgery wasn’t.”

“I know, Autumn.” Henry suppressed a shudder at the thought of a case he’d studied. “But I don’t think we should be jumping to worst-case scenarios. And I certainly don’t want him to assume the worst.”

“We can’t have him assuming everything will be all right when it might not, either. If he does have nerve damage, and if we can’t repair it…” Her gaze met his. “You know he needs both hands steady to do his job.”

Henry had considered that, but he’d forced himself not to think about it. “I know. If he suffered permanent nerve damage, it would end his career here.”

“And he might be able to get a teaching job at a training facility, but anything that required him to use both hands—even regular, everyday activities…would be hard for him. Assuming he could do them at all.”

Henry nodded. “All right…I’ll tell him what he might be facing. But until we know more, I think he—and we—need to see it as just that. Might. A possibility. Not a certainty.”

____________________________________________________________________________

He’s got to be all right. Alex hurried to match Claire’s pace as she flew through the corridor to the medical bay.

The two of them had quickly written and uploaded their reports about their uneventful patrol and been on their way to meet Topaz in the operators’ area when she’d messaged them. Henry says Colton will probably be okay, but he’s been hurt, and Henry wants to see us in Autumn’s office.

Claire had taken off the moment she’d read it, and Alex’s speed was only hampered by having to move behind her every time someone else came down the corridor from the opposite direction. He didn’t want a doctor complaining he’d tried to run him or her down.

Of course Colton would be okay. Why wouldn’t he be? If it wasn’t something serious—and if it was, he’d still be okay. Henry and Autumn were the best doctors he could ever have helping him. Alex wished Henry had said what had happened though.

Probably he didn’t want to share medical details over CID messaging, just in case.

The open hatchway to the medical bay was up ahead, and Claire abruptly slowed. Alex put on the brakes to avoid crashing into her. She walked into the bay like everything was normal, and he followed.

They made their way to Autumn’s office and Claire knocked on the door. Henry answered it, and Alex felt a pang. We were just in here last night.

They entered the office, and found Colton sitting across from Autumn, holding one hand inside a large clear cup. Ice stuck out over the cup’s rim, and Alex could see more inside, along with water. And Colton’s fingers. His fingers didn’t look right.

Claire rushed toward him. “What happened?”

“I’ll be okay”—Colton was interrupted by another knock at the door.

Henry pulled it open and Topaz burst into the room, her eyes huge. “What happened?!”

Colton quickly told them about the maintenance check, the crack he’d found, the accident, and Henry and Autumn’s determining his fingers were only sprained, not broken, and the sprain was only first-degree.

“What’s that mean?” Alex asked.

“It’s the mildest form,” Henry explained. “It can take less than two weeks to heal.”

“Oh, good.” Alex felt his tense muscles relax.

Topaz let her breath out, her eyes returning to their normal size.

Claire’s face had been calm the whole time Colton was talking. She studied his hand for a few seconds, then asked, “Are you sure it was an accident?”

Colton nodded. “Henry asked me the same thing. I don’t think Engineer Reed started the engine to harm me, it just…turned out that way.”

Claire nodded too, her face suddenly tight. She looked between Henry and Autumn, opened her mouth, then closed it.

Abruptly, she turned back to Colton, bent, and gave him a careful hug around the shoulders.

He hesitated, then hugged her back with his good arm.

She gently pulled back, and then Topaz came forward and hugged him.

Alex moved toward Colton when she stepped back, then stopped, afraid he’d somehow hurt him worse. Then he bent to give him a hug, trying not to squeeze him much. When he straightened up, he turned to Henry. “What happens next?”

“Colton will use P.R.I.C.E. treatment for the next two to three days. That stands for Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. He’ll refrain from using those fingers. He’ll ice them for 20 minutes every two hours—when he is awake, that is—and will wear compression wraps on his fingers. He will also keep his fingers elevated above his heart whenever he can—especially when he is lying down.”

“Oh.” Alex glanced at the cup. “Hence, the ice.”

“He’ll also be off duty for at least a week,” Autumn announced.

“Did you make a record of that in his file?” Claire asked. “Officially?”

“Officially.” Autumn nodded. “If Major Barr has a problem, he deals with me.”

“And our temporary station head knows, right?” Topaz looked at her.

Autumn nodded again. “He knows. When I messaged him, he messaged back he was going to take a look around the engine room.”

“Not a bad idea,” Claire said. She glanced at Colton. “After you’re done with the ice, and Henry puts the compression wraps on you, are you going to try to get some sleep?”

He nodded.

“Good.” She bent to give him another hug. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

She said a quick goodbye to the others, then left Autumn’s office. Alex hesitated, debating whether he should follow her.

Topaz turned to Colton. “How much time’s left on your icing?”

He checked his watch. “Two minutes.”

“Hmm, okay, I guess there’s not much time for reading, then. I was going to say, Mom and Dad sent me this new book that’s pretty good. What if I start reading it to you tomorrow?”

Colton smiled. “That’d be really fun, Topaz. Thanks.”

Henry moved toward the door. “I’ll go get the compression wraps.”

Colton glanced over his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Topaz moved to follow Henry out the door, then stopped. She glanced at Colton, who was studying the ice. “I’ll…stay here until he’s done?”

“…Thank you.”

That helped Alex make his decision. He moved closer to Colton. “Good night, buddy—see you at breakfast tomorrow?”

“I’ll try.”

“You’ll be able to make it,” Autumn told him.

Colton opened his mouth, then closed it.

Alex touched his shoulder. “Hey, you’ll be okay. You’re the guy who got us out of the storage area, remember? A sprain’s nothing you can’t handle.”

He thought he saw Colton wince. Probably because I said ‘sprain.’ Stupid of me.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make it worse.”

Colton frowned. “You didn’t. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Alex said goodnight to the other two and left Autumn’s office. He stood outside it for a moment, wondering if Claire would be in her and Topaz’s room or the pilots’ bay. A heartbeat later, he started moving. He knew where she’d gone.

____________________________________________________________________________

Colton adjusted the pillow Henry had given him to elevate his hand with. The doctor had invited him to stay in his quarters again, insisting Colton take the bed while Henry slept on the cot.

Colton had agreed because he was too exhausted to argue.

Henry had brought him the extra pillow, said goodnight, then left the room, saying he’d be back later and would lock the door behind him.

Colton let his breath out and lay back on the bed, reaching inside his jacket for the most recent letter from his parents. It had come in on last night’s transport carrier.

He turned the envelope over, studying his mother’s handwriting in the overhead light he’d dimmed before lying down. Writing her and his father back would have to wait—he’d injured his dominant hand. And while he could write adequately with the other one, his parents would be able to see the difference. And they’d wonder what had happened.

He didn’t want them to know. If he recovered like he was supposed to, they’d never have to know. He’d never have to tell them.

He swallowed hard. He used to tell them everything. He never imagined there would come a time he wouldn’t. But it did, on his second day at the first training facility.

Writing that first letter home took longer than he’d thought it would, but looking back, he was surprised it didn’t take even longer.

Considering they were the kind of parents who could be counted on, trusted—so unlike the parents they’d had—he’d taken to not telling them things far too easily.

That was the problem.

Silence felt easier.

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. I” (Part 1). Read Part 1 of the next episode “Silence Pt. II” here.

The previous installment of this series is “Silence Pt. I” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

The hum of the engines filled Colton’s ears as he moved through the corridor that led down to the final level of the Moon Station. Engineers Albert Burke and Gerard Reed followed him, talking about something that had happened during a class they’d been in at one of the training facilities on Earth.

Colton had met Albert hours ago, but he had only met Gerard a few minutes before the three of them left the engineering section to perform that week’s maintenance check on the station’s engines.

“This place is huge!” Gerard’s footsteps stopped as they stepped out of the corridor and entered the bottom level, and Colton glanced back. In the light from the corridor, he could make out the other engineer peering around the area in amazement, Albert halting to take it in too.

Colton continued across the walkway, turning right and descending a short flight of stairs. Two overhead lights in the center of the room, kept active, yet dim at all times, cast a soft white glow on the area directly below them, but as sensors detected Colton’s movement, more overhead lights came on, illuminating the section of room he was in.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and paused to wait for the other two.

The engine room—the real one, not the one they would have seen in simulations—was impressive. The entire lowest level was filled with engines. Some were connected to the floor. Others were connected to the walls. Half of the engines were always active, keeping the Moon Station locked in place close to the Moon, but not close enough to enter its orbit.

A clattering behind Colton made him turn around. The other two engineers were hurrying to catch up, Gerard in the lead.

Colton stepped out of the way as he came down the stairs. He smiled at Gerard’s excitement.

“How many maintenance checks have you done?” Gerard’s eyes shone.

Colton paused before answering. Engineers were supposed to perform the checks on a rotating basis, with no engineer handling more than one check per month. Colton sometimes did more than three a month.

Gerard looked enthusiastic enough not to care how many anyone did, but Albert might want to know why Colton did so many—and if Albert found out, he might tell his mother.

Colton still couldn’t quite accept that Major Barr hadn’t gotten away with stealing their design and didn’t want to risk any more trouble with the major. If Dr. Lucinda Burke found out how the division head tended to schedule his shifts, she wouldn’t like it.

And then there might be trouble.

“I’ve only been here about three months, so—”

“Then you haven’t done that many.” Gerard looked slightly disappointed. “How many do you think I’ll get to do?”

“At most, maybe six, since you’ll be here for six months.” At least, he hoped Major Barr wouldn’t make the other engineer do more than he was supposed to.

“Aw, too bad. You’ve already been here three months? I guess your time here is half over then.”

Colton nodded. It was more than half over, actually. He’d been there three months and almost 16 days, which meant he only had about 74 days left before he would be transferred back to Earth, where he would remain until he’d recovered enough from his time in space to return to the station—weeks or months, depending on how long he took to regain the muscle and other tissue he’d lost from being in space.

About 74 days.

Then I can go home.

He pushed the thought aside. He had a lot of work to do.

Albert spoke for the first time since entering the engine room. “What do you want us to do?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Major Barr said to assist you.” Albert looked at him. “What do you want us to do?”

That took a moment to register. “Ah…This is your first time performing this check in real life, so…Maybe we better stay close together. What if we start here, and make our way to the end of the room? And I’ll watch each of you do two checks before I start on mine.”

“Sounds good.” Gerard nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Colton watched Albert first. The other engineer moved to an inactive engine, turned it on, waited a moment for it to fully engage, and then turned off the active one beside it and began checking it. Albert’s first two checks went smoothly, and so did Gerard’s, so Colton started on his.

As Colton checked one engine, and then another, it occurred to him that it would be his first time not checking the majority of the engines. As he heard the other two turning engines off, he smiled again. Maybe this would be quicker than previous checks.

He moved toward another inactive engine, an overhead light powering on above him as he stopped next to it. He studied it under the bright glow. Something’s off about this one...Was it not checked last time?

He ran his fingers along what looked like a crack in the exterior, and found it ran all the way into the engine. There shouldn’t be any cracks. How on Earth did the last check miss—Colton froze. Clark was on the last check. Did he—

“These engines are really close together.” Gerard appeared next to him. “I’ll help you with this one.”

“No, wait, it’s”—his own deafening scream cut off the rest. White-hot pain tore through his fingers as machinery gripped them, parts clinking into place as the engine started. “Stop the engine! Stop the—”

His heart pounded in his ears, almost drowning out the sound of the engine coming to life. He fought the impulse to pull away. If he did, he wouldn’t free his fingers—he’d sever them.

But if he didn’t do something before the engine began burning its oxidizer and fuel, both of which would leak out the crack—“Gerard! Please turn off the—”

The engine stopped, its growing hum silenced. The machinery released his fingers, and Colton stumbled backward, his breath leaving his lungs in squeaky gasps. Pain undulated through his arm.

Albert’s trembling hands lifted off the engine’s controls. “Colton—let me see.”

Colton cradled his injured fingers with his other hand and backed further away, his heart still pumping in a frenzy. He tried to move his fingers to prove to himself they still could. The pain almost blinded him. He reeled, squeezing his eyes shut against the agony.

No, no, no.

This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t—“Should h-he go to the medical bay?” Gerard’s shaky voice reached his ears, and he forced his eyes back open and focused on him.

Gerard trembled, watching Colton with bugged-out eyes. “Colton, I’m so sorry—”

Colton sucked in a breath. “I-it’s ok-k-k-kay.”

Albert typed quickly on his CID. “He’s right, you need to see a doctor.”

We’re more like medics really. It was a strange time to remember what Henry had once said to him—he’d probably said it to each of them at one time or another. “Y-y-yeah.” He started to leave, then turned back. “T-t-tell s-someone to c-c-come h-h-help you.” He couldn’t stop his teeth from knocking together.

Albert pocketed the CID and strode toward him. “Let me walk with you.”

“It’s ohhhh-kay.” Colton barely got the words out before he turned away and forced himself into a fast walk. The agony in his fingers made him almost double over. His instinct was to shield them by tucking them inside his jacket, but his mind knew if he did, they would hurt twice as much. Best not to touch them. Or move them. Or breathe.

He stumbled up the stairs, then back through the corridor. He felt the eyes of nearby station guards as he dragged himself past them.

“Engineer Close?” Station Guard Duy called. “What’s wrong?”

It felt rude, but Colton didn’t answer. He didn’t know if he could answer. He made it past the two station guards standing outside the cell block, then turned right.

Wrong way, idiot!

He turned around and staggered toward the medical bay, praying Henry was still awake and in the main area. He didn’t feel safe with anyone else.

Pain raced up his arm again. No. This isn’t—it can’t be.

His mind jerked him back again.

It was his third year in the Space Explorer Program, and he was walking across the training facility’s campus during a half-hour break between classes, heading for his department’s library.

An agonized scream reached his ears.

He jerked to a halt, then bolted toward it, racing across the grass and around a building. He found the source of the cry in the open concrete rec area where the other kids liked to hang out during breaks.

A group of engineers-in-training stood around a cadet who was sitting on the ground, holding one of his hands and fighting tears. Colton crouched beside him, his stomach recoiling as he saw the other boy’s fingers.

He got him to the building where medical personnel for the engineering cadets were with the help of a girl who told the doctor what happened.

They’d been playing basketball when he’d tripped and fallen on his fingers, then started screaming.

He’d gotten a second-degree sprain of all four fingers, with nerve damage.

That had been during a less hands-on period of training, and he’d been able to stay in the program while he recovered. If it had happened a year later, he wouldn’t have been able to continue.

“Colton!”

Albert stood beside him. “Come on. Let me help you.” He reached for Colton’s good arm, and Colton pulled away, shaking his head and dragging himself forward again.

His stomach churned violently, and he held his breath against a wave of nausea.

He almost fell over entering the medical bay, and a doctor on his way out glared at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

“He’s injured,” Albert snapped. “I messaged that his fingers were caught in an engine—”

“Wh-where’s—” Colton stopped talking as he saw Henry hurrying toward him.

Colton stammered out the quickest explanation he could while Henry supported him the last few yards to an examination table and helped him sit on it. Then the medic—doctor—gave him something for the pain and used a portable X-ray on his hand.

Thank you for reading “Silence Pt. I” (Part 1). Read the next part of this episode here.

The previous installment of this series is “The Device Pt. II” (Part 2). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.

Find the series’s Table of Contents here.

January 20, 2051

Colton set down a bin full of CIDs and glanced at his watch. Less than an hour before the first evening patrol. After the pilots completed it, he’d confirm their fighters weren’t damaged and then try to get some sleep.

Hopefully, he’d actually get some rest tonight. The way his brain had been replaying the events of the previous rebel attack, his sleep last night had not been recuperative. He’d woken up about as exhausted as when he lay down.

It was too bad you could never be too exhausted to have nightmares.

He was about to leave the area to complete his check on the two pilots’ fighters when his CID buzzed.

His stomach knotted at the prospect of something else going wrong. Hours ago, Topaz had messaged to let him know she was okay after meeting Edwards, which had been a relief, but she still didn’t know what the file on her computer was for. Maybe she did now. He checked his device, fearing the worst.

It wasn’t the worst.

But his stomach still didn’t untie itself.

Close, get in my office.

Colton headed toward the closed hatch door, Morgan smirking at him from several yards away.

When he knocked, Major Barr barked at him to enter, and he did, shutting the door behind him and moving to stand in front of the major’s desk. “Sir?”

Major Barr sat behind his desk, holding a folder. His mouth twisted into a smile. “Good evening, Engineer Close.”

Colton’s skin crawled. “Good evening, sir.”

“And how are you?”

“Fine, sir. How are you?”

“Excellent.” Major Barr leaned back in his chair. “It was quite an ordeal yesterday, wasn’t it?”

“It was.”

“It was an awful lot of trauma for you to go through—for Pilot Fletcher to go through.”

He made the truth sound like a vile lie.

Colton didn’t know how to respond because he didn’t know where the major was going with that.

The major smiled again. “Good thing I was there with the both of you, wasn’t it?”

“It was a very good thing.” The engineers’ talking must have gotten back to him. What on Earth is he going to—

“And good thing I’ve been so efficient in following our new station head’s orders, don’t you think?” The major’s tone was friendly.

New station head? What—

“I’ve come up with a design for the new tracker, Engineer Close. Take a look and tell me what you think.” He opened the folder and placed it on the desk.

Colton examined the schematic inside. The same one Albert Burke had proudly uploaded to the Engineering Database hours before.

The database would have recorded a specific timestamp for the upload as well as a complete list of the engineers involved in the design.

But that record could be changed. In the event the person completing the upload made a mistake, there had to be a way for them to submit corrections.

And it would be even easier to submit a correction for someone with administrator access to the database.

Someone like the major.

The situation brought back an unpleasant memory.

Major Barr had placed an open folder on his desk that time too, resting his fingers on it while Colton wordlessly looked at the design inside. “What an innovative idea, Engineer Close, equipping space fighters with the ability to detect damage to their batteries and giving them means by which they can more effectively seal them off, lowering the risk of chemical poisoning for the pilots. How fortunate I thought of it.”

Colton had known there was nothing he could do about the major’s taking credit for his work, but at least he’d also had the relief of knowing the next generation of space fighters—the same ones that arrived on the transport carrier last night and were awaiting assembly now—would be safer.

He could accept the theft of his work—had to accept it.

But this…this was something else.

It wasn’t just his design this time.

He wanted to say that. He wanted to tell the major that Operator Topaz Bailey had helped create the design. That Engineer Albert Burke had contributed the majority of it. That Dr. Lucinda Burke had signed off on its efficacy.

But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t take the risk.

“It’s an excellent design, sir.”

“I know. I’ll be submitting it to the new station head personally.” Major Barr rose. “In the meantime, I suppose you’ll have to complete your usual pre-patrol check on Pilots Fletcher and Price’s fighters.”

“Yes sir.”

“A pity they destroyed theirs. I hope they don’t damage their borrowed spacecraft too badly.”

“Yes sir.”

“And one other thing…It’s time for the maintenance check on the station’s engines. Engineer Burke—I mean Albert Burke, not Lucinda—and Engineer Reed have never performed one before. I think you should take them along to assist you—especially since you’ve become fast friends with the doctor’s son—don’t you?”

“Yes sir.”

“The three of you can take care of it during the first evening patrol. Then next week, Lucinda can assist you—right now, I have something more important for her to do.” Major Barr tucked the folder under his arm. “You are dismissed, Engineer Close.”

Colton nodded. “Yes sir.” He left the office.

The maintenance check on the engines was much more complicated than the exterior maintenance check. It involved turning engines on and off in a particular sequence, keeping enough of them running for the Moon Station to remain in its proper position while the rest were examined or repaired. Only half of the station’s engines were active at a given time, the other half reserved for if they failed or needed to be checked for damages, like they did tonight.

The process might take two hours or twelve, depending on how many engines needed parts repaired or replaced, and considering the engineers who would be working with him had only done simulations of it…They might be there well into the next morning.

He’d miss Alex and Claire’s return.

Colton exhaled. Missing their return from a patrol was always a disappointment, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Just like there wasn’t anything he could do about his work being stolen. But why did it have to be stolen this time? It was bad enough when Major Barr took credit for what he’d done. Why couldn’t he leave everyone else’s designs alone? Why—

“Colton!” Dr. Burke joined him as he left the engineers’ section. “Something on your mind? You look very serious. But then, you always did.”

Colton hesitated, not wanting to tell her about something that was out of her control too. It didn’t matter that she’d helped create the Moon Station—Major Barr was still the Head of Engineering. He still outranked her. But maybe it would be better if she knew. Then her son could hear it from her before he heard it from Major Barr. Colton had no doubt the division head would make an announcement about it.

“Actually, there is something on my mind. I’m sorry, but it’s about our design…”

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex walked toward the pilots’ bay with Claire, unable to conceal his grin. When he glanced at her, she was grinning too.

“I hope he hasn’t finished checking our fighters yet,” Alex whispered. “I want to see the look on his face.”

“So do I.” She sped up, and Alex matched her pace.

He was happy to see her smile. Earlier in the morning, she’d been lower than he’d seen her in a while. Edwards’s betrayal had hit her harder than even she’d thought, and she’d been talking with him about it when Topaz messaged about the file on her computer.

Between that, Colton’s being terrified over Alex’s report, the general’s news from Earth, and Edwards’s trying to play mind games with Topaz, it had been a miserable day. But what was left of it looked pretty good—as long as no rebels attacked during patrol.

When they entered the bay, Colton was the only one there; apparently, the other engineers and pilots hadn’t shown up yet.

Perfect.

The two pilots quickly pulled on their space suits, then jogged toward him.

“Hey, guys.” Colton smiled at them. “Good to see you.”

“Hey, Colton.” Alex looked at Claire, inviting her to tell the engineer, but she only nodded at him to go ahead.

Alex didn’t waste any time. “Congratulations on your design for the tracker! The general told us you and Topaz and—”

“He told you what?!” Colton stared at him in open disbelief.

Alex grinned. “Yeah, he said Dr. Burke printed it out and brought it to him personally. He was very impressed at how the four of you pulled a design together in one day.”

“She—she did it.” Colton stared at the fighter. “Somehow, she did it.”

“Come on, give yourself some credit, would you?” Alex squeezed his shoulder. “I mean, we knew you were good, but seriously, doing all that in a day?”

“Less than a day.” Claire rested her hand on Colton’s arm. “Great work.”

“Th-th-thank you.” Colton looked at them, his expression a mixture of emotions. It went neutral as other engineers and pilots flowed into the bay. “Your fighters are ready.”

“Thank you.” Claire smiled.

“Yeah, really.” Alex studied his friend for a moment, trying to understand his strange reaction. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Be careful. Please.”

“We will.” Claire walked over to her borrowed fighter, pausing to throw Colton another smile before she entered the cockpit.

Alex grinned again. “You know we will.”

Colton grinned back, then moved toward the transport carriers, where he stopped and turned around to watch the two pilots.

Alex entered his space fighter. Today was terrible, but tonight’s been better.

He would not have thought that if he had known what would happen at the station before he got back.

Thank you for reading “The Device Pt. II” (Part 2). Read Part 1 of the next episode “Silence Pt. I” here.

The previous installment in this series is “The Device Pt. II” (Part 1). Read it here.

Copyright © 2026 Li Mitchell All Rights Reserved

Note: Everything I write is written without AI—even if I do use a lot of em dashes.