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“Well, I’m tired so…”

“Right.” He unlatched from her door. “There is going to be a public viewing of the demolition on commons deck. If you wanted to see…”

“I’m good,” she said softly.

He nodded. “If you change your mind, I’ll be around. Otherwise, you can probably see some of it from your window.”

“Right.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but decided against it. “See you around.” He left, and she shut her door, letting out a slow breath. As she set the bag on the counter, she wondered if Kryxis would see the destruction of his home, and she felt a pang of guilt. Maybe she should go just in case he was there.

The commons deck was crowded. No surprise that people found it entertaining to watch buildings being turned into dust and fire storms the size of mountains consume everything in sight. One side of the deck was nothing but a thick pane of glass for everyone to watch from below. Monitors along the wall showed close ups. Dani wasn’t looking at the window or the monitors. Her eyes were drawn over to the vents, hoping she’d see a pair of red eyes looking back. She didn’t have the lights from her suitthis time to look inside now that she wore only a simple gray shirt and black pants. All she could do was walk past, whispering for Kryxis and hoping he responded.

“Hey, Captain!” someone called to her as she peered inside another vent. She straightened and looked over to see Lex and Phen coming her way.

“Didn’t think we would see you here,” Lex said.

“I didn’t think I would come at first,” Dani said, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “But I thought...maybe I should.”

“I think most of us just want to put X110 behind us and not think about it. So far, Phen was the only one who showed interest.”

“I want to see the big fire,” Phen stated. “And the burning.”

“And she dragged me along,” Lex added, glancing at her nervously. They leaned in closer. How’s our big red bully doing, by the way?” they whispered. “Holding up?”

Dani fidgeted. Telling them he was missing felt like a bad idea. She didn’t want to cause a panic in anyone else or for them to regret bringing him on board.

“He’s…fine.” That might not be a lie. He could be fine somewhere, right? “I’ve talked to Tom, and we are going to try to contact someone.”

“Oh, the alliance?” Phen asked.

“Hopefully.”

“Yeah, let’s hope someone takes him soon,” Lex said. “I don’t want to think about the chaos he’ll cause if he gets loose and bored. Management will go code red for the first time in years.”

The lights around them suddenly flickered then when out, along with the monitors, causing jeers and groans from the crowd as they looked around in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Dani asked, as the emergency lights turned on, washing the room in a soft yellow light.

“Looks like another blackout,” Lex answered as they tugged on Phen’s sleeve to stop her from staring into the emergency lights.

“Another?”

“Yeah, didn’t you get the email? They’ve been happening throughout the ship. Engineers have been working on it for the past hour.”

She had a sinking feeling in her gut. “Have you heard about anything else? Anything strange?”

Lex seemed to think it over. “Now that you mention it…we saw a group of engineers while passing one of their stations. One looked ashen, you know, like something really spooked him bad. And he was yelling that he refused to go down to the lower decks with the others. He was frantic, all panicky.”

Dani tried not to make a face, even as her blood heated.Dammit, Kryxis. She really was going to skin his hide for this.

Lex gave her a curious look. “You don’t think that it was…”

“I’ll check it out,” Dani remarked. “Just watch for anything else, okay?”

Lex nodded. “Sure thing.”

The lights flickered back on and there was a collective cheer from everyone. Dani went rigid as she glanced over and saw Garret nearby, talking with fellow security guards. “You guys go on. I’ll be around.”