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S ten shook his head, which unbalanced him a bit. “I, uh, cut myself on a jagged piece of facing.”

“Oh, no.” I set the pila next to my keyboard, feeling slightly queasy.

“He’s gonna faint,” Frank said as he lunged forward.

“Put him in my chair. I’ll get the first aid kit.” That was also in the breakroom, meaning Frank and I reached Sten at the same time. We each grabbed one side of him and kept him upright. I did my best not to look at the blood.

“I’ve got him,” Frank said. “Get the kit. And don’t you faint, either.”

“Trying not to.”

Frank walked Sten to the desk while I opened the cabinet that held the kit. I yanked it out and met them at the reception desk.

Sten looked a little better now that he was seated. “Sorry. I’m not the queasy type, but I didn’t eat breakfast, and I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s all right,” Frank said. He’d stanched the flow with a couple of tissues from the box under the counter, but it was soaking through fast.

Harry remained asleep in his bed on the other side of the desk. Or maybe he was just actively ignoring the whole thing.

I opened the kit and pulled out the wound spray, popping the top off. “Move the tissues.”

Frank did. Without looking too much, I pointed the can and sprayed.

“That did it,” Frank said, a half-smile bending his mouth. “Maybe you should sit, too, while I get something to clean up.”

“I’m fine.” I exhaled and leaned against the counter as I said it. “But thanks.”

He went back to the breakroom. I looked at Sten. “How are you?”

“Better,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Getting queasy at the sight of blood in my line of work is not a good thing.”

“Just means you’re human, that’s all.”

“Thanks.” He still looked embarrassed.

I decided to distract him. I picked up the pila. “Have you seen these yet? The guests from the disabled starcraft gave a bunch of them out to everyone who welcomed them.”

He took it from me, turning it over in his good hand. “I haven’t. It would make a good paperweight. What is it?”

“They call it a pila. You put it in your living space, and it’s supposed to absorb negative energy, and as it does, it dissolves and takes all the bad stuff into the ether.”

“No kidding. Does it work?”

“No clue. I’ve only had that one since last night, but it hasn’t gotten any smaller. Although, to be fair, I don’t feel like I have a lot of negative energy around me. Anyway, that one belongs to Frank now.”

“What’s that?” Frank asked as he joined us with a couple of damp microfiber cloths.

“I was just telling Sten about the Ohuli and the pilas they were handing out.”

“Mm.”

Sten handed it back to me. “I wouldn’t mind having one of those. Maybe it could help me get over feeling like I’m going to pass out whenever I see blood.”

Frank bent to scrub at the spots on the floor. “Doubt it. I doubt that lump of glass does anything.”

Sten grinned. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks for helping me. I can clean that up.”

I shook my head before setting the pila on the desk again. “Frank and I will take care of that. You go get yourself to sick bay and get that cut looked it. It might need stitches. At the very least, it should be sterilized.”

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll be back as soon as I can to get that Instachef out of here.”

As he left, I took a cloth from Frank. “I’ll see how bad the breakroom is.”

“I don’t mind taking care of that. The last thing I want is for you to fall and hit your head.”

I cut my eyes at him. “I’ll be fine.”

It only took a few minutes and several sprays of enzyme cleaner to get rid of the blood trail that started in the breakroom and finished behind my desk. For whatever reason, blood on the carpeting didn’t bother me nearly as much as blood coming out of a human.

Once the cleaning was taken care of, I got to work researching biotechnology for Frank. He sat in my chair, which wasn’t protocol, but who was going to complain? The man was tired. If he wanted to sit, so be it. If I had to pull rank as head librarian, I would.

I found five relevant texts and downloaded them all to his card, which I’d looked up so I didn’t have to bother him about it. I’d already snuck a glance at him, and his eyes were shut. Maybe he was catching a few winks.

I refreshed the search window and typed in Ohuli, Kinloo, and Mmemsen.

There wasn’t much. A few articles and a handful of mentions in several textbooks.

I opened the first article and read it in a few minutes. The summary was that Mmemsen had been destroyed by a meteor storm that had essentially created an ice age on the planet. What remained was a frozen ball of ice that would most likely never recover.

There was even less information on the Ohuli. A nomadic tribe with psychic gifts, they had once ruled the inhabitable parts of the planet, known as Kinloo, and been valued visitors all over the galaxy.

It was believed only a small handful had been able to escape Mmemsen before the meteors hit.

I heard movement behind me and turned. Frank was shifting, eyes open, and Harry was on his lap.

“Harry. Frank’s trying to nap.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Frank said.

“Mm-hmm.” I let that slide. “I downloaded some books to your card and did some research on the Ohuli while you were … not napping.”

“And?”

“And there’s very little information about them, but what I found jibes with what Nostromo told us.”

Frank sighed as he scratched Harry’s neck. “Okay. I guess I’ll go home and start reading those books. Thanks.”

“Maybe you should get a couple hours of sleep first.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he admitted, giving me a real smile.

“You don’t even want to get out of that chair, do you?”

He snorted. “Not really, no.” He picked Harry up and stood, putting him back in his bed. “But there’s too much to do for me to stay here all day.”

He kissed my cheek. “Thanks.” Then he snagged the pila off the desk and tossed it lightly into the air, catching it as it came down. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“Looking forward to it.” I really hoped he slept, or he wasn’t going to be much good to anyone.

I checked on the books that were being translated, then did a second search on Mmemsen, just to be sure I hadn’t missed anything. Other than a few star maps that showed the planet’s location, I hadn’t.

Besides Harry and me, the library was empty. I should have brought my knitting. Not sure why I hadn’t, other than I’d been too tired to think clearly enough to grab the bag. I glanced at Harry. “I should have brought my knitting.”

His eyes came open a few millimeters. “What are you making, Mum?”

“I’m knitting you a sweater.”

“For the next time we go into the cryostasis chamber?”

I laughed. “That would have been a good place for it. No, mostly because I thought you’d look cute in it.”

He rolled himself into the shape of a croissant, exposing his belly. “I look cute in everything.”

“No lie there.” Tomorrow, I would bring the knitting, and at this rate, I’d probably finish his sweater.

My wristband chimed with an incoming message from Hazel.

Send me those pictures you took of the Ohuli vessel. I want to see them.

I frowned and lifted the wristband to my mouth to do voice-to-text. “You already have them. I sent them last night.” I tapped Send and waited for her reply. Didn’t take long.

I promise you, I don’t have them. Resend?

I sighed. I had sent them. How they’d gotten lost, I had no idea, but such things happened even with all our technology. “Will do,” I voice-texted.

I found the file on my wristband and shared it with her. Then I decided to do something that wasn’t one of my particular favorite things to do. Dust.

It needed to be done, and today was as good a day as any. I got the duster from the breakroom and started with the first row of shelves, going top to bottom. There wasn’t that much dust, but I’d still have to activate the library’s vuum when I was done.

I was on the third row when my wristband chimed again. A new message from Hazel. Mom, these photos aren’t any different than the ones my team took.

That was impossible.

I carried the duster to my office, then tapped my wristband to send the photo file to my computer there. I sat, woke the screen, and found the file. I opened it, and the pictures appeared in lines of thumbnails before me.

Even at that size, I knew something was wrong. I opened the first one.

I was looking at the Ohuli ship all right, but it looked exactly as it had the second time Frank and I had visited, not the first.

Quickly, I clicked through a few more. None of them were of the bone structure and skin membrane.

None .

And the picture I’d taken of the book, the page I’d been hoping to translate, was missing altogether.

I went through the rest of them, and not a single photo represented what Frank and I had seen on that first visit. I sat there, staring blankly at my screen. Impossible wasn’t a strong enough word. How had this happened?

I knew what I’d seen. Frank had seen it, too. These photos had been altered.

Just like the ship.

An uncomfortable feeling settled into my belly. My wristband chimed.

Did you get my message? Can you resend the pics?

I exhaled and spoke my response. “Won’t do any good. The file has been … corrupted.”