Luca felt like a zombie.

  He'd managed maybe three hours of sleep after watching Danny disappear into the healing pod's blue glow. Every time he'd closed his eyes, he'd seen Joey's hands covered in blood, heard the monitors screaming, smelled that chemical stench of burned flesh. His body ached like he'd been the one carved up on the surgical table.

  The mess hall felt too bright when he stumbled in, the overhead lights stabbing at his eyes. Emily was already there, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, surrounded by tablets and datapads spread across two tables. She looked up when he entered, dark circles under her green eyes.

  "Morning," she said softly. "You look like shit."

  "Feel worse." Luca headed straight for the coffee maker and nearly groaned with relief when he saw Joey had already brewed a pot. He poured himself a mug, inhaled the rich aroma, and took his first sip.

  The infirmary was just down the corridor. Danny floating in that pod, Joey's blood-soaked gloves... Luca forced the images away and took another long sip of coffee.

  "What's all this?" he asked, gesturing at Emily's scattered displays.

  "Cataloguing our haul from Midnight Veil." Emily tapped one of her notebooks. "The schematics alone are going to take weeks to properly analyze. This Cryo-Field Stabilizer could revolutionize space travel, and these Adaptive Toxin Filters—"

  "Em." Luca set his coffee down and gently pushed the tablet back toward her. "Not today."

  She blinked at him. "What? Luca, we need to—"

  "We need to not collapse," he interrupted. "We've been running non-stop for days. Down in that toxic hellscape, fighting bugs, that fucking war, and then..." He gestured vaguely toward the infirmary. "Eight hours watching Joey pull metal out of Danny's legs. We're done. For today, we're done."

  "But the schematics—"

  "Will still be there tomorrow." He stood up, straightening his shoulders. Time to be a captain instead of just another exhausted crew member. "Twenty-four hours. Everyone takes a break. That's an order."

  Emily's eyes narrowed. "You can't just order people to relax."

  "Watch me." He activated the ship's intercom. "Attention, everyone. For the next twenty-four hours, all non-essential work is suspended. Go to the gym. Read a book. Watch a movie. Sleep. I don't care. But nobody works on mission-critical analysis." He looked pointedly at Emily. "That includes you, XO."

  She opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. A small smile crept across her face. "You're getting better at this captain thing."

  "Learning from the best." He settled back into his chair and picked up his coffee. "So what are you going to do with your mandatory day off?"

  Emily rubbed her temples, grimacing slightly. "Honestly? Sleep sounds amazing. I've had this headache since..." She trailed off, not finishing the thought.

  Since the surgery, Luca realized. They'd all been breathing that air for eight hours. "Yeah. Get some rest, Em."

  She gathered her notebooks. "You too, Luca. You look like you're about to fall over."

  After she left, Luca sat alone in the mess hall, sipping his coffee. The ship felt too quiet. Too empty. Like they were all holding their breath, waiting to see if Danny would wake up.

  One day, he told himself. We need one day to recover, then we figure out what comes next.

  Joey was in the infirmary when Luca found him, standing beside Danny's healing pod. The room smelled of antiseptic, but underneath it, Luca thought he smelled something else.

  "I thought I ordered everyone to take a break," Luca said quietly.

  Joey didn't look away from the pod. "You did. But someone needs to monitor his vitals. The pod's automated, but..." He finally turned to face Luca. "I can't just leave him alone in here."

  Danny floated in the blue-lit bio-gel, his body suspended and motionless. An endotracheal tube snaked from his mouth to a mechanical ventilator that hissed softly with each artificial breath. His curly red hair drifted around his pale face, and even through the gel, Luca could see the stark paleness of his skin, the freckles standing out against it.

  "How's he doing?" Luca asked.

  "Stable." Joey checked one of the displays. "The pod's doing its job. Bone scaffolding is setting properly, no signs of rejection. But the next three days are critical."

  "How's the air in here?" Luca asked. "Still smells like antiseptic."

  Joey nodded absently, checking another display. "Yeah. It should clear out soon. Ventilation's cycling normally."

  The faint chemical smell lingered, but after eight hours in surgery, Luca figured it was probably just his imagination. Or maybe the smell had just worked its way into his sinuses.

  Luca placed a hand on Joey's shoulder. "You need rest too. Even doctors need sleep."

  "I will. Just..." Joey looked back at the pod. "A few more hours. I want to make sure the overnight readings are stable."

  There was no point arguing. Joey would stay here until he collapsed, and they both knew it. "Fine. But at least eat something."

  "I'm fine, Luca."

  "That's what everyone says right before they pass out." Luca headed for the door, then paused. "I mean it, Joey. You saved Danny's life. Don't make me have to save yours because you forgot to take care of yourself."

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  Joey managed a tired smile. "Aye, captain."

  Ryan was in the gym, grunting through pull-ups. Sweat dripped down his face as he powered through another set, his sandy hair plastered to his forehead.

  "Taking it easy, I see," Luca called from the doorway.

  Ryan dropped from the bar, breathing hard. A cough escaped him as he caught his breath. He grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink.

  "Where's Chris?" Luca asked.

  "Skipping the gym today. Said he needed rest."

  Luca raised an eyebrow. Chris never skipped the gym. "He feeling okay?"

  "Yeah, just tired. Like all of us." Ryan jumped back up to the bar. "We've been running on fumes for days, man. Everyone needs a break."

  Fair point. After days on Midnight Veil and eight hours watching surgery, they were all exhausted.

  Luca found Emily in the lounge a few hours later, curled up on one of the couches with her tablet.

  "How's the book?"

  She looked up, a genuine smile crossing her face. "Terrible. Absolutely awful." She held up the pad. "The main character just decided to trust the obviously evil chancellor because he had 'kind eyes.' I'm pretty sure the author has never met an actual evil person."

  Luca settled onto the couch beside her. "So why are you still reading it?"

  "Because it's so bad it's good." She rubbed her temples absently, then continued. "Also, the romantic subplot is accidentally hilarious. The love interest keeps dramatically declaring his feelings at the worst possible moments. Like, the space station is literally exploding and he stops to confess his undying devotion."

  "Headache still there?"

  "Yeah." She sighed, setting the tablet aside. "Won't go away."

  Luca stood. "Hungry? I'm making lunch."

  Emily blinked. "You're cooking?"

  "Joey's not exactly available, so yeah. I'm making pasta." He headed toward the mess hall. "Come on. You need to eat."

  She followed him, moving a bit slowly but steady. In the galley, Luca rummaged through their dry goods storage until he found what he was looking for: canned tomatoes and dried fettuccine.

  "Fancy," Emily said, settling into a chair at the large table.

  "Hey, I can boil water and make sauce. That's cooking." He filled a pot and set it on the burner. "No cheese though. We're out."

  "Tragic."

  "I know, right?" He dumped the pasta into the boiling water, then opened the can of tomatoes and poured it into a pan. Simple. Easy. The kind of thing even he couldn't screw up.

  Emily watched him work, a small smile on her face. "You know, I've been thinking about something."

  "Dangerous."

  She ignored that. "Your XP situation. You've got, what, nearly ten million points just sitting there?"

  "Yeah." Luca stirred the pasta. "And ten attribute points I haven't applied yet."

  "I have a theory," Emily said, leaning forward. "Willpower. I think higher Willpower lessens the dissociating effects of applying large amounts of XP."

  Luca paused, considering. "That... actually makes sense. Mental fortitude, resisting external effects. XP integration would count as an external effect on your consciousness."

  "Exactly." She picked at a spot on the table. "What's your Willpower at now?"

  "Forty-three. I was thinking about bumping it to fifty before I start dumping points into my main stats."

  "Smart. Test the theory with a smaller investment first."

  The pasta was done. Luca drained it, dumped it back in the pot, and poured the sauce over it. Not fancy, but it would do. He poured out two plates and set one in front of Emily.

  "Thanks," she said, picking up her fork.

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. Luca found himself relaxing for the first time all day. Just sitting here with her, eating terrible pasta, talking about System mechanics. Normal.

  "You should do it," Emily said after a while. "The Willpower thing. Before you apply the rest."

  "Yeah." Luca twirled pasta on his fork. "I'll test it out. Seven points to Willpower, see what happens. If it helps, I'll know the theory holds."

  He sat across from her, watching as she picked at her food. The comfortable silence between them felt good. Normal. After everything with the surgery, with Midnight Veil, normal felt like a luxury.

  She reached across the table and took his hand. Just held it for a moment, her thumb brushing across his knuckles.

  Then she winced, pressing her free hand to her temple.

  "Still there?" he asked.

  "Yeah." She sighed. "Just won't quit."

  She took his arm and started to stand, but swayed slightly as she rose. Luca caught her other elbow to steady her.

  "Whoa, easy—"

  She looked up at him, steadying herself, then reached up and booped him on the nose with her forefinger.

  "Boop," she said, deadpan.

  Luca blinked. "Did you just... boop me?"

  "I did." A grin spread across her face. "You looked too worried. Needed levity."

  "I offer you gentlemanly assistance and you assault my nose."

  "It's a boop, not an assault." She poked his chest with the same finger. "There's a difference."

  "Pretty sure that's what all nose-assaulters say." He rubbed his nose dramatically, then grinned. "Come on, you violent woman. Let's get Joey to check you out before you cause any more casualties."

  She laughed softly, taking his offered arm again.

  Joey had run the scans on Emily. Everything came back normal. "Just exhaustion," he'd said. "Get some rest. Drink water. The headache should pass."

  She was fine, just tired like everyone else.

  Hours later and restless, Luca made his way to the bridge. The corridor lights were dimmed for night cycle, and the ship felt too quiet.

  At the navigation console, hunched over the displays with her dark dreadlocks falling around her face, was Zoe.

  Of course.

  "You're supposed to be resting," Luca said softly.

  She didn't startle, didn't even look up. "So are you."

  He settled into his command chair. "Can't sleep."

  "Me neither." Her fingers moved across the console, pulling up navigation data. "Figured I'd do something useful. Plotting preliminary asteroid belt routes."

  "He's going to pull through," Luca said quietly. "Danny's tough. Tougher than any of us give him credit for."

  Zoe's hands stilled on the controls for just a moment. "I know," she said. "I have to believe that. But seeing him like that, in the pod..." She shook her head and returned to her calculations. "The numbers don't lie, at least. Orbital mechanics are predictable."

  Luca let her work in silence for a while, just sharing the space. Sometimes being alone together was better than being alone alone.

  "You know," Zoe said after several minutes, "Danny would be annoyed that we're all moping around." A small smile touched her lips, tinged with sadness. "He'd already be nose-deep in the flora scans from Midnight Veil, writing new theories, analyzing those chitin shrapnel Joey pulled from his chest. Trying to figure out what their armor is made of."

  Luca could picture it perfectly. Danny hunched over his tablet, curly red hair falling in his face, completely absorbed in the data while his body was still healing. "Yeah. He would."

  "He'd probably have three theories about the Vexillari already," Zoe continued, her voice soft. "And at least two would be completely insane but somehow make sense when he explained them."

  "He's going to wake up," Luca said quietly. "And when he does, we're going to have to stop him from immediately pulling up those scans."

  "Good luck with that." Zoe turned back to her navigation display, making minute adjustments to their trajectory. "I'm not even going to try. If he wants to read research papers from his hospital bed, I'm letting him."

  They sat in silence for a while longer. Luca watched her work, the way she lost herself in the calculations.

  "Course is set," she announced finally, sitting back. "Preliminary routes for the asteroid belt. We can refine them when—"

  She stood up from her station, then swayed violently. Her face went pale, all the color draining in an instant.

  "Zoe?" Luca was out of his chair immediately.

  She looked at him, her eyes unfocused for a moment. "I'm fine, just—"

  She turned to the side and retched, her body convulsing. Vomit spattered across the bridge deck, harsh and wrong in the quiet space. The sound echoed, sharp and terrible.

  Luca caught her as she swayed again, his mind racing. Food poisoning? Stress? Exhaustion?

  The smell. That chemical smell that won't go away.

  "Zoe, talk to me. What's wrong?"

  She wiped her mouth with a shaking hand, her skin clammy and pale under his touch. When she looked up at him, there was fear in her eyes.

  Real fear.

  "I don't know," she whispered. "I just... I don't feel right."