Lex

The sound of birds chirping merrily mingled with rustling trees and animal calls, dancing around each other in a peaceful waltz. The sound did little to calm the storm raging in Mira’s head.

She was sitting in the mental health dome on the ship, walls of bright screens surrounding her depicting a serene forest of green. She’d stumbled upon it in a daze, figuring Grace had forgotten to show it to her. It would’ve been a useful space to have when she’d discovered she was trapped in an endless void in the middle of the universe.

On her crossed legs was a small notebook she’d pulled from her duffel bag. Its first dozen pages or so had been ripped out hastily, much to her chagrin. Almost like whoever had slipped it into her bag didn’t want her to have any information from her prior life.

On the current page before her was a list of questions, much like the ones Grace had written on the whiteboard in the lab.

Why am I here?

A good chunk of memories had chosen to surface in her brain, but not one of them had the answer to that question. She’d wanted to be a teacher at Georgetown, but that dream had been ripped away from her mercilessly by the Petrova Crisis. She understood that she specialized in communication and behavioral science but…

How is that useful on a spaceship twelve light-years away?

Mira watched a bird on the screen to her right as it flitted from branch to branch, ruffling its sky-blue feathers.

Her thoughts turned to the woman from her memories: Eva Stratt. Mira had had dealings with her before during her government work, that much was clear, but she still couldn’t understand why the stoic woman had chosen to approach her. Had she been the one to put Mira on the ship? What did she see in her that Mira didn’t see in herself?

Ryland Grace is a molecular biologist. His role was clear. Yao was probably military, and Ilyukhina had probably been some type of engineer or pilot.

Mira closed her eyes, not wanting to think of the two dead crew members who still lay in the dormitory, covered by sheets. She’d avoided that area of the ship like the plague, only entering to grab the notebook from her bag, use the restroom and shower, or eat. Each time, she scrambled back up the ladder like a monster was on her tail.

The ship—now known to Mira as the Hail Mary after glimpsing an operation manual—had a ventilation system that made sure no decomposing smells lingered around, but every time Mira entered the room, she swore she could almost taste the sickly sweet aroma on her tongue. It made her want to vomit everything in her stomach.

Mira looked back down at her notebook, gray eyes scanning the elegant scrawls—her own handwriting. Her fingers tightened on the marker in her right fist, threatening to snap the writing utensil.

Ryland Grace - Molecular Biology

Yao - ?

Ilyukhina - ?

Mira Bennett - Communication

What am I communicating with?

One memory unsettled her more than the others: meeting Ryland Grace. Each time she tried to sort out these questions, her mind constantly drifted back to him like a stone bobbing in a river.

She remembered his fear, his defensive attitude. But most of all, she remembered the way he threw her off.

She hated it.

Mira prided herself at her ability to read people and act accordingly, but the scientist was a completely different ballgame.

Growing frustrated at her inability to wrangle in own thoughts, Mira slammed the notebook shut and stood. Her white sneakers — plain off-brand running shoes — thumped against the metal rungs of the ladder as she crawled out of the domed room, leaving behind what little peace had been there. Sitting around thinking wasn’t going to help anything. Action was needed.

If Mira was going to have any chance at remembering her role in all of this, she needed to bite the bullet and examine her belongings for some trace of herself.

Grace was not in the lab as she stormed past, focused intently on her mission. Darkness spilled from the open hatch to the dormitory, indicating his lack of presence there as well. He must’ve been in the control room, doing God knows what.

Good, Mira thought as she climbed down the ladder. She didn’t need his physical presence around when it was already taking up way too much space in her mind.

The fluorescent lights automatically turned on at the motion of her entrance, and she made an extra effort not to look at the still forms on their beds in her descent.

Grace’s bag was no longer thrown in the corner, and all the clothes thrown haphazardly across the floor had been removed. Only Mira’s bag remained, unzipped, but not fully open. Sitting cross-legged on the padded surface, she slowly reached in and began removing items, taking stock.

There were lots of clothes, mostly in dark or dull colors: sweats, plain t-shirts and sweaters, and a black and white trucker hat with a patch on it, along with the ship’s name, and a book. A thriller, dog-eared from use. Likely read next to the window in her DC apartment while rain fell from the sky in droves. None of these were surprising, but the next item she unearthed gave her pause.

A small keychain with an otter charm. The aquatic mammal looked like it had been welded together by a child, but was unmistakably an otter. A memory began to twinge deep in Mira’s mind.

A hand, its owner faceless, handing her the chain over a table with two beers.

Before she could grasp the memory’s string and pull, it vanished back into the depths. Mira stared at the charm for a moment longer, turning it over in her fingers. It had clearly been significant enough to be sent along with her, but by whom? And whose hand had given it to her?

It really was quite a hideous thing; its paint was chipped and the surface was worn, as if it had been held many times. Why would she even keep something that ugly? And yet, its appearance suggested it was important.

Mira tucked it into her pocket absentmindedly.

A Polaroid was unearthed next, its corners slightly bent from being stuffed in the bag. There was no writing on it, and the person in the image was a complete stranger.

Which was odd, because the subject was her.

In the photo, she sat at a counter on a tall stool, a small lab in the background. Her head was bent low over something, her dark hair obscuring whatever was on the surface before her. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and her tongue poked out from the corner of her lip. It had clearly been taken without her knowledge.

A startling thought occurred to Mira and she shifted on the ground, fingers tracing the outline of her face. Someone had cared enough to take this photo of her, which didn’t align at all with her currently known memories.

It was clear that she had been a bit of a loner, choosing only to prioritize career and facts. The Mira in the memories didn’t seem like an individual that went out each weekend with friends or colleagues for a beer.

An uncomfortable feeling bloomed in her chest and she looked away from the photo. She’d been lonely.

Who was I comfortable enough with to allow them to take this photo?

Mira stared off into space, pondering, when a sliver of yellow peeking out from between the pages of the thriller book caught her eye. She hadn’t seen it before. Flipping the novel open, she found a piece of paper stuffed in it carefully, as if the person who’d put it there knew she would find it.

Besides it being a common yellow sticky note one would find in an office, there was nothing was special about it. Only a few words were written on the paper, not in MIra’s handwriting.

Take care of him.

The author left no signature or explanation.

Mira’s hands shook as she tucked the Polaroid back in her bag. Unlike the keychain, this artifact didn’t trigger any memories or recognition. It was comically nondescript. So why did the sight of it make her heart race with dread?

Questions flew through the brunette’s head faster than she could keep up. Who wrote this? Who is “him”? Why is it in her favorite book?

Why was I responsible?

The only man she remembers, other than Carl, is Ryland.

That realization made her stomach curdle.

Mira closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply, attempting to regain control, and reminded herself that only action would serve her. Not spiraling about “who”, “what”, and “when”.

Her legs began moving before she prompted them, bringing her to her feet with a faint crackle in her knee joints. She climbed up the ladder, quickly pocketing the note, where it sits like a grenade next to the charm. It was only a question of when the grenade would detonate, bringing answers.

But for now, someone else on this ship might also have answers. Mira doesn’t know whether the scientist can be of any help or not, but she does know one thing:

That note frightened her.

When Mira’s head popped up from the lab hatch, she spotted her query in the corner, hunched in front of a small mirror, scissors in hand.

Strands of Grace’s blonde locks littered the floor at his feet as he snipped away carefully, muttering to himself. One side of his head was shorn short while the other still held jagged waves. He cut off a particularly large piece of hair and cursed conservatively when he saw how much had come off.

Mira crept up behind him, observing his jerky movements of frustration as he continued to make more mistakes in the process of trying to fix the cut. The corner of her mouth twitched upward; not quite with humor, but curiosity, like she was studying a new kind of animal species.

“What are you doing?” she said suddenly.

Ryland jerked, his head colliding with the bottom of the cabinet above him with a comical bang. Disturbed by the movement, a comb and flashlight clattered off the counter, and Mira winced as the loud sound echoed in the small space. He looked at her reflection in the mirror with startled eyes.

“Attempting a haircut. I figured the hobo Jesus look was out of style.” He deadpanned. “I’m losing.”

Mira raised an eyebrow as he continued to cut frantically. “It’s asymmetrical.”

”Thank you. I had somehow missed that fact.” He slightly scowled at her in annoyance.

It took a great deal of effort to not smile. Instead, Mira gestured to a nearby stool. “Sit down.”

Ryland looked over his shoulder at her suspiciously, before shuffling over to the stool and plopping himself down. “You, uh, didn’t happen to have a cosmetology license back on Earth, did you?”

”Nope.” Mira grabbed the scissors from his fingers and got to work while the scientist clenched his fists nervously.

She worked in silence, trimming away the uneven hair while also doing away with the longer strands that still hung to his shoulders. As the hair drifted to the floor, a faint whiff of some type of clean shampoo filtered up to her nostrils. The locks were soft beneath her fingertips.

Grace tapped a finger on his knee restlessly, then said, “So…Did I ever get that gold star?”

Her hand slipped in the middle of cutting, taking off a much larger piece than she’d hoped for. As it falls to the floor, she stares at the back of his now short hair with a dry mouth.

He quickly runs his hand over the back of his head, having felt the weight disappear from his scalp. “That seemed bad.”

Mira didn’t move. “Yes,” she breathed.

”How bad?”

”Very.”

”Scale of one to bald?”

She doesn’t answer. She’s too busy staring at him, replaying memories of him standing in front of a classroom full of frightened children, desperately firing off questions about their future. When he hears nothing, Ryland turns around, spotting her wide eyes and slightly slack mouth. Her gaze roams over his new look, the haircut causing his neck to seem longer and jawline to be sharper. He looked much more like the man from her memories. The teacher.

”You remember.”

He shrugs, one shoulder moving up before dropping. “Some of it.”

”How much?”

He purses his lips and removes his glasses, wiping the lens on his shirt. It’s a silly science pun shirt, black with the periodic table on it. “Not enough,” he replies after a moment, not meeting her eyes.

Emotions are swirling within Mira, none of them recognizable to her. She watches as he cleans his glasses slowly, methodically. A vein in his bicep twitches with the movement, standing out stark against his slightly California-tanned skin.

Before she can stop the words, they’re spilling out of her lips. “I’m sorry.”

Grace pauses and looks up at her, squinting faintly. “For what?”

She suddenly can’t bring herself to meet his eyes and instead busies herself with setting the scissors back on the counter, next to the mirror. She replaces the felled flashlight and then retrieves the comb before walking back over to him. She runs the teeth through his shorn locks, removing any loose pieces that hadn’t fallen. Ryland sits still while she works, eyebrows furrowed together and blue eyes locked on a space just past her hip.

Mira wet her lips and finally replied, “For lying to you. About why I was there that day.”

”You were just doing a job,” he said quietly, thinking of Stratt and the way Mira had seemed to shadow her in front of the school. Then, he gave a short laugh. “I was just disappointed I wasn’t actually getting evaluated by the district. I was hoping to get a raise.”

As Mira ran the comb through his hair one final time, she actually smiled softly, knowing he couldn’t see her face. She hadn’t needed to touch up his hair as much as she had, but she needed something for her hands to do at that moment.

She crossed a few feet back to the counter and retrieved the small mirror, then held it out to Grace. “Done.”

Ryland held the mirror up, turning his head this way and that. He nodded, impressed, and raised his eyebrows at her. “Wow. You’re full of secrets.”

Carefully, Mira shrugged and leaned against the counter, folding her arms. Guarding herself against his stare.

Silence fell. Uncomfortable. Thick. Mira studied Grace, attempting to predict his thoughts by his body language alone, but he wasn’t giving her much to work with. In fact, he had his own arms crossed across his broad chest, head cocked to the side as he stared right back over the rims of his glasses.

So we’re going to play that game.

Unsaid memories hung in the air between both adults, but neither one of them were willing to acknowledge them.

Finally, when Mira narrowed her eyes slightly at him, he broke.

He said, casually, arms still folded, “At least I remember one thing.”

Her heart stuttered at the potential of receiving new information from him. “What?”

”I wasn’t supposed to be trapped on a spaceship with two dead people.”

The atmosphere changes, the temperature slightly growing colder. The tension is still thick but…different now. All humor in Ryland’s eyes fades away.

”We should probably stop pretending they’re not down there,” he remarks quietly while leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees.

Mira watches his fingers fiddle with one another, the nails bitten down short and rough. “Do you remember them?”

”Not really.” He breathes in deeply. “…which feels awful.”

Mira tilts her head to the side, processing his words. It was one of the rare times since waking up on the ship that he was being forthright about his feelings and not hiding them behind some quip or joke. It was interesting.

She says, “Why do you think we’re not sadder?”

”I mean…” Grace trails off while searching for the words. The black fabric of his shirt stretches tightly across his toned back muscles. “I feel sad, but in the same way you feel sad when you hear something bad happens to someone you don’t even know. It feels…”

Mira nods before finishing for him. “Like detachment.”

Ryland looks over at her then, and nods softly. “In a way, I’m glad it wasn’t me. Which feels even worse.” He watches as her chest rises heavily at that, then falls. Her face transforms from thoughtful to stone. Back to the regularly scheduled Mira.

”We need to figure out what we’re supposed to be doing here. Obviously, we can’t remember anything right now, and it’s not going to help to just sit here speculating.”

He dragged a hand down his face, pulling his glasses with the gesture and hooking an arm on one ear. “Okayyy…How do you propose we do that?” His tone was full of exasperation. He’d been so close to getting some kind of emotion from her, only for it to slip through his grasp.

“We’re on a spacecraft,” she snapped. “People don’t build those because they feel adventurous. You’re the scientist here.”

”Astute observation,” he replied sarcastically. Her jaw clenched at the attitude that he lobbed back, as if they were in a game of catch.

Then, Ryland abruptly stood from the stool, his mouth parted. Mira cocked an eyebrow at him. He shook his finger in the air and began walking toward a series of metal cabinets in the corner of the lab, speaking quickly. “I remember something from when I was looking around the ship when you were still asleep. I was drunk, but I remember it clearly.”

A small pang of guilt hit Mira, but she mentally slapped it away as if it were an annoying fly. He began frantically opening cabinet doors at random, mumbling under his breath.

”Where were they…”

”Care to clue me in?”

”Do I really need to? You already watch my every move like I’m a science experiment,” he threw over his shoulder. That attitude again.

Mira bristled. “You leave me no choice when you’re hardly ever honest about what you’re thinking.”

”Believe it or not, maybe I don’t need you to know every thought in my head!”

She gaped at iciness in his voice. As if sensing her surprise, he sighed and planted his hands on his hips, looking down at the ground. She was unable to see his expression as his back was turned to her.

Suddenly, she was hit by that disorienting sense of Déjà Vu again. Deep down, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t the first time they’d had an argument like this. She began to feel nauseous and planted a hand on the counter to steady her legs.

He turned and met her eyes, and they were full of regret. It didn’t take a degree in communications and behavioral science to sense that he recognized the familiarity as well. Mira couldn’t explain the tight feeling beginning in her throat.

”I’m sorr-“

”It’s fine.” She held a hand up to stop him. Taking a deep breath, she said something that was completely out of character for Mira Bennett pre-space coma. “We’re not going to find any answers if we fight each other. The success of the mission is dependent on us working together, so…” She exhaled slowly, carefully.

”Let’s work together.”

Grace’s blue eyes softened and he nodded, once. Let’s work together.

At her single nod in response, he turned back to the cabinets more slowly and opened the last one, revealing a shelf full of small vials. They were each labeled with print that was too small for Mira to see from across the lab. He removed one from the stands they sat in, pinching it between two long fingers. Then, he walked back over to her and held it up.

Now that it was closer, she was able to see the dark, oil-like liquid within the glass container. She craned her head sideways to read the label, and her brows furrowed. “Astrophage.”

”Astrophage. It means ‘Star Eater’.”

A cold tingle slid down her spine, as if a finger was caressing the skin there. “The dots from the Petrova Line. They were dimming the sun.”

Ryland nodded in confirmation and turned to a microscope that was bolted down on another counter. “They obviously sent samples with us for a reason.”

She watched silently as he gathered tools and supplies: gloves, glass slides, q-tips, and other unfamiliar equipment. He moved gracefully through his work, eyes narrowed in focus. It was the complete opposite of his usual fumbling mannerisms.

Mira realized at once that she was looking at a scientist, not a teacher. When it came to performing experiments, he was completely in his element.

A grudging expression resembling respect crossed her features. Ryland didn’t turn to her, but smirked softly, not missing the look she was wearing.

After removing a sample of the Astrophage and dabbing it on a slide, he placed it on the microscope’s viewing platform and — quickly putting his glasses on — pressed his eyes to the viewfinder.

“Wow, amazing,” he commented softly. Mira leaned forward, but all she saw was the black substance smeared across the glass. Whatever he was seeing, it was too small for the human eye alone.

As her eyes lost focus, she could distantly hear Grace talking, but it was muffled. Suddenly, she was no longer on the Hail Mary, but somewhere else, lost deep in the dark murk that was her memories…

The first thing Mira noticed about the old office warehouse was how musty it smelled. Not even the scent of the millions of dollars worth of the top-of-the-line lab equipment on the other side of the glass was enough to drive the stale air away.

The small room they were shoved into was crowded with different government officials, military specialists, and scientists. At the front of them, face pressed to a large glass viewing window, was Eva Stratt.

Around Mira, multiple languages were being spoken quietly under breaths. She could understand most of them. They were all murmuring doubts regarding the high school teacher they’d basically just kidnapped, questioning his credentials and knowledge.

”We should be consulting the scientists from Harvard on this issue, not a cocky middle school teacher,” a woman said to her companion in Welsh. Mira gave no indication that she’d heard, not entirely sure yet if she agreed or not.

The car ride to the empty warehouse had been tense, to say the least. The trip had been filled with Dr. Grace’s incessant questions regarding the situation. Stratt had, of course, given minimal information beyond that they needed him to tell them what the samples contained. Meanwhile, in between blurted questions and nervous jokes, Grace had proceeded to throw dirty looks at Mira in the seat next to him.

He’d clearly still been offended about her classroom intrusion.

Now, the scientist was on the other side of the glass in a secure, airtight lab surrounded on all sides by clear walls. He wore a white hazmat suit and stood among the equipment, hands held limply at his sides, looking like he was Alice after falling into Wonderland.

Beyond the enclosed lab, exhausted government agents milled around, keeping a watch on all entrances. This was, after all, a top secret operation.

Eva had never bothered to explain to Mira how she’d gotten access to a random warehouse in the middle of San Francisco. The communications specialist had just assumed Stratt had used her magic powers to obtain it, like she did with everything.

To Mira’s left, Carl let out a cough and discreetly passed her another stick of gum, which she took, grateful to have something to do.

Outside the viewing room, through the window, Grace raised his gloved hands up in the air uncertainly. His voice crackled through the loudspeaker mounted up in the corner with a whine of feedback, causing the inhabitants to wince.

”Is all of this really necessary?”

As he spoke, Mira translated quickly in multiple languages: Russian, Welsh, French, etc. Stratt pressed the intercom button to reply.

”Yes. Please analyze the Petrova sample.”

With a bewildered look, the scientist turned to the sample, which was sealed in a tight metal box on the lab table behind him.

Another click from the intercom. “Just one thing, the entire room is filled with argon. Just try not to rip your suit.”

Grace’s eyes went wide and he looked around the enclosed lab, as if he could see the invisible gas in question. “Uh, am I expendable? Is that why you want me?”

Sighing, Mira translated and there were a few amused chuckles around the room. Through the glass, Grace briefly met her eyes; they seemed to pierce right through him. Mira shook her head at him, once. Here he was, stood before some of the most powerful people from around the planet, and he chose to opt for unprofessionalism.

“That’s not the only reason,” Stratt replied.

“It’s almost like you don’t care if I die.” He chuckled nervously.

Dear God, Mira thought, rubbing her temple with one finger. Stratt turned to look over her shoulder in question, meeting Mira’s gaze.

The communications specialist glared at her, almost as if to silently say, Don’t you dare, not after all the effort we had to go through to get him.

“Hold on, you have to talk about it?” Grace prompted as he frowned at their looks.

Stratt nodded once at Mira and pressed the intercom. “The consensus here is that it would be preferable if you did not die.”

Grace smiled at the strawberry-blonde humorlessly. “Thanks guys.” Then, his eyes landed on Mira quickly; she rolled her eyes as his mouth cracked open in a bit more of a cheeky grin, a small flash of white teeth. He then turned back to the sample and got to work.

The next couple of hours passed by at a snail’s pace; Mira continued to translate the blonde’s sarcastic comments as he worked, people yawned and took a seat where one was available, and Eva removed her coat to settle in.

Experiment after experiment yielded no new answers, but it did reveal one new interesting observation for Mira: Ryland Grace was a natural in the lab. He moved efficiently, leaving no stone unturned as he handled the different unfamiliar instruments and tech. His verbal observations were clinical and straight to the point. It was like seeing a whole new person than the teacher she’d watched only earlier that day, which already felt like a lifetime ago.

She furrowed her brows as her brain, incapable of not cataloguing new behaviors, came to a single conclusion: he was good at this. Very good.

Not that his dissertation on water hadn’t showcased the molecular biologist’s intelligence, but research and actual experimentation were too completely different things. Hypothesis versus results.

As each second ticked by on the clock, slower than the last, Mira Bennett found herself feeling a grudging amount of respect that wasn’t there before. It was still tiny, but existing nonetheless.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Grace came to the conclusion that the sample was full of cells. Alien cells. She felt like she should’ve been more impressed at the discovery as she translated for the audience; they cheered in excitement and relief at some type of progress, albeit small.

However, any trace of hope within Mira popped like a balloon as Ryland Grace began throwing a tantrum that could rival a toddler; the cell was made completely of water, essentially obliterating any ideas brought forward in his paper.

He threw trash cans, smashed beakers, and punched walls in rage. Pursing her lips, Stratt turned to catch Mira’s eyes as the outburst transpired in the lab.

Mira only stared back at her in exhaustion while the foreign officials muttered at the scene.

Told you he wouldn’t be the best option.

Well, they had what they needed now. From here, they could pass the information to all of the biologists on standby around the world, ready to study the sample further in hopes of discovering how it can be killed. Everyone filed out of the small room, breathing a sigh of relief as they all escaped the stuffy space. After exiting the lab to presumably be hosed down before removing the hazmat suit, Grace disappeared to take a breather, shame burning in his cheeks as he left behind the broken equipment.

After exiting, Stratt pulled the communications specialist off to the side so they wouldn’t be overheard. “What do you think of him?”

The brunette pressed her lips together tightly and replied, “He’s disorganized and emotionally reactive.”

He’s kind of brilliant, is what she didn’t say out loud.

”Good.”

”Good?”

Stratt smiled. “You’re evaluating him.” As if she could sense Mira’s next words, Stratt held up a hand.

”I know what you’re going to say, but it doesn’t matter. We have what we need. We’re going to get ready to transfer to the aircraft carrier and distribute our findings. We need to move quickly.”

Mira nodded. “When do we leave?”

”I need you here to perform a final evaluation on Dr. Grace. I have full confidence that he will want to be a permanent part of the taskforce. Once finished, we will arrange for you to be transported to the ship to continue your work there.” Stratt said it quickly, without emotion. All business.

Mira gaped at Stratt. “Did you watch the same thing I just did? He destroyed thousands of dollars worth of equipment.”

To her surprise, Stratt’s face softened, almost imperceptibly. “He just found out he was wrong about one of the only original ideas he’s ever had. Equipment can be replaced.” She paused. “Money doesn’t matter right now when we’re trying to save our species.”

When Mira didn’t reply, still looking doubtful, Stratt placed a hand on her shoulder, almost tenderly. ”He’s our best shot. We need him if we have any hope of making this work.”

With that, Stratt strode away, leaving Mira to stand there and contemplate the new turn her life had taken.

Ryland Grace sat at the small table, fingers tapping impatiently on the scratched wood as he tried to comprehend the last few hours of his life. He’d gone from eating a soggy bowl of Grape Knuts cereal and teaching middle-schoolers to being kidnapped by government officials in suits straight out of a Men in Black film. Not to mention, one of the officials was beautifully intimidating with her ghostly gray eyes that constantly seemed to study him like he was a microorganism. Then, he’d been the first to discover actual alien life. Just a normal Tuesday.

Now, after basically being voluntold by Stratt to experiment further on the cells and being shepherded around like a goat, he’d been shoved in a small meeting room that resembled an interrogation scene from every other crime show on TV.

The chair didn’t match the table, the table itself was wobbly, the walls and ceiling were dirty, and there was an acrid smell of burnt coffee lingering in his nostrils.

Carl hadn’t bothered to provide anything more than clipped answers to his questions which, even then, weren’t really answers. All Ryland had been told was to sit tight for a moment and someone would be with him shortly.

He fumed in the chair, growing exceedingly more irritated with every passing second. He was tired, hungry, and eager to get back to observing the cells despite the headache beginning to pound at his temple.

Ryland liked to think of himself as very patient—excluding his outburst earlier (hey, he’d happily sacrificed his career in academia to stand by his hypothesis regarding water, only to find out that he was wrong all along. Sue him. He had every right to be throwing things.).

Glaring up at a camera mounted in the corner of the room, he continued to tap his fingers more angrily. “Can I at least get a coffee that doesn’t smell like it’s been burnt under a magnifying glass?” His voice, raspy from thirst, echoed dimly around the small office.

There wasn’t a reply, to no surprise.

He sighed.

The single door leading into the room opened then, and that woman with the gray eyes stepped in, a binder clutched in one arm.

She was the epitome of government operative: black pantsuit with no wrinkle in sight, brown hair pulled back tightly in a low bun, except for one strand dangling on the side of her freckled cheek, expression purely nothing but professional. Analytical.

Grace’s eyes flicked down to her name tag clipped to her waist: Mira Bennett.

She stared at him intently as she sat down in the empty chair across the table. Ryland’s eyes locked onto that strand of hair swaying against her cheek, the primal male in him abruptly wanting nothing more than to brush it away. He blinked to himself, startled at the thought. If she caught on to his micro expressions, she didn’t let on.

Instead, Mira set the binder on the table, perfectly straight, and folded her hands on top of it. “Hi, Dr. Grace. We haven’t had a chance to officially meet. Mira Bennett, Behavioral and Communications Specialist for the Petrova Taskforce.”

Before he could stop himself, “Oh, you mean that was someone else back at the school?” It was sarcastic and biting.

She stared at him, expression completely frozen. Not even an eye twitch at his attempt to rile her up. “Can we get you anything? Water?”

”I’d like to go back to my normal life, but it doesn't seem like that’s an option on the table.”

”It seems that way.”

Grace squinted at her and folded his arms. He’d replaced his suit jacket from the school with a white cardigan that had foxes embroidered on both sides; his favorite. But now, the room was beginning to feel too hot for the wool as his irritation only grew.

Mira ploughed on, undeterred. “Dr. Grace, I’m here to conduct a final evaluation on you. My job on the Petrova Taskforce is to determine communication styles between the team and help streamline interaction. We have one chance to save our species, and we can’t do that if we have scientists and colleagues bickering between one another.” She waited for him to respond with some sort of quip, but continued when he didn’t.

“You have a history of conflict with colleagues,” she remarked while opening the binder. It wasn’t a question.

”I have a history of not liking arrogant people.”

Mira glanced up at him as she began writing. “That is not the same thing.”

”Sometimes it literally is.”

To his chagrin, that focused expression appeared on her face; the same one she seemed to wear whenever she was analyzing someone. She’d pretty much been using it all day on him, and it only made his anger grow.

”Are you writing psychological notes about me in your head right now?”

She smiled tightly. “I don’t need to write them down.”

”Somehow that’s worse.”

”Dr. Grace,” she began tiredly. “The quicker you cooperate, the quicker you can be rid of me which, believe me, is something we both want right now.”

A tiny glimmer of triumph began to burn in his chest, and he sat up, cocking his head to the side the same way a bratty teenager would when being scolded. She seemed to think she was the only one with the ability to observe people, but two could play at that game.

And Ryland didn’t miss the note of irritation beginning to bleed into her words. She could crack, if only he pushed hard enough. A small thrill went through him.

He said, “How can I cooperate with your assessment effectively when you walked in here with a conclusion already picked out?”

Her hand twitched, tightening on the pen. “That’s not true.”

”I think we both know it is.” He grinned at her. “You decided who I was before I even sat down. Heck, you decided that right when you walked through my classroom door.”

Her jaw clenched. A rush of dopamine coursed through Ryland’s brain at the sight of her freckled cheeks slightly pinking.

Abandoning the cocky smile, he settled for a smirk instead. “You’re not the only one who watches people. I have a Doctorate in microbiology and have worked with some of the top scientists in the field. I’m not an idiot, despite what you think. See, I’ve been watching you all day too.”

Mira’s whole body felt hot with sudden rage, and yet, her face was still a mask. Her lips pursed thinly. She was very aware that her cheeks were hot, and it only served to fuel the fire raging inside her more. In fact, her hand was itching to smack the smirk right off of the blonde’s face.

Mira genuinely couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt this way. The knowledge that came with that fact unsettled her deeply.

With clipped, precise movements, she shut the binder with a snap and stood, her chair squealing on the dirty tile. Meanwhile, Ryland Grace continued to smirk up at her, arms folded across his chest and glasses hanging off one ear.

Inhaling once through the nose, Mira said, “We’re done here.” Without a further word, she exited the room, slamming the door shut behind her with a rattle.

The adrenaline coursing through Ryland’s veins grew as he came to a realization: he’d just won the battle.

Unfortunately, he was also coming to realize that this was likely going to be the first of many battles with Mira Bennett.

Mira didn’t wait for Stratt’s greeting as the phone finished dialing. She paced around outside the warehouse as dusk fell. The cool ocean breeze did absolutely nothing to chase away the anger inside her. “Take me off the assignment. Now.”

”No,” Stratt replied immediately with zero emotion.

Mira growled softly. “He’s combative, emotionally reactive, and impossible to direct. It’s not going to work. Take me off the assignment.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment. Just as Mira was getting ready to snap, Stratt’s voice came through.

”Interesting.” Mira swore she could hear the woman smiling.

”That is not a compliment!”

”No,” Stratt replied. “It’s an observation.” Silence. Then, “Your job was to evaluate him.”

”And I have.”

”Good.”

”You aren’t listening.”

”I am listening perfectly.”

Mira resisted the urge to throw the government phone, consequences be damned.

Stratt continued, “Dr. Grace is staying on.”

”Eva-“

”And so are you. Be ready at oh five hundred for your transport.”

The line went dead with a click.

“-Mira? Mira?”

She jumped, startled out of her daze. She looked around at the ship’s lab and realized that she’d backed into a table and was gripping it tightly. She was sweaty and her heart raced behind its rib cage.

Grace was staring at her in concern, blue eyes wide and glued to her. He was frozen with his hands up in midair, almost as if he’d been about to touch her. She struggled to look at him as the memory flashed right at the forefront of her mind.

”You okay?”

She gulped and nodded, physically shaking herself out of the stupor. A headache was pounding behind her eyes. “Yeah. Yes. Sorry, just zoned out. Continue, please.” She gestured to the microscope.

Grace stared at her suspiciously, but didn’t push. He turned back to his work.

“Anyways, I was just saying how something is really bothering me.”

When Mira replied, her tone was almost too sweet, as if she was desperately trying to disguise the fact that she’d apparently hated this man back on Earth. “The extinction event that’s gonna wipe out all of humanity?”

Grace barked out a laugh. “Good one. Besides that.”

She waits. He continues gazing into the scope’s viewfinder.

”I have a doctorate.”

Mira blinks.

“A whole doctorate,” he continued. “And I still have absolutely no idea what I’m looking at.”

A sharp huff of air left Mira’s nose, dangerously close to a laugh. Grace stretched his arms towards the ceiling, his shirt riding up a bit to reveal toned abdominal muscles. Mira quickly averted her eyes.

He said, groaning, “I’m gonna keep looking at this for a little while. Why don’t you go get some sleep?” He looked over at her with those vivid blue eyes.

All she could see were those same eyes staring at her from across the table back on Earth, accompanied by biting words.

She nodded and slowly shuffled away, stuck deep in the memory. In actuality, she had absolutely no intention of sleeping in the dormitory with Yao and Ilyukhina in there—they were going to need to do something about that sooner than later. Instead, her feet carried her to the mental health dome. Once at the bottom of the ladder, she curls in the corner, arms folded around her knees. The forest scene immediately turned on at the motion.

Ryland Grace. She’d despised him. She’d requested to be reassigned away from him. No one in the history of Mira’s past, that she could remember, had ever affected her that way.

And now, that same man had somehow ended up twelve light-years away from Earth with her.

The same man who is now the only familiar thing she has left on this ship.

Her hand drifts to her pocket and grasps the note, now crumpled from its time in there.

Take care of him.

For the life of her, she still couldn’t understand why.