Nicole handed me a piece of juicy mollusk meat that seemed to melt into butter on my tongue as I gobbled it up. She had a whole pouch of the stuff, tossing me a piece every now and again as I followed her closely towards the bridge.

  Everyone stared. At first, a terrifying, humiliating experience. But I wasn’t Lady Barrick, the fancy and horribly pregnant noblewoman anymore. I was a fuzzy sharp toothed speedy critter. People looked at me with fear, with unease. I even snapped at a man, making him jump. My fear turned into a poofy satisfaction as I strutted along.

  Nicole tossed me another piece of mollusk, which I snatched out of the air and gulped down. A woman stared, clinging to a man who looked equally horrified. I flashed them a toothy smile, which definitely didn’t look like a smile anymore. I felt powerful. And finally, not by proxy.

  “Cut it out,” Nicole hummed quietly. “You’re supposed to be well behaved.”

  I huffed. I was perfectly behaved. Thank you very much.

  Officers were gathering around the bridge. They all stared with equal trepidation as we approached. Among them was Stephan… my friend, who now frowned at me with unease. He just saw my sharp teeth and big claws.

  Obviously, no one recognized me. But... well, I didn’t know exactly what I had thought. Fear wasn’t respect, but at least I had something to myself now.

  “What the hell is that?” Someone asked.

  “One of the bipedal furry carnivores that you lot have been trapping,” Nicole replied.

  “We can see that. What are you doing with it?” He huffed, taking a step back as I took a few steps closer.

  “Attempting to tame its… wild impulses,” Nicole replied simply.

  Their confusion had not been remotely banished. Yet none of them asked a follow-up question. How did Nicole do that? She was so bossy and so good at it.

  When Tobias emerged from the bridge, he joined the sea of frowning faces. He looked so… different. Not the frowning, but the rest of him. He looked older, a little more… deranged. Was my death weighing on him? Of course it was, I was his wife after all. He hadn’t shaved; I wasn’t sure I had ever seen him like this before.

  “Nicole,” he sighed. “What are you doing with that thing?”

  Nicole tossed me another piece of mollusk. “Attempting to gain its trust. Domesticating a species on N7 would be greatly beneficial to our efforts here. This one is an ideal candidate,” she replied. The lie rolled so smoothly off her tongue.

  She really was good at people stuff.

  “I…” he sighed, trailing off as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Just… leave it. Everyone inside!”

  Officers began to trickle into the airlock.

  “I cannot leave it. That would run the risk of it feeling abandoned. It needs to feel as though I am a stable, trustworthy presence in its life,” Nicole replied, not budging.

  “I-I don’t care, Nicole. What I have to say is more important than whatever cooky experiment you’ve got up your sleeve,” he huffed, heading back inside.

  Nicole gave it a moment before starting up the stairs. “Come on then,” she told me quietly. “The air will likely be uncomfortably thin for you. Just remember to take deep breaths, and if you need out, I will take you out.”

  I nodded, holding my breath as we went through the airlock. It was strange to find the bridge so much bigger than I remembered. But of course, it wasn’t bigger; I was just smaller. Everyone gathered round, giving Nicole and me a wide berth.

  Tobias did not look happy about my presence. But that wasn’t something new at least.

  Very quickly, I understood what Nicole had been warning me about. I felt out of breath from just standing. Not critically so, but enough that I would have struggled to exert myself at all. If I tried to run, I would probably pass out. But I could stand, and only feel a little off. I panted slightly, sitting at Nicole’s feet when I had the chance.

  It was not a comfortable feeling, but Nicole’s hand on my back was a source of comfort. She gave me more mollusk which also definitely helped. Once I got settled, it wasn’t so bad.

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  “Right,” Tobias muttered, standing at the front of the group. “Captain Tameron has completed his thorough investigation into the cause of the Euphorion’s demise. I will let him explain. Captain?”

  Captain Tameron nodded to himself before walking to the front of the group. For a captain, he had always seemed a little nervous and awkward, but then again, I didn’t know any other captains. Maybe that was normal. I certainly would be if I was responsible for a whole starship.

  “Upon reviewing the black box, along with accessing s-some of the records during our scavenging of the Euphorion, my team and I… we came to a conclusion,” Captain Tameron began. “We… we currently believe the Euphorion was sabotaged.”

  A murmur went through the crowd. My stomach shrivelled up. Sabotage? That had been… on purpose? Nicole stayed still, giving me nothing to work with here. Should we be scared? Angry? I wasn’t sure what the correct reaction to this kind of news was.

  “Who did it?” Stephan called out.

  “W-we don’t know,” Captain Tameron grimaced. “But… but the electronic logs do not match some of the damage to the wiring we found down in engineering. Additionally, we found what we believe to be a receiver, which had set off a very small detonation. Enough to cause damage to a very small but very vital area at the precise moment–”

  “It’s one of you,” Tobias butted in. “None of the civilians could have accessed engineering. But all of you have clearance. So whoever is responsible for the destruction of the Euphoron, and the deaths of 216 people, is in this room.”

  Again murmurs. Unease. Loud whispering.

  One of us…

  Well… it wasn't me. And it wasn’t Nicole. I had never had clearance to go anywhere interesting, and Nicole would have no motive. Those detective movies always highlighted means, motive, and opportunity. But it really could have been anyone.

  But why?

  Everyone was on the ship. And sure, officers were mostly on the bridge, but stuff could have gone extra wrong, right? By sabotaging the ship, they were risking their own life. What could possibly warrant that?

  Nicole still said nothing. Did nothing. Just observed. Ever calm and collected as ever, while my head spun. Well… her head could be equally spinning, she was just better at hiding it. Our conversation in the tent had shown me a different side of her. She wasn’t some invincible machine, not in body or mind.

  “In light of this, I will be interviewing each of you personally with the help of Captain Tameron and Commander Alcantar, who also happens to be our resident Chief Security Officer,” Tobias went on.

  Commander Alcantar nodded. He was tall and battle-scarred. A lot more intimidating than Captain Tameron, as far as I was concerned. For the first time, I was rather glad that people thought I was dead. At the very least, it would let me avoid a whole interrogation. Not that I could imagine I would be much of a suspect. But still…

  Tobias droned on and on about logistics before finally giving the floor to Commander Alcantar.

  “There is a traitor among us,” he boomed loudly, not even bothering to step up to the metaphorical podium. “We will find you, and we will kill you.”

  Everyone was silent, unsure of how to respond to that.

  I rubbed my face against Nicole’s leg, still struggling to catch my breath. The chain clinked around my neck. Her hand found my head. She petted me absently. It wasn’t exactly the kind of thing people did, but… manners aside, it was really nice.

  “Yes, well... thank you for that,” Tobias muttered. “We will be beginning interviews immediately. Lieutenants and above stay here. Everyone else, you are dismissed for the time being. Don’t go far!” he added with a sneer.

  I frowned as people got up to exit. Where else would people even go? Sick of the thin air, I stood and nudged Nicole. It took her a few more nudges before she seemed to snap out of whatever was brewing in her mind.

  She pulled out more mollusk which I gobbled as we headed for the airlock.

  Back outside, as soon as we had some privacy, I whined. Just because I couldn’t talk didn’t mean she should be quiet. I wanted all the Ws and the H, the whos, whats, wheres, whens, and hows. Or at least as much as Nicole had, but I figured it was a lot. Really, Tobias should have had her do the investigating, but everyone always seemed to overlook her. It wasn’t very nice or very smart.

  “What?” Nicole blinked, looking down at me.

  I gestured vaguely with my paws.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” she frowned.

  I sighed. Taking a moment to consider my options. Finally, I tapped my head, pointed to her and then gestured wildly back in the direction of the bridge.

  “What am I thinking?” Nicole asked.

  I nodded.

  She sighed, rolling out her neck smoothly. “Hard to say. That was… surprising,” she finally offered.

  I huffed. Of course it was.

  Nicole smiled at my annoyance. Meanie.

  “Honestly… I doubt their ability to find whoever is responsible,” Nicole went on. “They are assuming it is one of the officers because they had clearance. But if it was truly as organized as they made it out to be, then such an assumption seems… like a misstep.”

  I nodded. That made sense. Nicole tossed me the last chunk of mollusk before we entered her tent. I had a million more questions, but I had no way to ask them like this. My inability to speak was the worst part of this body.

  “I have nothing to do until a patient stops by,” Nicole began, undoing the chain from around my neck. “Shall we get started on your education?”

  That perked me up. I nodded eagerly. The sooner I could read and write, the better.