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enough.’
    ‘Release the parts from containment. That is all that is required,’ Kassa stated, snapping out of her trance-like daze. ‘It has withdrawn,’ she informed Taren, feeling a little giddy.
    Taren looked at the FFRD to find the needle still at zero point. The colourful electrical activity inside the sample in the containment lab had ebbed to some degree.
    How did I get in so much trouble in so little time? Taren quashed her defeatist attitude to determine her next course of investigation. ‘Who is in charge of pod launches here on AMIE?’
    ‘That would be Bonar Colbers,’ answered Kassa.
    ‘Are you okay? Can I get you anything?’ Taren inquired as she looked towards the door.
    ‘I’ll come with you.’ Kassa stood, but as she was clearly still woozy Taren declined.
    ‘I’ll be back soon.’ Taren quickly moved off.
    ‘Try the mess room,’ Kassa called after her.
    Bonar was punching buttons on the menu of the hot breakfast dispenser when Taren caught up with him to inquire whether any pods had departed the ship during his last shift.
    ‘No, nothing,’ he informed.
    ‘You’re sure?’
    Bonar grinned, his cheeks all rosy. ‘No one gets in or out of here without my knowledge, and yesterday was dead quiet on that front.’
    ‘Oh.’ Taren didn’t know what to think. How could the sample possibly be in transit to the next star system if it hadn’t gone by pod? ‘No deep-space cruisers docked with AMIE yesterday?’
    Bonar shook his head. ‘I told you…nothing.’
    Was the sample lying? Had Kassa misunderstood the message or messed up the translation? The message had seemed extremely clear.
    ‘There you are, finally .’
    Taren was startled by Zeven’s rather loud entrance into the mess room.
    ‘What do you mean, finally?’ Taren protested. ‘I was up early.’
    ‘On your second day of sleep,’ Zeven informed. ‘You slept right through your shift last night.’ He had to laugh at the stunned look on Taren’s face.
    ‘Tell me you’re joking,’ she requested before panicking too badly.
    ‘I’m deadly serious. But don’t worry, everyone tends to oversleep at first.’ Zeven did his best to allay her horror.
    ‘I’ve really been asleep for two days?’ Taren gripped Zeven’s shirt, desperate for the truth.
    ‘It’s no sweat—’
    ‘Oh, my cosmic forefathers.’ Taren ran back to Bonar, who was now seated at a table with the rest of his crew. ‘Did a pod leave for Maladaan any time during your last two shifts?’
    Bonar seemed a mite bored with her obsession, but as he cast his mind back he recalled, ‘Yep, the shift before last. Eleazar Kestler left for Maladaan. He’s finished his sabbatical and was headed home with his research results.’
    ‘Kestler?’ Taren knew that name. ‘The physicist?’ Her heart jumped into her throat. She’d attended some of his lectures at the University of Esponisa many years back. His passion was electrodynamics. The man was a legend and she didn’t want to be the one to accuse him of stealing a quarantined sample. ‘No other craft?’
    ‘Nope,’ said Bonar, biting into his sandwich to avoid having to pursue this conversation any further.
    ‘We did have that pod misfire when Kestler’s launched,’ mentioned the youngest technician at the table, whose name was Raggus, which kind of suited him as he looked like a bag of rags. All his clothes were too big and his blond hair hung past his shoulders in long knotted clumps.
    ‘Really?’ Taren looked back to Bonar. ‘Did you chase the pod up?’
    Bonar shook his head as he slowly chewed up his mouthful.
    ‘It’ll show up on Maladaan in a couple of weeks,’ Raggus added.
    ‘Does that happen often, pods misfiring?’ Taren now directed her questions at Raggus, as he was more eager to oblige her with responses.
    ‘First time for us.’ He looked to his companions, who nodded confirmation, and then, noting Bonar’s dark expression, he shut up and went back to his food.
    ‘Thanks,