The medical room beside the waygate in Voidhold Two was an odd place to have a profound realization. It was noisy, with the hum of the aerostats and the bustle of people moving through the corridor outside. The air smelled bad, as if the filters hadn't been changed in a decade. The couch's surface was frayed, and it felt sticky beneath me.

  There I sat, my wrist immobilized to the couch, half-watching Vessa connect thread-like wires to Aster's neck implant.

  "How's the implant behaving?" she asked him, adjusting a connection.

  "Oh, you know," he replied, tilting his head. "Some days are better than others."

  I barely heard them. My mind was racing with thoughts. All those years I had been witness to the ordeal of Commander Sentix in the White Room, I had never questioned what had happened. Never wondered why Yeller did the things it did to him. Never asked who had made those decisions.

  Maybe, I thought, it's time to start asking.

  But not here, in Voidhold Two's medical room. Not under the eyes of Vessa or of Aster, who had noticed me watching and pointed at me.

  "Who's that?" he asked, his voice calmly casual. "I don't usually see anyone else when I'm here."

  "She's our newest patient," Vessa said, not looking up from her adjustments. "From Voidhold Zero."

  "Zero?" He gave a slight laugh that turned into a twitch. "Well, that's interesting, I thought they weren't allowed to leave."

  His dark eyes met mine for just a moment, and then he winked. At least, I thought so. It could have been one of his uncontrolled movements. I looked away.

  "You shouldn't listen to rumors," Vessa said.

  "Rumors? Me? How can I, stuck down below?" His face widened in a wry grin.

  "You do valuable for our voidhold," said Vessa, moving to his other side to check the leads there. "We are very grateful for your sacrifice and contribution." She tightened a connection, drawing a wince from him.

  "Don't mention it, glad to help." His grin turned sly. "So, what brings someone from Zero to our humble medical bay?"

  "She was caught interfering with bridge systems." Vessa's voice hardened. "During a critical navigation sequence."

  "Oh?" His eyebrows lifted. "That sounds..." A tremor ran through his arm. "Bad."

  "It nearly destabilized the entire voidhold." Vessa moved to a monitoring panel, her fingers moving across its surface. "The council suspects attempted mass murder."

  "Murder?" The word came out sharp before Aster covered it with a cough. "Sorry. Interface spasm." He shifted on the chair, his movements jerky. "But that's...I mean, why would anyone..."

  "Zero has a history of violence," Vessa said. "You should see her responses to the Coda. Complete dysfunction. Though with proper rehabilitation..." She trailed off, studying the readings. "Hold still now. Your neural patterns are spiking."

  "I'm just surprised," Aster murmured. "We don't get much excitement down below. Unless you count that time the waste processor exploded." His laugh was unsteady. "Now that was a mess. So..." he added, "What are they going to do with her?"

  The council is quite divided," Vessa said, speaking to her monitors. "Some want immediate removal to containment. Others feel rehabilitation might be possible." Her lips curved. "Though Lidaros made some interesting suggestions about alternative approaches."

  Aster's head jerked. "Lidaros? I thought he was only involved in security matters."

  "Oh, he has many interests." Vessa adjusted something that made Aster flinch. "Sorry, neural feedback. As I was saying, Lidaros has developed several innovative techniques for handling... resistant cases. Though he's rather distracted at the moment. This business with Chio interfering in security protocols has caused quite a stir."

  "Chio?" Aster's voice wavered. "What did she do?"

  "Overstepped her authority." Vessa's mouth tightened. "Some people forget their place here. Forget what we've built." She glanced at me. "Though personally, I favor a more structured approach. Complete behavioral reconstruction. We've had excellent results with other difficult subjects." Her eyes shifted to Aster. "Haven't we?"

  His shoulder spasmed. "I wouldn't know."

  "Of course." She patted his arm. "Now, stay here while these readings stabilize. I need to document my findings about our Zero guest."

  She gathered her datapads and moved to the adjacent observation room, visible through a large window but separated by a thick barrier.

  Through the window, I watched her settle at a workstation, her attention fixed on her screens. Every few moments her eyes would flick up, checking on us, before returning to her work.

  Aster waited until Vessa had been typing for several minutes before he spoke, his voice barely a whisper. "So. She put you on the Coda?"

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  I nodded, watching Vessa through the window.

  "Nasty thing." His head jerked, but his eyes stayed steady. "They used it on me when I arrived. Said my neural patterns were 'concerning'." His mouth twisted. "Of course they were. Half of Five was dust-crazed by then."

  "Did they try to treat you?"

  "Oh yes." He shifted in his chair. "The council spent three days debating what to do with me. Called my implants primitive. Barbaric." Another spasm ran through his shoulders. "But necessary, they finally decided. Couldn't have me dying, could they."

  "And Vessa..."

  "Got to experiment with her 'treatments'. Lucky me." His laugh turned into a convulsion. When it passed, he glanced at the window. Vessa was still absorbed in her screens. "Listen. If there's one thing I learned about council, it's that they need to believe they're better than other voidholds. More civilized. Don't even think of suggesting otherwise."

  I nodded. "I won't."

  "They'll talk about freedom while they're putting you in chains, so just keep quiet."

  "Like this?" I pointed to my wrist.

  "Exactly like that." His voice dropped even lower. "Best thing to do is let them think they can fix you. It's the only way to keep safe."

  "I can do that."

  "Good." He sighed, and looked up at Vessa through the window. "You did a good job with Cedar."

  "I didn't do much," I said. "It did most of the work."

  Nice to have one's efforts recognized.

  I checked Aster's face to see if he had heard the navigator, but it was blank.

  Then it turned sour.

  Listen," Aster's voice dropped to a rasp. "They'll want someone to vouch for you at the inquiry. To testify about your potential for rehabilitation." His eyes darted to the observation window. "Whatever happens, whatever they offer, don't drag me into this."

  I nodded. "Okay. What should I say then?"

  "I...don't know. Just...don't ask for me. Please." His head jerked toward the window, then back to me. "I'm sorry, but I need to stay in my space. Below. With my work. You understand?"

  His eyes flicked meaningfully to my ear where Cedar's receiver sat, then away.

  I forced another smile into place. "Don't worry," I said. "I won't say anything about you."

  Aster's mouth tightened and he nodded towards the window. "She's coming."

  "All done," Vessa announced as she emerged, going straight to disconnect the leads from his neck. "I'll see you same time next week."

  "Looking forward to it," he said, but his eyes drifted to me. At the door he stopped to call over to me. "Nice meeting you, Madam Zero. Hope they don't fix you too much."

  After he had left and Vessa had returned to her workstation, I leaned back against the medical couch and closed my eyes. I listened to the rough sounds of the voidhold and let the thoughts continue moving through me. Images of Yeller and my sister. The White Room and the bridge of Voidhold Two. The cell with Pine, and Lidaros laughing. Vessa speaking of my deviations.

  Enough.

  I had to act. I had to question.

  "Cedar, I need to ask you something," I whispered. "About what happened in the past."

  Of course. Though I should warn you, my knowledge banks remain rather scrambled after years as Lidaros' conversation piece.

  I took a deep breath. "What do you know about Commander Sentix?"

  There was a long pause.

  Ah. That's quite a topic. Are you sure you want to discuss it here?

  "Yes. I need to understand."

  Another pause.

  Very well. I was technically a navigator when it happened, although a different iteration. Do you understand? I didn't personally experience these events, I can just offer what is common knowledge, and I suspect it's no more detailed than what you already know.

  "Don't you have the report on his crime?"

  I have given you the Jan Par Report. There's not much more in the common knowledge.

  "I mean the official report."

  Well...there isn't one.

  "It wasn't documented?" I almost jumped off the couch. "How is that possible? They sentenced him, they must have recorded it."

  Who sentenced him?

  "The functionaries of Voidhold Zero."

  Impossible. We can't. Something like that is a human matter. They can at most hold him while waiting for a human to handle it.

  "But Yeller spoke of a sentence. Every month."

  Meaningless. It was saying what it thought you needed to hear. It's the only form of lying we're allowed.

  "But...then...no, they put him in stasis as punishment." I paused as Vessa raised her gaze to me.

  Look, if a functionary finds itself in a position where it needs to be innovative, strange things happen. There was only a single human left, right?

  "Yes. Heshi."

  And she was underage at the time, yes?

  "Yes."

  There you go. Yellow-2 and the functionaries of Voidhold Zero have been faced with an impossible situation. As a result, it put the commander into stasis to await a human-led inquiry. As the years went by, and no reasonable humans arrived, it tried to be innovative to help the commander adjust to his situation.

  "But it told Jan Par that they found the commander guilty."

  Yeah, I have my doubts about that. The way I see it, humans aren't always truthful. Jan Par may have had many thoughts between seeing the commander and writing her report. One of those thoughts may have altered the exact words.

  "So..." I frowned. "Did he even kill Zero's crew?"

  Why do you need to know this now?

  "I never questioned it, never wondered why a commander would suddenly turn on his own people. Never asked how one man could overpower so many, or why no one had stopped him. The story had holes big enough to fly a voidhold through, and I'd been too well-trained to see them. Cedar, did he kill them?"

  Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. We don't know.

  I took a moment to think. "Let's say that he did. Why would he kill his entire crew? And how?"

  As I have said, that is a human matter, left for humans to solve. Yellow-2 will have waited for a human in authority to take this problem off its hands.

  "But no one ever did."

  It would seem not.

  I fell silent, watching Vessa through the window. She was deep in her datapad.

  "Cedar?"

  Yes?

  "Do you know where Voidhold Zero is?"

  Of course.

  "Is it close?"

  Gold-1 reports that Voidhold Zero rides the high currents, surfing the tertiary band. It's tracking about forty-seven degrees above the primary storm layer. You may imagine it thus: picture a vast spiral staircase of ionized gas, with Zero gliding along the upper steps. Distance-wise, we're talking eight thousand kilometers through the violet quadrant.

  "That sounds far."

  Actually, it's barely a stone's throw. The void streams create natural corridors between most voidholds. Zero just happens to ride a higher deck than most, staying above the worst of the storm activity.

  "Do other voidholds know where it is?"

  They can detect its signature, certainly. But the upper streams are volatile. Most pilots won't risk the ascent without proper navigation systems.

  I watched Vessa typing at her workstation, her face lit by the glow of multiple screens.

  "Could you rendezvous with it?"

  Of course. The streams are particularly active right now, creating some interesting possibilities. But this is all purely academic. I am not heading there unless someone tells me to. I am playing hide and seek with Two's human bridge personnel as it is. If we start heading for the upper streams, they'll ask questions.

  I smiled, imperceptibly and just for myself.

  "I think they might be encouraged to plot that course."