The grunts withdrew. I watched their shuttle depart, while keeping up a running commentary for Hao’s benefit. By the time the shuttle became nothing more than a green blob trailing a warpstone wake on the sensor readout, I’d gotten her to let go of the Hurmer and start walking. Together, we pulled the hatchling all the way back to the Bucket unhindered.

  As we removed our gear I realized how badly we stank. Once the air in the Bucket hit our suits, all the powder, oil, iron shards, and burned polymer started to smell. Even the spilled tea in my pocket smelled of sugar and lemon.

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  I put the hatchling back in his dog basket without waking him, a scaly, black, warm weight that settled in the corner when we turned the gravity back on.

  Hao went into her cabin, and I had to override the system’s excessive water use warning twice before she came out again. Didn’t matter – she’d earned a long shower.

  So had I.

  Afterward, I keyed a path away from the breaking yard, parking us behind what looked like a derelict freighter until we could refit and repair. Then I ate a box of cold protein patties and slept for thirty hours.