Zoe

The wine was half gone.

Frankie rested his hand on her ankle. The Captain's Chair was comfortable. It was easy to forget the mission here.

-Where did you learn to hack an airlock like that? he asked.

-The Academy, she said softly. West Mars. Before the war.

She took a sip. Her eyes lost focus, drifting past the living room walls, past the hull of the ship.

-I wasn't always a rogue, Frankie. I was top of my class. Navigation. Demolitions. Zero-G combat. Good enough for the Corporation, if I wanted to be.

-I believe it, Frankie said.

-I had a partner, she continued. -Zoe. We were inseparable. We shared a bunk on the transport runs. Kept each other warm when the heating coils failed.

She smiled sadly.

-She wasn't just a co-pilot. She was my gravity. We thought we were invincible. Two girls against the void.

-What happened? he asked.

-A solar flare, she whispered. -Fried the comms. We got separated during a spacewalk near the Rings. I tried to tether her, but she... drifted.

Zoe. An old girlfriend he remembered her mentioning before. The one who left.

Frankie squeezed Red’s ankle gently.

-You’re still here, he said.

Red looked at him.

-I had to be, she said. The universe doesn't stop for broken hearts.

She downed the rest of her wine. She set the glass on the coffee table.

-But I’m done with the past, Captain. I’m interested in the present.

She shifted on the couch.

-I want to feel something real.

-The Astrometrics Bay, he said, his voice low. We should check the navigation. Make sure we’re on course.

Red had an idea where that was.

-Lead the way, she said. But don't expect me to walk. In zero-g, we float.