Yellow arrows appeared on the walls as the meeting ended. Each one had a crewman's name on it. E00 showed them all to their quarters. Only Tejeda and Shayla remained seated at the table.

"You aren't going to tell me what that was about, are you?" she said, her arms still crossed over her chest as she leaned back.

"I promise I will think about thinking about it." Tejeda gave an all-knowing smirk.

Shayla didn't seem to appreciate his joke. "Why can't you trust anyone? Why can't you trust me?"

"Oh, my dear Shayla, the answer is simple: you are composed of atoms, and I don't trust atoms since they make up everything."

"I never get a straight answer from you. I am not sure why I bother asking you a question," she whispered, shaking her head.

His smile widened. "I am glad you reached that conclusion. Now, I have some things I have to talk about with you. Firstly, this ship can't be named SCF1 anymore. That name doesn't cut it for us. I have already applied for a new official name, and the approval should be ready by the time of our departure." Tejeda opened his arms in the air as if he were an announcer on a stage. "E00, do you want to make the honors?"

A matte wall tile turned glossy, and a screen flickered open. Large purple letters glittered on it, all capitalized. THE SPACE SPOON.

"Everything is about Carmen, right?" Shayla shrugged. "I know that much by now."

She got up from her chair. As she passed by Tejeda, he wondered if there would ever be another moment like that one on the dance floor in the dome on Uthion.

As soon as he realized it might never happen again, time seemed to stop. Then everything not anchored down drifted into the air ever so slowly and gracefully without a foreseeable destination.

With nothing to hang on to, Shayla let out a quick, high-pitched "Ah!" as her feet rose above the floor. A secure fastening attached the table to the decking. Tejeda grabbed the edge of the table with one hand while seizing Shayla's wrist with the other. He gently pulled her toward him.

"Please accept my sincerest apology!" They both heard E00's voice from across the room. "I am reading a file about anti-gravity and have somehow lost control of the artificial gravity controls. Don't be concerned! I will get back to you as soon as possible. They just do not want to descend."

"I won't pretend I understand that," Tejeda shouted, even if he smiled. "Give us a heads up before restoring gravity."

The artificial gravity drew them back to the floor before he finished his statement. Shayla was on top of Tejeda, who had fallen flat on his back. Their gazes locked, and he didn't squander the opportunity. After brushing a strand of her black hair aside, he grabbed her face to bring her closer.

The kiss, which was more a brush of the lips, didn't linger long. Shayla leaped to her feet, her eyes still on him but with an angry look. "Why do you continue to do this?"

"I didn't want to do it. You are beautiful, and I have eyes. That is the issue." Tejeda paused to consider the situation further. He sighed and went on. "If this concerns you, I can try to obstruct my vision the next time I change."

Her chest expanded with a winded breath as she glanced back at Tejeda when he got on his feet as well. "I think we should keep things professional if you want me to be your second in command." She didn't look away as his gaze pinned her down. His eyes darkened as if they reflected the bottomless night beneath his brow's shadow.

"It is strange how honest people are when it comes to communicating with their faces," he added as he turned away from her and headed for the door. "For some reason, when faced with saying the obvious, they can't."

"You know best since you are one of them," Shayla retorted.

Tejeda stopped in the doorway and took one last look at her out of the corner of his eye. "We will keep things professional. But keep this in mind. Every time you fancy a man, you will wonder if he isn't me."

Proud of his impactful exit, Tejeda wore an arrogant grin all the way to Kalden Deltak's office. For him, it wasn't yet his office as long as it looked the same way as before. After he put some personal touches on the decor, it would be more like it.

Tejeda gazed up towards the ceiling after settling into the captain's chair and remarked. "We need to talk about boundaries, E00." Hearing the coughs that came as a reaction, the Nubilae proceeded. "You don't have lungs or a throat to cough. So you won't get away with it. Back there, you read my thoughts and turned off the gravity on purpose. Am I correct?"

"I couldn't help myself. My electrical impulses itched badly. That was one of the purest and clearest thoughts that I have ever received from you. I had to do something."

Tejeda wasn't impressed by E00's reasons. "Can you choose not to hear people's thoughts?"

"Yes, I can, if they don't scream it right under the surface."

"Good," the Nubilae nodded. "From this day on, you are prohibited from reading my thoughts. If you do that, our partnership ends. Effective immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes," E00 responded without further ado.

"Oh, and one last thing." Tejeda relaxed against the backrest. "Can you erase memories or block them?"

"I can block them to some degree. I can't explain it exactly. It is like shielding something to make it inaccessible. But this is quite risky since I can't promise other things won't get inside the do-not-disturb bubble."

"Perfect!" Tejeda cut off further explanations. "I want you to block Cato's memory of whatever Nubilae knowledge she possesses. All she needs to know is that I am one and that she believes in me."