Sheila and her crew were hauling load after load of artwork, genetic samples, and other assorted treasures into their hold.

It was a truly impressive amount…

Too impressive.

Sheila made an unhappy face.

“So, are we going to discuss the elephant in the room?” she said as her crew was all assembled in the rapidly filling cargo hold.

“What elephant?” Helena asked as she danced among the treasures snapping photo after photo.

“We are out of space.”

“Yeah,” Greg said taking out a tablet. “Looks that way.”

“Time to make a decision,” Sheila said in a calm professional tone. Her crew nodded grimly.

“Yep,” Jacob said.

Helena looked up from her photos at the crew curiously.

“What decision?” she asked.

“Well,” Sheila replied, “when we planned this job we had two ships, two cargo holds, and two life support systems. Now, we are at half capacity.”

“What do you mean?” Helena asked not liking where this was headed.

“Once we account for all of our gun crews, even if we abandon some gear, we simply don’t have enough room for the prisoners,” Greg said grimly. “It’s going to get pretty damn crowded and pretty stuffy in here with just our guys. Taking on the prisoners is simply out of the question.”

“Yep,” Sheila said calmly. “Bunny, can you prove us wrong?”

“No,” Bunny replied, “Before we even consider physical space, our life support system is simply not up to the task. The air would rapidly become completely unbreathable. We would last approximately four hours.”

“What if we completely empty and I mean completely empty the hold?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Bunny replied. “You would get exactly jack shit.”

“What if we loaded ourselves down with liquid oxygen from the White Star?” Greg asked.

“We can only gain another three hours, tops before carbon dioxide wipes all of you meat-sacks out,” Bunny replied.

“Well, what if we don’t try to scrub the carbon dioxide?” the chief said thoughtfully. “What if we just vent atmo and make up the difference with an oxygen and nitrogen mix? We can load a lot of liquified gas, provided that we can get the right flasks here on the White Star.”

“Bad idea,” T’sunk’al replied. “If we were cruising through real space, no problem, but that’s not what we are talking about here. Making a void jump? While we are constantly losing mass during the jump? That would be bad enough but ejecting mass into hyperspace? While we are moving through it? It would create thrust and that thrust (or drag, I don’t even fucking know) would be impossible to predict. Things work differently in hyperspace. Even what you would consider an insignificant amount of thrust would be more than enough to completely fuck things up. I’m sorry but even I’m not crazy enough to do that. There is no telling where we would wind up and that is before we even consider the forces that would be applied to the ship when we pop out. It’s suicide even by my relaxed standards.”

“Damaged warships jump all the fucking time and they are sometimes venting atmo, plasma too, and a lot more than what we are talking about here,” the chief said. “Been there, done that. We popped out just fine.”

“Yeah, system to system,” T’sunk’al replied. “We are dealing with the void here. The slightest imprecision or inaccuracy is magnified by many orders of magnitude. We don’t have a solid starting reference point or a gravity well to soak up any little pesky rounding errors. You popped out just fine but I bet if you asked the navigators you managed to hit the right solar system and that was it. You were nowhere near where they planned you to be. Being off by a few dozen light minutes or even a couple of light hours isn’t a big deal especially in an emergency situation like that. Those light minutes or light hours can easily become light years when we are dealing with the void. I wish I was exaggerating. That additional error could very well mean that none of us make it home.”

“Well, shit,” Greg said. “So much for that then.”

“What if we-” the chief began.

“Why are we wasting breath discussing this?” Gloria asked in her trademark dead voice. “It’s not like they’re-”

“Not like they are what?” Helena snapped, “People?”

“Exactly,” Gloria responded with absolutely no emotion. “They are just-”

“What? Just what?” Helena asked raising her voice. “What are we?”

“Just because you get a pass because killer over there has gotten whipped doesn’t mean that you aren’t just a little slice of pork just like the rest of them,” Gloria said looking at her with dead doll-like eyes. She turned to the group. “Let’s just smother them and be done with it.”

“Oh FUCK no!” Helena shouted. “We aren’t people? Really?!?!” she yelled, her voice cracking with emotion.

“Nope,” Gloria responded.

Helena pulled out her tablet and opened a file.

“She isn’t a person?” She yelled as she played part of an interview with Elizabeth, Rupert Glent’s daughter.

“So aren’t you afraid, even a little bit?”

“Oh I was but then daddy said that everything is going to be ok,” Elizabeth said smiling a sunshine filled smile at the camera. “The big monsters were scary at first but they are all really nice. And I asked one of them and they said that we were all going to get to go home after all of this was over.”

“You are a very brave little girl, do you know that?”

“Sure am! I’m not afraid of anything!”

Gloria just stared at the screen. Esme? She thought her eyes unglazing. No. It isn’t her… IT ISN’T HER!

“How can you stand there and tell me that she isn’t-” Helena started to shout and then the tablet jolted in her hands and suddenly she was staring at the point of a knife sticking through the back of the tablet inches from her face. As the tablet fell from her numb fingers she found herself staring right into Gloria’s murder filled eyes. As she staggered back Roberts lunged in front of her reaching for his sidearm.

An energy bolt hit the deck between them with a loud ZAP.

“Goddammit I am sick and fucking tired of the BOTH of you!” Sheila yelled holding a heavy stunner pistol in her hand. “Unless BOTH of you want to be wearing fucking DIAPERS you will STAND DOWN NOW!!!”

Roberts moved his hand away from his sidearm and Gloria just stood there glaring at Helena. Without a word Gloria just turned her back on her and walked out of the cargo hold.

“And you!” Sheila snapped turning to face Helena. “When I said you weren’t going to be harmed that wasn’t an invitation to try to get yourself fucking killed!”

“I was just-”

“Just what? Trying to pick a fight… with fucking Gloria? What were you thinking?!?” Sheila yelled. “Roberts… Take your little friend and find somewhere else to be, right fucking now.”

“But, Sheila,” Helena said turning to face her, “You can’t possibly be thinking about killing-”

“Right now we are thinking about everything,” Sheila said regaining her composure. “We are going to carefully consider all the options and then decide what we are going to do and we don’t need you screaming over us just because we are discussing options you don’t like.”

“If… If they aren’t getting off of this ship then neither am I.” Helena said crossing her arms defiantly.

“Heh,” Sheila chuckled, “Bitch, do you actually think you have a say in the matter? You will be taken off of this ship and you will be delivered, intact, to a safe port somewhere. Whether or not you are still talking to Roberts after that is absolutely none of my concern.” She turned to face Roberts. “Roberts,” she barked, “You have your orders. Please escort your little friend off of the ship, now.”

“Come on,” Roberts said gently placing his hand on Helena’s shoulder. She angrily shrugged it off and walked away.

***

Gloria was pacing back and forth in the cargo hold trying to regain her composure.

Helena’s right. They’re people. the little voice in her head said.

“No they aren’t! They are just fucking porkies!”

That girl looked a lot like people.

“It was a fucking piglet.”

She looked just like Esme did back then.

“She… isn’t… her… She’s dead! The fucking porkies killed her!”

They’re people.

“Bullshit!” Gloria snapped to herself. “Just fucking bio-waste!”

Sam was people.

“No he wasn’t! He was-”

He liked you, a lot. You liked the little goofball too.

“No I fucking didn’t! He was just part of the fucking job!” Gloria kicked a crate cracking the plastic. “Just another piece of porkie trash!”

You liked him and you killed him.

“Aaargh!” She kicked the crate again breaking it further.

He was people. When he said he wanted to keep in touch after the cruise part of you really wanted that.

“NO!!!”

They were all people… ALL OF THEM...

Gloria winced as images of nuclear blasts flashed across her mind.

An image of a juvenile… something or other… on a video call with an adult in orbit trilling happily waving a plush toy to the delight of the adult just before the warhead hit the spaceport.

That was definitely a people.

“We don’t think about that… Ever! WE NEVER THINK ABOUT THAT!!!” Gloria paced shouting back and forth. “NEVER! IT WASN’T A PERSON!!!!”

They were all people… all of them...

“NO! WE CAN’T DO THIS RIGHT NOW. WE… I’M ON A MISSION! A MISSION!… a… mission...” Gloria breathed deeply in and out. “A mission… A mission… Come on girl… Just like back then… A mission...”

And everything went numb. Gloria glanced over and saw Helena just staring at her from across the bay with Roberts looking at her with his hand on his sidearm.

Gloria just shrugged and walked away.

***

Helena just stood there trying to process what she just saw. For just a moment she saw a look of pure anguish in Gloria’s eyes before they turned back into those sick glassy dead things that were normally in her head.

“Wow,” she said to Roberts.

“Yeah...”

“Is she always like that?”

“No. This is definitely not normal. Something is really wrong in there this time, worse than usual.”

“Do we need to tell Sheila?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you get what she was screaming?” Helena asked.

“No and I’m kind of glad I didn’t,” Roberts replied.

***

A few minutes later Sheila and the crew walked out of the Paper Tiger and headed over to Helena and Roberts.

“Well, we figured it out,” Sheila said to Helena. “And you will be happy to know nobody is getting smothered or abandoned.”

“They aren’t?” Helena asked hopefully.

“T’sunk’al is going to calculate a jump for the whole White Star into an empty star system in Federation Space,” Sheila said matter of factly. “Then, once he has the next jump ready, we just shove them into the escape pods and flush ‘em. Then we do one hyperspace broadcast right before we do another void jump. That way the porkies don’t die and we still get to dump the ship.”

“Why is it so important that you dump the ship?” Helena asked.

“We want Axion to take a total loss especially after that Bruce bullshit,” Sheila responded. “Also there is no way in hell we can clean the whole ship and if the Feds get their hands on it they will go over it atom by atom. We don’t really care about us that much. This is too big not to get out but the crews… We need to protect them and losing the ship is the only way that can happen.”

“Makes sense I guess,” Helena said thoughtfully. “Oh, Sheila, we need to tell you about Gloria.”

“Oh fuck not this again!” Sheila snapped. “Just fucking drop it.”

“No! You really need to know what we just saw...”

***

Gloria wandered through the White Star not really thinking about where she was headed… until she wound up in front of the door to Sam’s cabin.

She opened the door and curled up on the bed.

“Gloria. This is Sheila,” Sheila said over Gloria’s communicator.

“Yes,” Gloria replied in a dead flat voice.

“Everything good?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Look, Gloria, if something is up, you can tell me, ok?”

“Everything is nominal. I have made a tactical decision to remove myself from the situation,” Gloria responded in a completely dead voice.

“Ok... I have no assignments for you at this time,” Sheila said in a calm professional voice. “Just… Just stand ready for now.”

“Understood. Gloria out.”

***

Sheila looked at her communicator uncertainly. She sounded normal but her gut wasn’t happy.

“So, Bunny,” Sheila said into her communicator. “What is her location.”

“Crew quarters, cabin 115.”

“Well, at least she is safely out of the way,” Sheila replied.

“Yeah, about that,” Bunny replied, “Cabin 115 is assigned to Lieutenant Commander Samuel Wilson.”

“And?”

“I just reviewed all applicable footage. He was the individual that she used to gain access to the bridge. They were quite familiar with each other… Right up to the point she lopped his head off.”

“…”

“Yeah. I’m not an expert on human behavior but isn’t that just a little… really fucking weird?”

“Bunny,” Sheila said in a very calm voice. “I want eyes on her 24/7 and I want to know every single move she makes, ok?”

“Got it.”

“And don’t tell a soul about this, not even Jessie. Got it? For now we are just treating this like she is just having a moment.”

“Understood.”

“I’m really wishing we never set foot on this fucking ship, Bunny.”

“Can’t imagine why...”

***

The next day, back on Terra, Jon carefully eased his feet off of the bed and slowly put his weight on them. Everything worked. Everything hurt like a bitch but everything worked.

“And now I can go to the bathroom all by myself!” he chuckled.

A few hours later Dr. Balken was standing in front of him with a scanner.

“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it,” he said as he looked at the scanner’s screen. “This is completely freaky.”

“So can I go?”

“Don’t see how I’m going to stop you,” the doctor laughed. “But to answer your real question everything is healed up to the point that there is little risk to you heading out as long as you act like you have some fucking sense. No jogging or backflips and I would hold off on the old in and out for a few more days.”

“What if I just lay there?”

“Face up yes. Face down no.” the doctor laughed.

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Jon laughed. He then pulled out his tablet and started searching for cargo transports to the Federation capitol.

***

“Your Ladyship,” Marrow said as he walked into her office. “Jon Wintersmith has disappeared.”

“Oh did he now?” Patricia asked in a delighted voice. “We had a full surveillance team in place and he ‘just disappeared’?”

“It’s inexcusable!” Marrow snarled. “I will personally-”

“Oh Marrow,” Patricia laughed a magical laugh, “We are dealing with Jon Wintersmith here. I would expect no less. In fact I would be greatly disappointed otherwise.”

“My Lady?”

“So, is my office ready?”

“Almost, my lady.”

“Well, have them put a rush on it,” she laughed happily. “I expect him here at any minute.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“This is going to be absolutely delightful!” she exclaimed happily as she pulled out a mirror and carefully retouched her makeup.

“May I ask a question, my lady?”

“Of course, my child. What is it?”

“Why didn’t you eliminate him on Terra?”

“Eliminate him?” She asked with a wonderful laugh, “Now why would I do something like that?”

“If not that, then simply have him replaced. His medical condition could have been leveraged into a fast replacement with someone more agreeable.”

“And lose him? Absolutely not!”

“My Lady?”

“Marrow, my child, you are an amazing tactical thinker but you need to think more strategically. Jon Wintersmith is a singular individual and would be an amazing asset to… possess...” she said with a wicked smile.

“Possess, my lady?”

“Yes, possess,” she said as her emerald eyes glittered happily. “I’m going to enjoy breaking him.”

“I am not entirely certain he will break easily, my lady.”

“It would be no fun at all if he did, child,” she laughed. “But in the end they all break, don’t they?”

“Yes, my lady,” Marrow said with a knowing smile.