Five minutes of painful silence ticked by, then they heard a noise from the other side of the rock fall.

"Someone's there!"

"At last, thank god!"

They moved to the back of the cavern, keeping clear from any falling rocks and waited impatiently. It suddenly occurred to Simon that in a few moments, King would know exactly who he was. That was the trouble with fantasies, safe and totally under your control in your own mind, once you tried to act them out they became complicated, with consequences. And this one had the potential to become incredibly complicated. If only there was some way of hiding his identity, but he couldn't think of anything he could do to avoid exposure; he would just have to deal with it. A minute later he had barely time to think "be careful what you wish for," when the ceiling collapsed on top of them in a roar of dust and rubble.

King regained consciousness in the sick bay aboard the Revel. He had a wealth of bruises and contusions, and a broken arm from when he had flung it up to protect his head. He opened his eyes. Thank god he could see again! His next thought was for Simon. "Excuse me," he got the attention of Medical Officer Kumar, "the man who was with me? How is he?"

Kumar looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, I don't know who that was. Several men were buried under the rocks and it was a race to get everyone out. We have eleven of you here in sick bay with varying injuries." His expression turned grim. "Three of them are serious. Who was the man with you?"

"He said his name was Simon, but I don't know if that was his surname or his first name."

Kumar was already shaking his head, "I don't have anyone of that name here, sorry. Perhaps it's a nickname." He peered more closely at King. "How do you feel, yourself? Any pain?"

"I'm fine. Who are the men who are badly injured?" Surely if he was alive, Simon had to be too?

"Roy, Singh and Cohen. Roy and Singh were part of Alpha team, Cohen was with Beta team and the Captain."

He knew who the two men from Alpha team were, he had met them at the briefing for the mission, but he didn't know Cohen.

"How is the Captain?"

"One of the lucky ones. He's up and about, all he got were some bruises and a broken nose. He's been in to see everyone here a couple of times already this morning." Kumar moved away then to tend to the next patient.

King had given himself firm instructions to put the incident, no, the experiment out of his mind and under no circumstances to try and find out who Simon was, but he couldn't help glancing around to see if anyone seemed familiar. Would he know the man if he met him face to face? He could hardly go around kissing everyone to find out for certain. No, he would simply have to try and forget all about it. If Simon ever wanted to find him again, he knew exactly where and who he was.

King was back on duty after a couple of days, working hard to fit in to his new ship; meeting the men, getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of the other officers. Second Lieutenant Bailey, who had organised their rescue, was a good man to work with, straight forward in his dealings with people and efficient at what he did. He found the Captain more difficult to analyse; he seemed to tense up when he was with him, a reaction noticeably different from his easy interaction with the other officers. Not that he was unfriendly, just more formal. Perhaps he was one of those who found it hard to be natural with a man who was also an om.

King was the only om amongst the officers, not an uncommon situation in ships of the P108 and P112 type. The Jerez, where he and Ferris had served as First and Second Lieutenants, had been an exception. He shrugged. He would just continue to be his normal self and hopefully the Captain would soon come around. At least he knew he wasn't Simon, thank-you-god. (How awkward would that have been!) The Captain had been with Beta team, leading a separate group at the time of the explosion, with Harris and Cohen, the man who was in critical care.

Despite his best intentions, King kept scanning the men of Alpha team, trying to work out who Simon had been through a process of elimination. He was able to exclude three men instantly, one was bald and the others had long hair, tied back from their faces. He thought a fourth was too short and a fifth too stocky. Simon had been a little shorter than himself he decided, and solid but not broad. He remembered thinking his nose had been broken in the past. It had felt a bit crooked, but that didn't really seem to apply to any of the men, not even Harris or the Captain; although of course one couldn't tell with Captain Hayes because he had broken his nose in the explosion. Perhaps it had felt more noticeable than it looked.

In the end he narrowed it down to two men, Corporal Larsen or Private Garcia, although neither seemed exactly right and they both treated him quite normally without any awkwardness. Surely Simon had to feel at least some tension when they met again? Unless he was an incredibly good actor, of course. Mind you, one would think someone who had been successfully denying his sexuality for years must have some acting ability.

He was still trying to decide what to do, if anything, when he found himself called to a meeting in the Captain's quarters along with the rest of the officers.

"Just to let you know that we will have a party of five civilian visitors joining us in two days. Ser Robert Becker, the manager of Capella Space station, his daughter Fiona, and three others will be joining us for a couple of days. As most of you already know, Fiona is my betrothed, so the visit will be both for public relations and to plan our wedding. Given the size of our guest list, that will be a public relations exercise in itself," he smiled wryly at his officers. "I'm sure it goes without saying that I want everything to run as smoothly as possible during their visit. The station manager doesn't come on board one of our ships very often so we want to make an excellent impression."

King grimaced inside. As First Lieutenant, it would be up to him to oversee a lot of the arrangements. Luckily, they had a very competent Supply Officer who would actually do most of the work. There would be accommodation, formal dinners and other activities to be sorted out. He waited until the other officers left to get some more details from Captain Hayes. The wedding sounded like it was going to be one of those very formal affairs, rather like a merger between two companies. The Captain obviously moved in rarefied social circles. The daughter of Capella's manager; you couldn't get much more high society than that, not out here in any case.

He studied the Captain while he was giving Bailey a few last minute instructions. At least the swelling on his nose was going down, and the bruising. His voice was almost back to normal as well. For a while he had sounded as if he had a heavy cold. He was a good-looking man, the broken nose actually made him look more rugged; in his mid thirties with sun-dark blond hair and intelligent grey eyes. The Captain saw Bailey out and then turned back to King. At least he was starting to act a little more naturally around him. King reached for a printout of the schedule at the same time as Hayes and their hands accidently brushed against each other. The Captain leapt back as if he had been stung.

It's not catching, sir, King bit back the words, luckily before he spoke them aloud.

"I'm sorry, King, you startled me," the Captain apologised unconvincingly. "I didn't mean any disrespect."

Now who had said almost those very words to him recently? King stared at the Captain in horrified disbelief, frozen to the spot. No, it couldn't be, could it? But who was the one man who was uncomfortable around him since the incident? Whose voice had been disguised by a broken nose?

The Captain was still talking as he organised his documents for the visit, but gradually he became aware of the absolute stillness of the other man and his voice faltered to a stop. He looked up. King stared at him, his face one big question mark. The Captain met his eyes for only a second before he cleared his throat and looked away, saying, "As I said, it's really important that everything run smoothly while Ser Becker and his daughter are here."

King's suspicions crystallized into certainty. Hayes was Simon. But he was not going to acknowledge what had happened between them; he was going to bury it, along with any other instances he must have experienced over the years when his true nature tried to assert itself. King could see now that he was holding himself as tense as a high voltage cable, waiting to see if he would accept his decision or challenge him.

King swallowed all the words he wanted to say. This was not the time, not when he was still in a state of shock, and said merely, "I understand, sir. I think I'd better go now, we can do this another time."

He left the room feeling totally stunned. The last man he had suspected. He'd kissed his Captain. What's more, his Captain had not only kissed him back but had his hands all over him—he would have had sex with him if King hadn't stopped him. And this was the man who was getting married? What on Earth was he doing?

Captain Hayes stared blankly into space. He didn't know what he'd done wrong, but something had given him away despite his best efforts. Well, the worst had happened. King had guessed who he was and it hadn't been so bad, had it? He hadn't hit him. The world hadn't ended. Mind you, his whole life was now in the other man's hands. He had to trust King to keep quiet and hope that he didn't bear too much of a grudge. In a way it was a good thing that he had offended him before, right? At least King was highly unlikely to ever seek him out for a repeat performance! He felt hot just thinking about it. If only he got so aroused when he thought about Fiona. Still, they both knew it was more of a business marriage than one of love; she wouldn't be expecting passion, would she?