Ira held the elevator door, eyeing Myghal who followed him in. His silence proved Ira’s suspicions.
He was acting different.
Removing his hand from the reader, Ira leaned back in his place. This recent habit had started sometime after their run in with the Kelt who had brought the Vital’s threat. Ira was still recovering from it. Myghal, however, hadn’t.
Returning like this, he would debrief himself with Zoh or Zabiri and go straight to his cabin where he locked himself away for hours at a time. Ira stole glances at him from his hood. There was no expression on Myghal’s face, his eyes set on some unseen point. If not for the faint crease in his brow, Ira would have described him as blank. But he seemed irritated. Worst of all was his silence. It was unnerving, even if Ira knew, within a few hours, Myghal would emerge, wander into the commons or main deck, just as calm and composed as his usual self.
Gravity sank as the elevator slowed to the main deck.
“I’ll brief Zoh,” Ira said, hoping to get a response. Myghal merely nodded. When the doors hissed open, he waited for Ira to exit first, following closely down the hall. Ira listened to his step, stern, in-time, far too tense.
He fell away as the passed the open deck, Ira pausing to turn and watch him. He crossed to the next hall, no parting words or jokes, almost mechanical. When it had started, and Ira confronted him, Myghal dismissed anything. Every word had been hollow. With a huff Ira continued down to the med bay.
Zoh was working over the Redliner, a strange cupped base that was somehow supposed to stabilize the Nuclei. Their form flickered when Ira entered, a clue they sensed him. “We’re back,” he sighed, swiping his cloak back to pull the pouch from his hip.
“Oh good,” a swarm of Zoh’s nanites approached him, hovering in anticipation. “Were you able to find all the pieces I asked for?”
“Everything on the list.”
“Wonderful! And how is Myghal?”
Ira retracted the pouch. “Why do you ask?”
“I was wondering if he was still feeling anxious.”
“Anxious?” Ira tilted his head, dropping the pouch into his other hand as Zoh made a swipe for it. The nanites glittered in a nervous cloud. “What do you mean, Zoh? Is Myghal anxious?”
“I’d like my supplies now.”
“And I’d like answers. How long have you known about this? A few weeks? And why? What’s bothering him?”
“I can’t disclose patient information that way! That’s private.” Ira swatted a few bots like flies as they grew too close. “I can’t say, Ira. Ask him yourself.”
“You’re going to tell me or I’ll tell Zabiri you’ve been making system adjustments to Andrax without her permission.” The swarming stopped, every nanite going still as Zoh’s glow dimmed.
“You wouldn’t.”
“You know I will.”
“She’ll throw me off the ship!”
“That affects me in no way.” Ira grinned, tilting his head impatiently. Zoh gathered together, hologram flickering in and out of static as they considered their options. “Zabiri!”
“Alright, alright! I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell him I said anything.”
This is so niche specific but I had to brag, I had a perfect ZOH scan of my store today. Essentially, this means we have no recorded loss or theft on any out of stock items in an inventory of over 10,000. 😭 this has never happened to me in 10 years of my retail career.
