Artemis knew she should be asleep. Her mother had tucked her into her bed here on the ship, and kissed her goodnight. Her mother expected her to stay here for the night.

Except that Artemis found that she couldn't sleep. Her father was sick. The adults were worried and when the adults were worried, Artemis knew that was a bad thing. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what she could do.

Staying put and not causing trouble would probably be helpful, but Artemis felt restless. Since the initial tour, she hadn't seen much of the ship. She had either been here or with her father. She hadn't seen Harper or Rommie either.

Throwing back the blanket, Artemis moved from the bed to her wheelchair. Knowing where she would be able to go on the ship would be limited, she still intended to try finding Mr. Harper. She had heard her mom and Admiral Hunt talking about Mr. Harper finding a way to help her father. Despite the late hour, Artemis was sure Mr. Harper wouldn't be asleep, especially if he was like her and couldn't sleep when she was trying to figure out a problem.

Granted her problems were probably unimportant compared to Mr. Harper but she was sure it was still the same.

Quietly, Artemis propelled the wheelchair toward the door. The little girl cringed at the sound of the door opening which seemed loud in the otherwise quiet night. She glanced over her shoulder at the other two beds in the room. Neither Riley nor Sirius gave any indication that they had heard the noise.

Leaning forward, Artemis peeked out in the corridor. Looking both ways, she didn't see anyone. Listening, she didn't hear the sound of any footsteps either.

Feeling that she was safe from getting caught, Artemis moved out into the corridor. She knew which direction she needed to go to reach her father. However, that wasn't the direction she wanted to go. She also figured there was a greater chance of running into someone in that direction.

Despite the tour, Artemis found she wasn't quite sure which way to go to get other places. Nor was she sure where exactly she wanted to go. She knew she wanted to talk to Mr. Harper but where he would be she wasn't sure. Even if he was in his quarters she wouldn't know where that would be located.

Turning away from where her father was, Artemis started down the corridor. Her plan clearly had flaws but even wandering around the ship was better than laying in bed staring at the ceiling and worrying.

Reaching an intersection, Artemis turned to the left. She kept going straight for a while. Approaching a third intersection she heard footsteps up ahead. Stopping in the corridor, she looked around. Not knowing where she was or what was behind any of the nearby doors, she didn't know where to go to get out of sight.

Looking back at the intersection, Artemis saw Rommie come into view.

"Does your mother know where you're at?" Rommie asked, coming to a stop before the little girl. The ship's avatar stood with her hands behind her back as she looked down at Artemis.

"No," Artemis admitted.

"And where is it that you are trying to go?" Rommie asked.

"I wanted to see Mr. Harper," Artemis replied. "I heard he was working on how to help my Papa and I wanted to ask him how he was doing. I know Mom is getting more worried."

Rommie nodded, even as she accessed her internal sensor to locate Harper. She didn't see the harm in letting Artemis see Harper. Perhaps the engineer would even be able to ease the little girl's worries.

"Harper is currently on the observation deck," Rommie said, surprised at the engineer's location though she didn't reveal that. If Harper wasn't in the lab that the medical research team from Tarazed then she had anticipated him being in his quarters. "Let me take you there and then afterwards I will escort you back to your quarters and I expect you to stay there until an adult comes for you."

"Yes, ma'am," Artemis replied.

Stepping around the little girl, Rommie put her hands on the handles of the chair. Heading toward the intersection she had just passed through, Rommie headed right when she reached it.

"Am I in trouble?" Artemis asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because Mama and Papa have told me before that I shouldn't go wandering on my own. They say it isn't safe."

"Well, they are correct. It really isn't safe for a child to be wandering around on their own. Many things could happen. However, you aren't in any danger onboard this ship. I monitor the whereabouts of all my crew and visitors. I would have made sure that nothing would have happened to you, so we can keep this little excursion to ourselves, if you promise not to go wandering around alone again."

"I promise, Miss Rommie," Artemis replied, leaning her head back to look up at the android.

Rommie smiled, the child's polite address of her making her feel good.

The pair continued silently through the ship, Rommie changing the gravity in the ladder wells to move the child and chair to other decks, which fascinated the little girl. It wasn't long before they reached the observation deck.

Stepping into the room, Rommie spotted Harper by the window. The engineer didn't turn at the sound of their entrance so Rommie announced their presence.

"Harper," Rommie called out, startling the engineer. As Harper turned toward her, she continued. "You have a visitor."

"Gee, Rommie, give a guy a heart attack why don't you," Harper replied, the words muffled slightly from the mask he wore over his mouth and nose.

"It's not like I walked quietly up to you and tapped you on the shoulder or something," Rommie replied. "If you were more aware of your surroundings, you would have heard the door open," she countered.

"Okay, point taken," Harper replied. He switched his gaze from Rommie to Artemis. "And what are you doing up this late at night, Little Princess?" Harper asked, kneeling down in front of her.

"I couldn't sleep. I wanted to know if you had any luck with finding a way to help my Papa?" Artemis told him.

Harper reached out to take her hand. "Not yet," he admitted sadly. He wasn't about to lie to a kid, even if it did mean giving her bad news. "We're still trying though. I actually came here to see if the change of scenery would generate any new ideas."

"Did it?"

"Not yet," Harper told her.

"Are you sick too?" Artemis asked, pointing to Harper's mask with the hand she wasn't holding. The tone of worry was clear in her voice.

"What?" Harper responded, reaching up with his free hand. He had forgotten all about putting the mask on. Pulling it down he continued with, "no. I'm not sick. However, several of the people I'm working with are dealing with colds and I tend to catch things easily. As I can't afford to get sick right now, I put the mask on."

Artemis nodded. "Mama always said that we should be thankful we have a good im-im-"

"Immune system," Rommie supplied.

"Yeah, that," Artemis agreed, not bothering trying pronouncing it herself. "Do you get sick a lot?"

"More often then I'd like," Harper admitted.

"It's not helping my Papa right now though. He's still sick."

"Yeah," Harper said, struggling for something reassuring to add. While he didn't want to give the child false hope, he also didn't want to add to her worries. Telling her that someone had targeted her father on purpose, with a poison designed for him to not be immune to it, would do just that. "People's immune systems work differently and what affects some people, or some species, doesn't affect others."

Harper didn't hear Artemis reply to his words as he repeated his own words, an idea forming in his head. It seemed so simple, perhaps Dr. Neff or her staff had already looked into it, but he knew he had to run it by the doctor. From what he could understand, so far, all the research team had been concentrating on was trying to find some kind of medicine or counter agent against the poison. However, what if the poison didn't react the same with other species? What if another species immune system could actually ward off the poison? It might help them figure out a way to fight the poison.

"I've got to go," Harper said getting to his feet. He wanted to get back to the lab and run his thoughts by one of the medical personnel who would know if they had merit or if it was all just wishful thinking. "Rommie, make sure Artemis gets back safely," he added as he reached the door.

As Harper disappeared through the door, Artemis looked up at Rommie. "He didn't even bother waiting for an answer."

Rommie smiled. "Yeah, common courtesy goes out the window when Harper gets working on something. Besides, he didn't need to wait for my answer because he already knows the answer. Harper knows that I always look out for my crew and my visitors."

"Are you looking out for my, Papa?"

"I am," Rommie replied slowly. "Unfortunately, I'm limited in my ability to help him other than looking out for you and your brother and sister."

"I want to see him," Artemis told the android.

Rommie nodded. She knew that Rhade had been hesitant to see his children as his paralysis had progressed. He claimed it was because he was concerned about his condition scaring the children further though Rommie suspected it had more to do with his pride.

Squatting down, Rommie looked at Artemis over the back of her chair. "You do realize that your father is very ill. The sickness has progressed to the point that he has very limited movement. Seeing him like that may be scary for you."

Artemis nodded. "I just want to see my Papa," she replied.

"Okay," Rommie said. "Let's see what we can do about that," she told the little girl, standing up. As she got to her feet, she told her holographic version to contact Trance so that the medical officer could convey the situation to Telemachus.

Rommie didn't hurry as she headed from the Observation Deck to the Med Deck. She wanted to give enough time that their arrival wasn't a surprise to the Rhade's. If Artemis noticed the slow pace, she didn't say anything.

Trance was just coming out of Telemachus' room when Rommie pushed Artemis onto Med Deck.

"I can take her in if you have somewhere else to be," Trance said to Rommie.

Rommie nodded. It wasn't so much that she had something pressing to do but she had a feeling that Trance was better suited to handle this situation. Looking down at Artemis Rommie said, "you've met my friend, Trance, right."

Artemis nodded.

"I'm going to leave you with her," Rommie said. "I'll check on you tomorrow."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Rommie assured her, reaching out and gently touching the little girl's cheek before leaving.

As Rommie left, Trance knelt down in front of Artemis. Reaching out, she took the little girl's hands in hers. "Did Rommie tell you how sick your father is right now?" Trance asked.

"She said he had limited movement."

"That's right. You already know he lost movement in his legs, but that has moved to his arms as well. He can still talk to you though."

Artemis nodded.

Standing up, Trance positioned herself behind the chair and pushed Artemis toward Telemachus' room. Trance had helped position Telemachus in a sitting position in the bed in preparation for his daughter's visit. Jillian sat beside her husband.

"How's my little girl doing?" Telemachus asked, his eyes following Artemis and Trance as the latter pushed the little girl over to the bed.

"I miss you, Papa," Artemis told him.

"I miss you too, little one," Telemachus told her. "Your Mom and I just thought it might be less upsetting if you and your siblings didn't see me like this."

"I'd rather be able to see you. You may not be able to hug me but I could hug you couldn't I."

Telemachus swallowed hard before answering. "That's sound like a good idea," he told her, realizing how much this little girl of his was hurting by being kept away.

Getting to her feet, Jillian reached down and picked Artemis up. She placed Artemis on the side of her father's bed. Immediately, the little girl leaned over and wrapped her arms around her father's neck, her head resting on his chest.

"I love you, Papa," Artemis said.

"I love you too, little one," Telemachus told her as he felt her hair brush his chin as Jillian sat back down at his bedside.

"Let me know if you need anything," Trance said softly to Jillian as she slipped from the room leaving the little girl alone with her parents.

Jillian nodded, even as she reached out for her husband's hand, no longer sure what the best course of action was. Did they continue to try to shelter their children from what was going on, or try to explain it the best they could?


He had made it.

Genghis felt a wave of relief as he saw the shadowed outline of his ship from his hiding place. From what he could tell, the camouflage he had put in place looked undisturbed, which mean it had worked. It appeared that despite the increase air patrols of the last days, his ship had not been discovered.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that he still wasn't sure how to take off without being noticed. He was sure that traffic to and from Tarazed was still being closely monitored.

Genghis glanced at the sky. For now, the lightening sky remained free of patrol ships. There didn't appear to be much risk of being spotted by patrols if he went to his ship.

Slowing his own breathing, Genghis listened to his surroundings. He could hear the slight breeze rustle through the leaves. An owl hooted softly in the distance. However, other than his own breathing, those were the only sounds disturbing the silence of the early morning.

Now seemed as good a time as any. He would be safer inside the small ship than anywhere else.

Standing up, Genghis moved from his hiding place. Staying alert, he moved toward the hidden ship. It would be good to be back on board again, even if he wouldn't relax until he was far away from Tarazed.

"Don't take another step."

The voice came from his right and took him by surprise. He contemplated reaching for his gun until he caught movement off to his left. It was clear that whoever had spoken was not alone. Even if he could draw his gun in time to take down one of them, someone else would take him out next.

He wasn't ready to die yet and so he raised his hand in the air.