"The time is oh-fifty-eight hours," the ship's voice said.
Rommie looked up from the pilot station in Command. "Do you think she had a point?"
The hologram appeared next to her. "Who?"
"Pax."
"If that was Pax."
"True. Still-"
"Our efforts should be directed at trying to recover the crew and identify the threat."
"All the more reason to play along, unless I have a better idea."
The hologram lowered her eyes a bit. "No, I don't. But what makes you seriously consider that 'Pax' might have a point about ... me?"
"I don't know. Just a-"
"Intruder alert!"
"Oh-one hundred, right on time." Rommie drew her force lance. "Location."
"Hydroponics."
/
/
The first thing Rommie noticed was the soft, golden light permeating hydroponics, but she couldn't tell what the source was. She was in no mood for anything like this, either. "Advance and recognized!" she shouted, entering the room with her force lance drawn.
"Over here, Rommie!" a familiar voice chirped.
"Trance?" Rommie followed the voice around a planter and found Trance kneeling next to a planter, examining a plant with a scanner. Only it wasn't the golden, alien warrior maiden Rommie had come to know - this was Trance in her original form, with purple skin, a prehensile tail, and blonde hair decorated with flowers and small gems.
And yet, Rommie could now tell that *Trance* was, somehow, the source of the golden light she had detected.
"Trance?"
"Nope!" the Purple Pixie chirped happily. "Guess again."
"What do you mean 'guess a-' ... Wait a minute, are you the ... being whose coming was foretold to me?"
"Yup!" Trance - or Whatever She Was - dropped her tools and sprang to her feet, all energy and eager to please, just like Trance had been.
"You look like Trance."
"Well, Rommie, sometimes we take a form that's familiar to the person we're, uh, working with. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Pax thought it would work with you."
"I see ... Well, if you're not Trance, then who and what are you?"
Answering that question made the Faux Trance's day: "I am the Ghost of Valentine's Day Past!"
"Long past?"
"No, silly, *your* past."
"And what's your business here?"
"Your welfare."
"'Welfare,' huh?" Rommie said, getting a little annoyed. "I couldn't think of anything more beneficial to my 'welfare' than having my crew returned."
"Your reclamation, then," GhostTrance said, unfazed.
"Again, I would rather be 'reclaimed' by my crew."
GhostTrance finally got a pained look on her face. "Sorry, I can't help you there, although everything will be put right when we're done. So, want to walk with me?"
"Where?"
"Not *where* - *when.* Through your past."
"Ah." Rommie holstered her force lance; maybe she had a way out of this. "I'm sorry, but you're wasting your time."
"Oh?"
"I'm an AI. All the events of my life are stored, unaltered and undistorted, in my memory. I can call them up at any time, right down to the microsecond. I do not require - although, really, the effort is appreciated - a guide to show me around. So, thank you for your time, but we probably both have better things to do. So if you will return my crew to me, unharmed, and go on your way, I think we can call it even."
GhostTrance sagged a little. "Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h-." Then she perked up and turned back to her planter. "Ok!"
"That's it?" Rommie said.
"That's it. I just want to poke around here some more, see how my template lives. You go out into the corridor and you will see your crew."
"Ok ... Thank you."
"'Bye!" GhostTrance didn't look at her.
Rommie backed away, then turned and walked into the corridor -
- which she found full of High Guard officers and crew!
Rommie recognized one man hurrying by. "Walters?" She looked around, puzzled. "But, wait, he..."
GhostTrance came out of hydroponics. "Soar-eeeeeee," she said. "I kinda played a trick on you."
"You lied!"
"No, I didn't. I told you you would see your crew. I just didn't say which one."
"That was Walters; he was part of my..." Rommie looked around. "The walls - this is the way they used to be painted. Wait a minute..."
Rommie followed one young officer down the corridor, and then he climbed up a ladder -
- and slid right back down again! A Than crawled down the ladder, head first. "Hi, Dan," she said. "You know what day it is?"
"Star," The human growled and hurried off.
Morning Star jumped off the ladder, landing on her feet. "Just trying to be friendly," the insectoid muttered.
"That's what she was like," Rommie said. "I remember that incident. Morning Star had a real fascination with male humans; she was always trying to-" Rommie broke off and turned to GhostTrance. "Wait-is she here!?"
"Of course-"
Rommie was already running for it.
/
/
Rommie ran all the way to Command, skidding to a stop inside the big doors. The command deck was as it originally had been, with the people who had once been her crew, including-
"FAAAATTTTIIIIIIMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAA!" Rommie ran around the deck, to stop in front of the tall, dark-haired woman stationed in the captain's podium. "Fatima! Captain Navaro! Hey, look at me! Whoo-hoo! And BLUE HAIR! What do you think of that? Fatima?"
Captain Fatima Navaro paid her no heed, focused on the controls in front of her.
"Fatima?" Rommie said, puzzled.
"These are but shadows of the things that have been," GhostTrance said, coming up next to her. "They have no consciousness of us."
"So ... not real."
"As real as your memories. Ever access this one before?"
"No," Rommie admitted.
"Still think you don't need a guide?"
"Captain," Andromeda's screen persona said from behind them. "You asked me to remind you-"
"Yes, thank you Andromeda," Fatima said. "Shipwide please."
"Shipwide."
"All hands, this is the captain. As of this moment, anyone without any pressing business, is invited to attend the Valentine's Day celebration on the observation deck. That is all." She left her post and crossed to the XO's station. "Perim, that includes you."
"If you insist, Captain," the Perseid first officer said.
Rommie and GhostTrance found themselves in the party without any transition, but it was in full swing. The huge room had been decorated with paper hearts and streamers, a disco ball flicking lights over a space set aside as a dance floor. Rommie noticed Morning Star had sidled over to another young officer; she had one arm around him as she plied him with "punch" from a table across the room.
"What's she hope to get out of that?" GhostTrance asked.
"What do you know about Than sexuality?" Rommie responded.
"Oh...that?"
"Yes, *that.*"
"I'd hoped it wasn't true." The ghost looked a bit green around the gills. "Thanks for the mental image ... Oh, look over here!"
Rommie followed GhostTrance to the dance floor, where Fatima was trying to teach Perim to waltz. She'd got his hands in the right spots, but-
"Ok," Fatima said. "Now put your right foot forward."
Perim put his right foot to the side.
"Are you trying to be funny?" Fatima asked.
Rommie turned away, laughing. "He never got the hang of it. She never did get him to dance."
"Sounds like a lot of fun," GhostTrance said.
"Oh, it was, great for morale!"
"Even if a bit frivolous. I mean, celebrating a holiday even few human cultures still recognized."
"It wasn't about that, it was-" Rommie broke off, a pained look on her face.
"What?" GhostTrance asked.
"It's nothing," Rommie said.
"Are you-?"
"*I said it's nothing.*"
"Ok. Let's look at something else."
They found themselves in the slipstream core, a golden robot manning a console. A human crew member hesitantly came up behind it. "An-Andromeda?"
The robot turned. "Yes, Ensign Johanssen?"
"Um, I have something to give you." He pulled a white rose from behind his back. "This is for you."
The robot accepted the rose; although faceless, its body language showed it was puzzled. "But I already have this. This is from my hydroponics garden."
"I know but ... it's about *giving* it to someone, right? And, we-we're friends, aren't we?"
"Ensign Johanssen had a lot of problems socializing with others," Rommie muttered to the ghost. "This was the first time he'd ever reached out to anyone. And that was part of the reason, I..."
"Thank you, Ensign," the robot said. "The gesture is very much appreciated."
Johanssen smiled, nervously backed away, and returned to his duties.
"What?" GhostTrance said. "And don't say 'nothing!'"
"Harper tried to apologize to me once by giving me flowers," Rommie said. "I blew him off. That's all."
They shifted again to Captain Navaro's cabin. She was looking at an old picture of herself and some friends from when they were teenagers.
"Blue hair," Fatima muttered. "Fatima Navaro, what were you thinking?"
"Captain?"
"Yes, Andromeda?"
The hologram appeared. "Forgive the intrusion, but I have a ... delicate matter to ask you about."
"What is it?"
The hologram recounted the incident with Johanssen. "...I'm not sure I did the right thing."
"Well, if it was a red rose, you'd have a problem," Fatima said. "But I think you did all right. We'll just have to keep an eye on it, and see if we can draw him out some more."
"I just ... I just feel a little confused about it."
Fatima smiled. "Interpersonal relationships - and you are a person, Andromeda - are messy by definition. There's no manual, and the High Guard Code of Conduct doesn't cover it. You'll have to feel your way along. But if you need advice, you can always ask me."
The hologram smiled slightly. "Thank you, Captain."
"Anything else?"
"No. Good night, Captain."
"Good night, Andromeda."
The holo vanished.
"Were you her ship or her daughter?" GhostTrance asked.
Rommie snapped a look at the ghost, then back at her old captain. "You think so? I hadn't thought of it that way. Yet I did learn much from her."
"Let's look at another Valentine's Day."
They found themselves in command, Perim in the pilot seat, all business. No sign of celebration.
"Perim didn't have use for the holiday," Rommie said. "He-Wait a minute." Rommie turned to the stellar position monitor. Reading it, she spun back to the Perseid captain. "Perim! It's me, Andromeda! You have to get out of here, NOW."
"Rommie," GhostTrance said, "I told you-"
"SHUT UP! Captain, *Perim,* you have to listen to me. You have to hear me! It's imperative you abort your-"
"Slipstream event," the ship's voice said
Perim squinted at one of the big monitors. "I don't see any-"
The deck rocked under their feet while sparks flew from panels and Perim fought the control. Then the monitors filled with light. SOMETHING unspeakably huge slowly emerged from the slip portal, its form resolving, the form of several worlds in a structure, lit and powered by and artificial sun...
The slip portal closed; the rocking stopped. And that which Rommie now knew to be the Magog World Ship filled the screens.
"PEEEEERRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM-!" Rommie screamed.
"Analysis, Ship," Perim said.
"Scanning..." Screen Rommie said.
"It's something you don't want to be near!" Rommie shouted. "Captain Perim-!"
"Twenty worlds, arranged in a structure-" screen Rommie started.
"'-The worlds are hollow,'" Rommie quoted. "'I show billions of Magog lifesigns-'"
"-Power source: Unknown. Propulsion: Unknown. No exterior markings. Inference: This is probably the source of the Magog raids."
"And you can't beat it-!" Rommie shouted.
"Rommie," GhostTrance pleaded. "I told you, they're-"
Rommie spun and leveled her force lance at the ghost. "Either help me or stay out of my way," she snarled.
"But-"
"I won't ask you again!"
GhostTrance took a step back and raised her hands. "Fine."
"Suggestions, Ship," Perim said.
"Indications are this vessel is aware of our presence," Screen Rommie said. "Retreat is not a viable option. Recommend full assault with strategic assets."
"Don't listen to her - me!" Android Rommie shouted. "I don't know what's coming-"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Perim said. "Combat alert!"
The klaxon sounded, Andromeda's voice rousing the crew to battle stations.
"Initiate Nova deployment sequence," Perim said.
"We are still outside launch range," Andromeda replied.
"Full ahead," Perim, said, pushing the throttles forward.
"No," Android Rommie muttered. She was shivering. "Nononononononononononono-"
"Captain," Screen Andromeda reported, "the enemy has deployed multiple squadrons of Magog swarm ships. They're firing-"
"Select targets and fire when ready-" Perim started as he put the ship into an evasive maneuver, but the deck suddenly rocked under him, sparks flying from panels, explosions echoing though the hull.
"What the hell was that!?" the Than first officer shouted.
"Hull breaches on decks ten, twelve," Andromeda said, as unflappable as her captain. "Closing breaches. Explosive decompression; casualty list to follow. Gravitational anomalies suggest projectiles were point singularities. Unable to evade or deflect."
That startled Perim. "Point singularities... That's theoretica-"
"Incoming fire!"
Perim attended to his controls, steering Andromeda around more point singularity bombs, but another one hit. Andromeda reported more explosive decompression, casualties, and-
"Nova bomb launcher off line," Screen Rommie reported.
"Can you still arm the weapons?" Perim asked.
"Yes."
"Continue arming sequence. Shipwide. All hands, we are unable to launch Nova bombs, but the mission must be completed. Stand by. Andromeda. Ramming speed."
The ship surged forward.
"We won't make it," Rommie muttered. "We-"
"Captain!" Andromeda said. "Magog swarm ships have latched on. Showing multiple boarding parties-"
The deck rocked under their feet again, really violently this time.
"Andromeda!" Perim called.
Static flickered on the screen, but screen Rommie was still there. "Captain, Nova weapons systems offline. Unable to arm weapons. I don't even know if the bay is still there."
Perim cursed and steered the ship through a hard 180 degree turn. "We'll have to try and outrun them then. Andromeda, best speed to the nearest slip portal-"
"INTRUDER ALERT!" Screen Andromeda called.
"NOOOO!" Rommie screamed, drawing her force lance, as the big bridge doors were forced open...
...**and the Magog poured in!**
"*You won't take them AGAIN!*" Rommie howled. She joined the fight with the ship's lancers, firing at the invading, hairy monsters, but her shots had no effect; she tried to hit some of them, but her arms passed right though them. She could only watch as Perim and his officers were slaughtered again, and listen as her mainframe self rattled off the list of sections that had been invaded, including-
"Slipstream core?" Rommie turned to GhostTrance. "Take me there, NOW."
"But-"
"*DO IT!*"
And suddenly they were in slipstream core, on the catwalk; below, a small, dwindling knot of engineers tried to fight off the encroaching hoard of Magog, including a short, thin-faced young man with blonde hair.
"SEAN!" Rommie shouted. She fired her force lance and dropped to the deck, firing and swinging at the Magog. But again, she had no effect on them, but still she fought, until-
Sean screamed as a Magog's teeth found his flesh.
"NOOOOO!" Rommie screamed. She fell to the deck. "NNNNOOOOOO-" It became an inarticulate, inhuman shriek of grief and pain and anger. How long did she stay like that, on her knees, her head thrown back, crying out in anguish? Hours? Days? Months? None could say; Rommie didn't keep track of it. But even she was spent in time, and she collapsed into a small, shuddering ball on the deck.
And noticed the deck was rocking and creaking.
The ship was in slipstream.
Rommie looked up. The deck was empty except for Magog corpses, long dead thanks to the ship's internal defenses.
"Sean?" Rommie got to her feet and looked around, wiping tears from her face. If Sean wasn't here-
She raced up a ladder and into a conduit, through a twisting maze until-
The rotted corpse was still attached to the wall by its wrists and ankles, its now-empty abdomen still hanging open.
"No," Rommie murmured, her tears flowing again. "Sean..."
"Who was he?" GhostTrance asked, sympathetically. Rommie hadn't heard her approach, and didn't care when she had.
"Ensign Sean Michael Harper," Rommie said. "We...He and I were good friends. Maybe closer than we should have been, especially in his eyes."
"Your Harper's ancestor?"
"Sean had fathered a child before taking this assignment, so there is a chance Seamus Harper is his descendant." Rommie sat back against the conduit wall. "I hadn't... I've seen enough. Take me away from here."
"Ok, but you should look over there, first. Just real quick."
Rommie looked where GhostTrance was pointing, past the corpse. In the dim light, Rommie could see a golden Maria 'bot sitting against the wall, hugging its knees, its joints and servos rattling as it shivered.
Rommie crawled over to it. "What's the significance of this?"
"It's the robot we saw get the flower a while back."
"What about it? It's just a type 3 maintenance android."
"Yup, serial number XMC-AI-10-284/J-137."
"J-one three.." Rommie said. "That's *my* serial number."
"Uh-huh. That's *you,* Rommie. Or, more precisely, the robot Harper would upgrade into you. Now, let's look at something else..."
They found themselves on the command deck again, empty and quiet save for a few technicians, the screens all showing the High Guard seal. The big doors opened, and Admiral Stark walked in followed by a Perseid and-
"Fatima," Rommie said. But Fatima Navaro had a gray hair or two, and her uniform was slightly different.
"All right, Academician," Stark said.
The Perseid worked a small control pad, and the screens lit up. Andromeda's hologram appeared in front of them, and opened her eyes.
"Hello, Andromeda," Stark said.
"Admiral Stark," Andromeda said. "Academician Crohne." Then her smiled widened a bit, yet still seemed restrained, cold. "Commodore Navaro. Congratulations on your promotion."
"Thank you Andromeda," Fatima said. "How do you feel?"
"I am functioning within normal parameters. All systems go, no cautions or warnings at this time."
"But I asked you, how do you *feel?*"
The hologram looked a little pained. "I ... I feel fine, and I confess, impatient with this refit. I very much want to return to duty."
"Well, you won't have to wait much longer," Admiral Stark said. "I've assigned Commodore Navaro to oversee the final stages of your refit, and take you on your first shakedown cruise. If all that goes well, you will be assigned a new captain and crew."
Andromeda drew herself up with pride. "I won't disappoint you, Admiral!"
"I'm sure you won't. And now, may we have a little privacy, please?"
"Privacy mode engaged, authorization Admiral Constanza Q. Stark." The hologram vanished.
"Well done, Academician," Stark said, beaming.
The Perseid just grunted.
"Am I missing something here?" Fatima said.
"Nothing that need concern you," Stark said.
"With all due respect, if it has to do with Andromeda, I want to know," Fatima said. "Please, Connie."
Stark just gestured to Crohne.
"The AI was rehabilitated over my objections," Crohne explained. "I recommended full erasure and installation of a new personality."
"Why?" Fatima asked, stunned. "All the information about the ... incident ... was erased."
"We erased the hard data, Commodore, but as you know, an AI is like no other program. It has all the subtleties of an organic mind, requiring a neural net to operate on even the smallest nanobot. Even if we have succeeded in erasing every relevant file - and there's a statistically significant probability we have not-the personality matrix may very well have been damaged by the trauma. There is no telling how this will effect her performance in the future. Reinitialization is the only sure way to bring her back to optimal performance."
"Also the quick and the easy way," Stark said. "But I prefer to believe that nothing worth doing is easy."
"That's why she's been in therapy for months," Fatima breathed.
"The matter is settled," Stark said. "Andromeda will complete her rehabilitation and be returned to duty."
/
/
"Connie," Fatima said, stopping in her tracks as she and Stark walked through the space station's corridor.
Stark turned to face her.
"Maybe Crohne had a point," Fatima said.
"You think she should have been erased? Is that what you really wanted for her?"
Fatima had to wrestle with herself before replying. "I don't know. But something's ... I know my own ship, Connie. She's changed."
Stark moved to an observation window, overlooking the giant, silver cruiser's slip. "She's been through hells that would have tested any one of us. Would you put a human officer - or your own child - to death under those circumstances?"
Fatima joined her. "Don't bait me, Connie. I know how hard it is. But it might be kinder in this instance."
"I don't agree. These sentient ships, they are our civilization's progeny, our legacy if nothing else survives, and how we treat them says much about us. I would give any organic under my command a fighting chance at life, and I will give Andromeda no less."
"But what sort of life, if she's been hurt as badly as Crohne says?"
"With the right captain at her helm? A legend."
Rommie finally turned to GhostTrance, more than a little annoyed. "So this is my 'problem'? That I'm 'damaged goods'?"
"You're saying the battle didn't affect you?" the ghost answered.
"Well, of course it did! It was hell - thank you for putting me through it again - but it didn't change how I felt about 'love' or Valentine's Day or anything like that!"
"Oh no?"
"Which reminds me," Fatima said as she and Stark resumed their walk down the corridor. "Rumor has it that you've already picked Andromeda's new captain."
"One cannot put stock in rumors," Stark said, maintaining tight control of her reactions, "but it would be correct to say that I have a promising candidate in mind."
"Anybody I know?"
"No, I don't think you've met. His name is..."
Rommie found herself and GhostTrance in one of the *Andromeda's* briefing rooms, Dylan - a few years younger, hair slightly longer, in the maroon uniform he'd favored - sitting at the head of the table, her old command crew - First Officer Gaheris Rhade, pilot Refractions of Dawn, Major Kylie Vance, among others - sitting around it.
"I think that concludes our business for today," Dylan said. "Dismissed."
The officers began to get out of their chairs.
"And I will see you at the party later, of course," Dylan added.
Confusion showed in the way his officers looked at him.
"Party?" Rhade asked.
"Yes," Dylan said. "The Valentine's Day party on the observation deck. I'd put it in the ship's daily bulletin."
"Where?" Gaheris said.
"I would have noticed a party," Dawn said.
Kylie wrinkled her nose at the insectoid. "Yeah, you would!"
"The original party animal, that's me-"
"Yes, well," Dylan said, looking at a flexie, "it's-" Dylan broke off as he scrolled down through the contents. And down. And down. And *down.*
"Right at the bottom," Dylan deadpanned, "in the same type as the legal notice."
"Ah," Rhade said. "How did I miss it?"
"Twenty-hundred hours," Dylan said, "observation deck, no one goes near the dance floor without dancing. Dismissed."
His officers filed out.
"Andromeda?"
The hologram appeared. "Yes, Captain?"
"Would you care to explain this?"
"I did not feel the occasion warranted too prominent a placement in the bulletin."
"Well, *make* it more prominent. And I want shipwide announcements-you *did* notify the galley of this, yes?"
"I intended to."
"Do it now."
"Sir. Anything else?"
Dylan let a long breath out; this new AI could be such a hassle sometimes. "No. Carry on."
The hologram vanished; Dylan left the briefing room.
"No effect?" GhostTrance prodded as she and Rommie followed Dylan down the busy corridor.
"It only made sense," Rommie snapped. "I'd only just met him; I still had to get a feel for what would and would not offend my new captain."
"Ok. So what happened after you got to know him...?"
Dylan's pace didn't slacken, but the world blurred around him, and his uniform faded from maroon to black as his High Guard crew vanished and more lines seamed their way into his face. Lines made deeper by an unfathomable loss as he marched down the empty corridor.
"Don't say it!" Beka Valentine snapped, sort of smiling, as she popped out of a side corridor and began walking with Dylan; from her clothes and hairstyle, Rommie surmised this was shortly after she and Dylan had been rescued from the black hole.
Dylan snapped out of his reverie. "I'm sorry, Cap-BEKA-I-uh-Don't say, what?"
"'Won't you be my valentine'? Love the day, hate the jokes."
"I see. No problem."
"A little bird tells me yer throwin' a little V-Day shindig on the obs deck."
"This bird have blonde hair and a metal thing in his neck?"
"Yep," Beka said.
"Then that bird would be right," Dylan replied, as Android Rommie - as she had been shortly after Harper had made her, dressed more conservatively, her hair jet black - came out of another side corridor and joined the two captains.
"The original party animal, that's him," Beka went on.
"I think someone might have had the title before him," Dylan said.
"Uh-huh. So, 'Rommie,' you lookin' forward to the party?"
"I won't be attending," Rommie's 'younger' self said.
"I can teach you a new game, Avoid the Groping Enginuhhhhyewhat?"
"I won't be attending," the newly minted avatar repeated.
That caught both captains by surprise; they all stopped in their tracks.
"Yeah, well..." Beka looked between Dylan and Rommie. "I'll see you guys later, then."
After Beka had vanished down a ladder well, Dylan turned to Young Rommie. "You're not going?"
"I hadn't planned on it, unless attendance is mandatory."
"It's not, but I thought you would take this opportunity to get to know the crew."
"I already know them."
Dylan frowned, puzzled. But he let it go. "Fine. Carry on."
The went their separate ways.
The world shifted again, and Rommie found herself and GhostTrance in the *Maru's* cargo pod. A nearby hatch slid open and the ghost's 'template,' Trance Gemini, complete with purple skin and tail, entered. "Harper?"
"Over here, Trance!"
Trance followed the voice behind some crates, to where Harper was sitting on the deck by an open maintenance panel. "Harper, you've blinded Andromeda to your presence again! When Dylan finds out-"
"Relax, my Sparky Purple Princess, it's only for a minute, and Rommie won't find anything wrong. It's just so she won't know that I'm working on *this.*"
Trance looked into Harper's hands: He had paper and crayons on the floor in front of him, and he'd drawn a heart and written in it, in rough, block letters:
Rommie-
I luv U.
Harper
Trance looked into Harper's eyes, a little pained. "Harper ... look, you're my friend, and I don't want you to get hurt...I don't think Rommie likes you the way you want."
Now, Harper got the pained look, a glimpse behind the mask he affected. "I know, Trance, but at least she'll know, y'know? That's all that matters sometimes."
Rommie peered between her two friends at the card. "He made that for me?" She stepped back, her resolve stiffening. "I've seen enough. Take me home."
"One shadow more."
"No-"
She found herself on the observation deck, Harper sitting on the beverage table, nursing the latest in a series of beers, an envelope on the table next to him. When Dylan walked in, the young engineer scooped up the envelope hopped off. "Hey, BAAAAAHHHHHHSSSSSS!" He seemed to be peering around Dylan. "Gahreat liddle pardy yougothere."
"Thank you, Mr... You looking for someone?"
"Welll...mebbee."
"Sorry, Mr. Harper, but Rommie's not coming."
"She's not!?"
"No. She said she didn't have to."
"Oh."
Dylan smiled and went around Harper, who stood, slack-jawed, for a moment. Then his jaw hardened. He tore the envelope to pieces and through it down nearby waste chute and returned to his beer.
Rommie rounded on the ghost, drawing her force lance. "I've seen enough. Take me home!"
GhostTrance smiled. "You think you can just order the truth away at gunpoint?"
Rommie snarled in rage as she fired; the ghost dissolved into a shower of purple and golden sparks, her laughter hanging on the air. Then all trace of her vanished.
Rommie looked around. She was still on obs deck, but no sign of her crew, the setup for a party, nothing. She'd been left quite alone again.