To get Daniel's attention, Trak forced his own image onto Daniel's eyescreens.
His reverie interrupted, Daniel minimized Trak's picture and looked at his metal friend in person.
“Do we stay or leave?” Trak said, repeating the question he had just asked five times without receiving any response. “We need your decision.”
“Or I make the decision for us,” Rachel-7 said.
It was an empty threat. Rachel-7’s contract required that she get the captain’s input on most matters. She tried to circumvent the contract as much as she could, but in life-or-death instances, obeying Daniel was unavoidable.
She knew Daniel knew it was an empty threat; she was simply trying to push him into doing something.
Daniel frantically checked the lifesigns detector again, looking for any sign of Jeska. The sensors still showed nothing but wreckage, empty space, and, because of the continuing maintenance issues, advertisements for Mek polish.
"I can't find her," Daniel said, despondently.
"Good," said Rachel-7, who never hid her contempt for Jeska, or anyone for that matter. But especially not Jeska.
Rachel-7 continued adding escape routes to the 73,000 she had already logged. The escape routes were only viable if they left within the next two minutes.
"I hope she's alive, Trak," Daniel said.
"She's probably fine," Trak said.
"Really?" Daniel said.
"No," Trak said. "She is most likely dead. Especially since it took six weeks to get here."
Daniel rapped Trak on the back of his bulky ceramic head.
"Sorry," Trak said, hoping to move the conversation to the subject of their escape. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of Daniel and Rachel-7.
His own life, he could take or leave.
