"Amaryllis Aracea Sophora, this is Station Security!"


    In a flurry of sheets, I prepared myself for a rude entrance. When Constable Frod came barging into my back room, I had the sheet up to my neck. I tried to give a look of confidence and defiance, but not to the point where it might be mistaken for bedroom eyes.


    "Can I help you, Constable?"


    "You''re to come into the station for questioning."


    "May I ask, about what exactly?"


    "About the murder of Xen, resident of apartment 7261 and employee of the Vindemia Cafe, at ten hundred seven hours yesterday morning."


    "Murder? Xen fell. What do you mean, murder?"


    "Come to the station, and find out."


    He stood there, a couple of thugs behind him. I waved a hand at him. "If you don''t mind, I''ll get dressed first."


    Hissing through gritted teeth, he said, "Hurry it up then. You have a minute before I drag you out of here, dressed or not."


    As soon as he was gone, I was on my feet, picking up yesterday''s clothes where they''d fallen and pulling them on with a much humbler haste than my false bravado of moments ago. I''d just managed to put on my coat when Frod came bursting back in and grabbed me by the elbow.


    "All right, you, off we go."


    As he pulled me out into my office, I glanced back over my shoulder.


    Ah ha. Two glowing eyes peered out of the room’s dusty ventilation shaft. There you are. Safe and sound.


    ---


    "So, tell me, Marys, would you say you knew Xen well?"


    It was hard to keep the smirk off my face. "We only met a couple of days ago. But we became fast friends."


    "Fast enough that you each shared access to your quarters within just a few hours of meeting each other?"


    The smirk couldn''t leave my face fast enough. "You... how do you know..."


    He leaned back, his hands meeting over his large stomach. "The wristbands are issued by the station''s leasing agency. Stat Sec has full access to their database. Come on, Marys. You were uniform, back on Gerondia. Surely you must be more clever than this?"


    I shrugged. "To be honest, the Keepers had very little access to other organisations'' data. Not without a warrant anyway."


    "Oh, so now we''re being honest, are we?" I pursed my lips. He continued. "Why did you and Xen share access to your rooms so readily?"


    I could tell him. Maybe he''d understand. Maybe he''d be annoyed by his lack of jurisdiction when it came to people kidnapping station residents, and so sympathise with Xen''s efforts to take things well in hand. But until I knew that Teg Korr was off the station and believed 100% in Xen''s death, I wasn''t going to breathe a word to anyone.


    "Xen knew he was coming. Teg Korr, I mean. I offered my place as a hideout. Xen gave me access to Xen''s apartment so I could help move Xen''s stuff."


    "Right, and why you, and not any of the friends Xen has known for many more years?"


    A fair question, but I could get a little closer to the truth here. "Xen saw me writing up an advertisement for the cafe notice board, offering my services as a private eye. Xen thought I might have the skills needed. And if you have access to the banking systems on the station, you will see that Xen transferred payment to me on the day I arrived as part of this arrangement."


    Frod considered me through narrowed eyes, then leaned forward on the interview room table. "So, talk me through the events as you saw them play out yesterday morning."


    I had to account for all the moments when members of the public might have seen me, especially in Xen’s company. But apart from that, he didn''t need to know. "I walked Xen to work. No, almost all the way to work, but then I was distracted by the singularity, and Xen said that was fine, I should go look at it. I spent some time window shopping in the Atrium, then went back up to my office. I heard a commotion after a while, so I came out to the Atrium again and saw... well, you know what I saw."


    It was hard to pretend to be upset, when I knew the truth, after all. After the Ferolian lady had helped me to my feet, I''d staggered back towards my office under the influence of my mod aftereffects. I entered my office, and went through to the back rooms only to be jumped by Xen, who threw both arms around me in a celebratory hug-dance thing.


    "Marys, did we do it? Did he buy it?"


    "I''m pretty sure he did," I smiled at Xen through the migraine. "Congrats. You''re home free." I gripped Xen''s arms, but my joy was shortened by the feel of Xen''s ruined synthaskin. "What happened here?"


    "He managed to grab me, but I got free. Can you believe he’d had a speed mod installed?"


    "I thought that was it! I was so scared for you."


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    Xen laughed, then wept tearlessly, head collapsing into my shoulder. I held Xen until the sobs subsided. What in the galaxy had possessed Xen to install emotions? Still I shouldn''t complain. Sobbing with relief was a perfectly reasonable response.


    I stroked Xen’s shortened hair. "It''s all right. It''s going to be all right. Just take your time. Stay here as long as you need. We can monitor the Korr situation. You don''t have to leave these rooms until he''s gone."


    "Have you left anything out of your account, Marys?" Frod asked, dragging me back to the interview and away from the pleasant avenue of memory.


    "Uh… yeah, nah, I think that was it."


    "So, how do you explain this, then?"


    He turned to a screen in the wall, and pressed a button on a remote.


    A recording of a corridor on the station played. There was a long expanse of nothing happening for the first few seconds, and then Xen came exploding into view, slamming the walls as Xen rolled for -


    - my door. Shoot. There I was, a hazy little figure in the distance. It was unmistakeably me. Xen pushed past me, and we both vanished into the office. Then there was a speck of movement there again, then bam, out came decoy Xen in a flash, pushing me into the corridor as it went. My miniature image just stood there, watching, until Teg Korr barreled into view and I chased after him.


    Frod switched the screen off, then twiddled his thumbs as he gazed at me, a grin on his face. "What was that, eh? A little more than just ''hearing a commotion'', wouldn''t you agree, Marys?"


    I nodded. "Looks that way, yes."


    He opened his hands, inviting my elaboration. "So what happened? What did you say or do to Xen that made Xen roll right back out into danger?"


    "Xen did come crashing into my office, yes. But then... I don''t know what was going through Xen''s head. Maybe Xen thought it was too late. That Korr might have seen Xen enter my room, and that Xen might be putting me in danger. Or..." I sighed, and this answer felt at least a little genuine, "maybe Xen decided I wasn''t enough to protect Xen from him, so Xen took Xen''s chances."


    "So that''s why you left that part out, hmm? Because your protector ego is bruised?" His tone was mocking. I glared up at him, but really, this was fine. Maybe he was buying it. "And then what did you do next? You see Xen fall and die. You look over the balcony - people saw that happen, you were a fair enough distance away from Xen when Xen fell, and away from Teg Korr. But then not five minutes later I have you as you coming back to your office, and apparently staying there the rest of the day, and all night. Why is that? All alone, for all that time, after seeing a friend die?" I knew I couldn''t lie about calling a friend to mourn. He''d have the records, so he wouldn''t buy that one. Still, I had no excuse. "Go on, Marys. What happened next?"


    What happened next had happened quite by accident. As I''d used the synthaskin glue and massaged Xen''s skin back into place on Xen''s forearms, a heat had built between us. Xen''s breathing had changed, stifled, as if Xen were holding something back. "Are you all right?" I hazarded. "Is this painful?"


    "No. Quite the opposite."


    I kept my eyes on the job as I puzzled that one out. "Do you even feel pain, or... the opposite?"


    "I installed mods when I was free so that I would. I wanted to feel everything for myself."


    "Physical, and emotional?"


    "Yeah. Everything."


    As the glue dried, the seams of where I''d joined the shreds of skin together became harder to see. I put my hands in the bucket of water to the side, then slicked Xen''s forearms and hands down with the moisture. The light within grew into a steady translucence, then to my surprise, Xen''s skin puckered with goosepimples. "... skin come back online then, I assume?"


    "Yeah," Xen whispered.


    I raised my eyes to Xen''s, and got lost in them. I’d removed my coat before I started working on Xen’s arms. Xen''s fingers took their turn travelling up my forearms, to my bare upper arms. Gerondian skin doesn''t goosepimple, but what does happen is a blooming, an unfolding.


    Xen brushed Xen''s fingers across my unfurled corollae. Unlike how Xen was capable of restrained breathing, such restraint was impossible for me. A shameless moan escaped my lips, and when I could open my eyes again, Xen was closing in for my lips.


    I guess we had both been holding back until the event had passed.


    "Amaryllis... Sophora... Marys!"


    "Hmm?" My attention snapped back to the present, to Frod''s beady-eyed face, as he slapped his meaty grey-brown hands on his desk.


    "I asked, what did you do for the rest of the time?"


    "Got drunk," I answered. It wasn''t a lie, not in a metaphorical sense anyway. "Slept it off." Again, half true.


    Frod sneered at me, and picked up a digipad. He reviewed whatever information he had on it, then placed it down. "Well, Sophora, you may be interested to know a few things. Depending on how invested you are or were in the life of the well-loved cafe staff member Xen."


    He shoved the digipad over to me. On it was a photo of the bottom of the Atrium. Where decoy Xen had smashed to pieces, there was a temporary shrine set up of flowers, crystals, money, food offerings, all different tokens of mourning from many different worlds, all laid out around a portrait of Xen in the blue-and-white apron, beaming at the camera.


    "First, if you''d bothered to come mourn in company, you would have seen just how beloved your new friend was to everyone here." The tone he was using with me made me feel like he was blaming me for Xen''s death. Like I''d pushed Xen back out into the corridor on purpose or something. Maybe that was what he thought of me. "Second, Teg Korr has lawyered up. He claims there was something suspicious about the whole scene yesterday, and he intends to follow his intuition. He might even pay you a visit and ask you to investigate, Detective."


    There was no hiding my revulsion. "You''d do good to have him sent off to a penal institution."


    "I suppose I would, once I have the proper evidence against him. And third, I thought you ought to watch out."


    "What for?"


    "Your own personal safety, and that of your property. You see, Xen''s wristband was never recovered from the scene. Presumably, it must have flown off in the impact, and landed somewhere where either it was lost beyond the ken of my forensics team, or, quite unfortunately, someone picked it up and is walking around with it right now. So watch out. You might want to revoke permission from it just in case. Now... that''s all I had to ask. You''re free to go, for now, but stick around the station just in case I need to see you again."


    "Thanks, Constable. I just know you''ll get to the bottom of this."


    "Pun intended?"


    He stared at my face. I carefully took myself through the reactions, from confusion, to realisation, to shock. "Constable... Xen was my friend."


    "Sorry. What''s a little gallows humour between two cops, hmm?"


    He kept his eye on me until I was out the door.


    It was worse than what he’d said. I might have to tell Xen to not use the wristband at all. If stat sec could trace the wristbands, then they''d easily notice it still being used. They''d figure out Xen was alive and hiding in my back rooms.


    If Teg Korr was hanging around longer, and Xen couldn''t use the wristband, then for all intents and purposes, Xen was a prisoner, just as much as if Xen had been taken by Xen’s former owner once again.