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said. These were their first mammals, a response to a new fad for four-legged creatures on some of the stations.
    Yi smiled. “Be careful. Don’t go all soft on them like Katherine. She’s going to hate leaving.”
    A high-pitched alarm made her jump.
    Yi let go of her and craned his neck, as if looking for a visible threat.
    Jason dropped a dish. It clattered against something else and a drinking bulb rolled along the floor. She could barely hear Jason’s soft curses under the blatting attention signal.
    Chrystal pulled up her calendar. No scheduled drill.
    Loudspeakers filled the room with the bland feminine voice used for ship-wide announcements. “All on-duty crew report to stations. Civilians are to enter lockdown.”
    In other words, go to their room.
    Silence fell.
    Katherine stared at three of the jalinerines grazing directly above them. “We should put them in their stalls.”
    She was right.
    Yi looked thoughtful. “There’s never been a lockdown on the High Sweet Home.”
    â€œWe’re close to the Ring,” Jason snapped. “It’s got to be pirates.”
    â€œIt could be any kind of breach,” Yi countered. “Or an unexpected drill.”
    â€œThey tell us before drills,” Katherine reminded him, still watching the jalinerines, which had all stopped grazing and lifted their slender necks and small, fine heads in reaction to the unusual noises. “We might be in our rooms forever. We have to feed and water them.”
    â€œI don’t think it’s safe,” Yi said.
    â€œLook, I’ll go with you,” Chrystal told Katherine. She turned to Jason. “Why don’t you and Yi load the bedroom up with supplies. Water and food and stuff. Something to read.”
    The alarm went off again, stopping the conversation. The noise ran up Chrystal’s spine like a child’s whine.
    Katherine grabbed Chrystal’s arm. “Let’s go. Now.”
    Chrystal hesitated for a moment, but the jalinerines were their future. She relented and followed the inexorable pull of Katherine-on-a-mission.
    The observation bubble was home and lab as long as they rented the testing meadow. The bubble hung stationary in the exact middle of the cylinder. Half of its walls were clear and half done in mirror paint that reflected the great meadow back at itself. The mirrored part allowed crew members who wanted to sleep or shower or make love to do it without being watched by the herd.
    Eight anchors attached the observation bubble and living hab to non-rotating points at each end of the long testing cylinder. “The forward number two line,” Katherine whispered loud in Chrystal’s ear, her breath hot and her voice just loud enough to blot out the announcements. Chrystal glanced at the herd. They hadn’t yet moved very far, but looked alert and worried. The light-colored leader, Sugar, trotted around the group, trying to keep her charges together.
    At the supply cabinet by the doorway, Chrystal’s hands shook as she fastened the metal clips and carbon straps that made her harness.
    It would break Katherine’s heart if anything happened to the animals.
    Katherine finished first and helped Chrystal fasten the last buckle. Snugging and checking each other’s gear in long-practiced moves calmed Chrystal a little. Katherine was almost as tall as Yi, so Chrystal had to work to find the right angle to tug her straps tight enough. “You okay?” she asked.
    Katherine nodded. She’d found time to catch her long, multicolored hair back in a ponytail on the run down here, and the red and black dragon tattoo on her neck seemed to shine in the bright lighting of the preparation platform. “At least the alarms have stopped. Maybe it was a mistake.”
    â€œI hope so.” Not that it felt that way. The announcement was a direct order. But Katherine would never leave the animals, and Chrystal would never leave