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predators in the vicinity?
    “Water?” Dax offered her a small cup. She took it, wondering why he wouldn’t meet her glance. With a steady hand, she tilted the cup at her lips, drawing a deep gulp of the sour drink. She spit the fluid into the fire and the mist blazed in a plume of yellow orange sparks.
    With a sharp stab of fear, she asked the question she dread ed the answer to. “What did you just give me?”
    Both men stayed silent. The glow of the fire sent shadows dancing across Dax’s face, and she caught the glance of the lighter one. Kred stayed on his feet, studying her with gray eyes that threatened something deep in her soul.
    The discomfort that this was all too easy hit her. The techs had something in mind, something darker than she had even considered. She rolled her tongue around her mouth, trying to identify the sharp, bitter taste.
    Tears gathered in her eyes . A gentle tingle roared through her body, followed by a comforting warmth. She sank into comfortable placation, her mind screaming as she plopped on the log next to Dax. The tremble of her fingers alarmed her, and she dragged them along the rough bark next to her, trying to force away the clouds gathering in her mind.
    “Why would you…” The rest of the words didn’ t seem important and she relaxed, the ground meeting her back with a gentle thump. Stars glittered overhead before Kred’s face obscured the heavens.
    The slip of a knife up her belly, tugging her suit away from her skin, didn’t inject panic into her blood. She knew it should, but the fuzzy edges of things didn’t bring pain. His face blurred, though his position changed. The sensation of falling didn’t elicit a jolt. No, but her body jerked anyway, some outside force acting on her. Her hand wrapped around her pistol, drawing the weapon inch by inch.
    Air dragged at her, thick, water-like, it slowed her motion. The pistol caught on something and every ounce of strength she had didn’t seem quite enough to pull the trigger. The thing slammed in her hand, and Kred’s face filled with shock. He fell away from her, revealing the stars once more.
    As her arm shook, she lifted the weapon again, this time leveling it with Dax, who shook his head so sluggishly, she wondered if he had somehow been slowed down. His hands drifted up toward his face right as the gun jammed back in her palm.
    Dax fell and the world snapped to a searing white.
    Papria sat up, her suit intact, clean, but her mind screamed. A tech helped her to her feet, his hands pressing into her ribs. Another grabbed her arm, pressing a scanner into her wrist. Nonexistent pain still echoed in her confused mind.
    “Are you aware?” The first tech’s hands fell from her body to shine a light in her eyes.
    She flinched as the light blazed through her eye into her head. “Yes. ” The word sounded strange as it rasped over her lips. Cold numbness lingered, sinking into her soul without regard.
    “What was your final question and answer on the written test?” The man eyed her, as if doubting her word.
    “The question was: A crew member walks across a dilapidated building and the roof crumbles under his feet. He falls an unknown distance. His EVA suit declares he is alive, though you only have moments to reach him. What do you do?”
    The tech nodded, waiting in silence for her to continue.
    “I answered: Correct protocol states that heights be navigated with lock lines. Falling in an EVA suit would jerk the cable, possibly tearing a hole in the fabric. An instant retraction of the cable and a quick patch of his suit would be in order. He should then be quarantined and sent to the ship.” She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the numbness from her limbs and the sense of fury tingling through her.
    The tech nodded again, a mini scanner blinking in his hand. He keyed something in on his datapad and left the room. The council – those in charge of setting up the trials and overseeing the techs that created