Dr. Seo Hyerin woke up when she felt the bed dip.

The room was cold (it was always cold onboard since Yuri had direct access to the thermostat) but the sudden addition of a second warm body made the bed feel a lot hotter.

“You’ve been asleep for like two shifts,” Solji whispered against her neck, her arms around her waist and pulling Hyerin’s body closer. “I think it’s time you get up and be a contributing member of the team.”

“No one is sick or injured,” Hyerin mumbled. She didn’t open her eyes but she covered Solji’s hands with her own, breathing deeply. Her life was hectic but these moments were truly peaceful. Everything about Solji, from her touch to her perfume to her sarcasm, was beautiful and familiar and Hyerin craved it, even when Solji was waking her up from a wonderfully deep sleep. “I was awake for two straight shifts before this. Let me rest.”

“Why were you awake so long?”

“Because I’m an incredibly hard worker,” Hyerin said, lighting scratching her nails up and down Solji’s arms. “And because I like to learn new skills while we’re flying to Planet Nowhere.”

“Not Planet Nowhere, silly girl,” Solji said. She placed a kiss just under Hyerin’s ear and added, “Cheoeum, the dwarf planet. There’s a credible lead that Jiyong and his friends used to hide out there when the heat was on. Don’t you remember what Yuri said?”

“I don’t always listen when Yuri speaks,” Hyerin said. “Is your shift over?”

“Sooyoung is a good enough co-pilot,” Solji shrugged. “And we basically fly in a straight line until we hit Cheoeum. She can handle it. I was up so long, I was starting to see spots.”

Hyerin smirked.

“Spotty vision? Not something you want in a captain. Want me to give you an eye exam?”

Solji gave Hyerin a tight squeeze, her chin coming to rest on her shoulder.

“If we’re going to play doctor,” Solji said, “I’m really not interested in the vision test. There are other parts much more worthy of an exam, I’m sure.”

“You’re very dirty,” Hyerin said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Solji said. “But, more to the point, we’ll be on Cheoeum soon and then, my darling, we are one step closer to bagging Kwon Jiyong and throwing him back to the Cosmos.”

“And rolling in money,” Hyerin reminded as if Solji could ever forget.

The truth was that they didn’t really need the money. The Unity was a big, strong ship driven by a powerful, top-of-the-line anti-matter converter. Beyond that, Solji had spent the last seven years making it as comfortable and luxurious as she could possibly afford. Each member of the crew had their own bedroom. They had a full gym, a home theater, a game room, even a UV spa.

Solji’s father, a dominant music mogul back in Seoul, had taught her at a very young age that taking care of your employees was the best investment a boss could ever make. If people felt valued and appreciated, they’d be loyal forever. What was a ping-pong table and a hot tub if it meant that her girls would be with her, working hard, for years and years to come?

Solji had grown up with money but her father wanted her to work hard and learn the value of a dollar. For that reason, he only paid a portion of her flight school tuition. The rest was up to her. She’d wanted to be a singer until 11^th grade when she realized she wanted to fly and so she put herself through school singing at bars and in coffee shops. When that wasn’t quite paying all the bills, she waitressed and wrote book reports for teenagers who couldn’t make the grade on their own.

She didn’t just graduate with honors – she graduated with a profound sense of pride and her father’s undying respect. And to show his admiration for his daughter, he bought her a massive spaceship that she named the Unity.

From there, it was about deciding what kind of pilot she wanted to be. In the end, she teamed up with a close friend, a math and science prodigy named Choi Sooyoung who’d graduated from college and flight school before she’d turned twenty-one. Sooyoung wanted to explore the galaxy. She wanted to take samples of rocks and plants. She wanted to study Berm colonies. She wanted to learn everything there was to know about the universe and contribute to the eternal debate about what else was out there.

Solji did, too.

They were roommates their junior and senior years and when Solji’s father handed her the keys to the Unity, Sooyoung was her first call.

Once they formulated a real plan, they’d take to the skies. They’d explore every corner of the universe, taking samples, pictures and measurements and reporting their findings to the Board of Universe Studies.

They just needed a crew.

It took about six months to find everyone they needed.

Sooyoung knew Kwon Yuri from college, a tech wizard who’d contribute her skills to just about any ship that was willing to house and feed her. She was a little weird but she was very talented and she didn’t even balk when she encountered the Unity’s massive tech system. If anything, she seemed eager to sink her teeth into it, insisting that her personal flare (in the form of custom coding) would have the computers running more efficiently than ever.

Solji posted a listing for an engineer on Occupants Net.

When people inquired and asked for the specs, they were intimidated and off put by the size and power of the Unity, but a young lady named Kim Solar asked if she could swing by and meet the ship. Solji hired her seventeen minutes after meeting her. As an added bonus, Solar recommended her friend Wheein, a mechanic and handyman who was making a living doing odd-job repairs on ships, satellites and space stations.

After a brief team meeting, when all five girls realized that none of them could cook for and they’d soon be living off turkey jerky and freeze-dried potatoes, Solji went back on Occupants Net and looked for a chef. Four interviews later, she found Im Yoona, the head chef at a Geum Haneul hotel who wanted a change of scenery. (Gold skies, as it turned out, weren’t for everyone.)

They were all set to take off on their first official job, a mission to travel to an exoplanet scientists were calling Gyeonbon to take samples of mineral-rich rocks for Cosmos researchers, when Solji met Seo Hyerin.

She’d stopped at a clinic on Geum Haneul to stock up on basic medical supplies before they launched and her heart stopped dead in her chest when her eyes fell upon the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. She was a small brunette with pink scrubs and a sweet smile and Solji spent the next four hours in the clinic’s lobby, waiting with baited breath for the doctor to return. She looked crazy, jostling her legs and tapping on the armrests while she waited, but Solji couldn’t bring herself to leave without at least talking to the woman.

When the doctor did finally come back, she was on her way out the door. Solji acted purely on instinct and emotion, asking her to coffee before she even asked her name. Hyerin just laughed, genuinely flattered and charmed by Solji’s confidence.

“I’ve had a very long day,” she’d said, “and I’d love to get coffee with a pretty girl.”

Blushing furiously and smiling like an idiot, Solji offered Hyerin her arm and the rest was history.

She found out quickly that Hyerin was a surgeon who was volunteering at the clinic to get some experience on her resume. She cycled through three different hospitals trying to make enough money to pay off her student loans and was considering getting a second job to help make ends meet.

Solji hadn’t known that the Unity needed an on-ship doctor until that very moment.

The government was giving the Unity a grant to help fund the trip to Gyeonbon and Solji couldn’t think of a better way to spend the extra money than to put Hyerin on the payroll.

They started dating a month and a half later.

Solji’s father wasn’t remotely surprised to hear that she was marrying the doctor but he did offer his daughter some advice before the wedding.

“Never let your relationship interfere with work,” he told her as he straightened his tie in the mirror. “And never, ever let your work interfere with your relationship.”

So far, they never had. It was a delicate balance but Hyerin respected Solji’s position on the ship and the authority that came with it. She was the captain. She was in charge. What she said was law. But Solji valued Hyerin’s opinion and craved her validation and approval. She put on a brave face for the rest of the crew but behind closed doors, she never made any decision, big or small, without talking to her wife first.

And Hyerin was Solji’s salvation. Solji loved her job. She loved flying, she loved math, she loved science, she loved learning, she loved being a leader. But every single moment was stressful. It was a constant dance, a battle, and Solji always felt like she was walking a high wire.

In space, every decision could mean life or death.

But she had Hyerin. Hyerin whose smile lit up Solji’s world more than any star ever could. Hyerin whose laugh broke through the all the static and all the noise of a busy spaceship and reminded Solji that life was beautiful. Hyerin whose touch made Solji feel like she was born again, buzzing with heat and electricity. Hyerin who didn’t even need to speak to get her point across. All she had to do was look Solji in the eye and Solji felt it – the love, the respect, the dedication, the devotion.

In seven years, Solji had seen a countless number of stars, planets, solar systems and galaxies but she loved Seo Hyerin more than every single one of them.

“What do the kids want to buy with the reward money today?” Hyerin asked, her sleepy voice dragging Solji out of her own thoughts. Somewhere along the way, Solji and Hyerin had started referring to the rest of the crew as their kids. The other girls pretended to hate it but in reality, it didn’t bother anyone. If anything, it made them feel like even tighter a family. “Last I heard, Yoona wanted a cupcake-maker.”

“Sooyoung wants heated floors,” Solji said.

“Such a diva,” Hyerin scolded dramatically. “She’s so spoiled.”

“Solar and Yuri want a 3D gaming system. That virtual reality thing they always play with at the arcade on Geum Haneul. Frankly, I think they’ll hurt themselves. Any idea what Wheein wants?”

Hyerin hummed thoughtfully, remembering a conversation she’d had with the mechanic.

“New tools,” she said. “She’s very low maintenance.”

Solji snorted.

“Right now, she’s my favorite.”

Hyerin feigned an offended gasp. She pulled one of her arms free from Solji’s grasp and reached back, her hand coming to grab roughly at Solji’s thigh. Her hand met bare skin and that meant that Solji was wearing the tiny pink shorts that drove Hyerin crazy. She ran her nails farther up her leg until Solji gasped.

“I’m your favorite,” she corrected.

“Forever and always,” Solji whispered.

“I’m actually glad you woke me,” Hyerin continued, her fingertips tracing smooth shapes on Solji’s skin. “I’ve been putting off doing inventory for days. Now seems like the perfect time to start counting syringes and gauze pads.”

She shifted slightly so that she could push herself up but Solji tightened her grip.

“You waited all week,” Solji said. “What’s another hour?”

Hyerin laughed lowly, rolling onto her side so that she was facing Solji. Even after spending a fourteen-hour shift in the pilot’s seat, she was stunning.

“So that’s how it is?” she teased, placing a kiss to her wife’s forehead. Grinning, Hyerin pushed herself back up, moving so that she could straddle Solji’s hips. Tucking loose strands of red hair behind Solji’s ear, she said, “I guess I can’t say no to the captain, huh?”

Solji chewed the inside of her cheek.

“You could try,” she said, “but there may be some sort of punishment involved.”

“Punishment?” Hyerin countered pensively. She crossed her arms over her chest, her fingers tugging the edge of her sleep shirt so that she could pull it off over her head and toss it to the floor. She didn’t miss the way Solji her lips in response, her hands resting comfortably on Hyerin’s hips. “I think I like the way that sounds.”

Solji felt dazed, the most glorious kind of lightheaded, and she wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep or the gorgeous girl in her bed. Of all the incredible things she’d seen, Hyerin truly was her favorite. Novas and nebulas were cool and all but Solji could stare at Hyerin forever and never get bored. And now, looking up at her soul mate, soft, sleepy, half- and staring back at her with love in her eyes, she couldn’t remember why she ever, ever left their bed.

“Lucky me,” Solji cooed, her hands snaking up Hyerin’s ribs. “How did I get a girl like you?”

Hyerin just smiled, leaning down so that her chest was against Solji’s and she could press a kiss to her wife’s lips. Her laugh was low, suggestive, and it drove waves of heat through Solji’s whole body.

“It’s one of the perks,” she said, her fingers hooking into the waistband of Solji’s shorts, “of being the captain.”

It was a bit of a trek from the dorms to the infirmary but Hyerin enjoyed the walk.

In a lot of ways, she felt like Solji’s second pair of eyes. She spent a lot of time walking around the ship, half for exercise and half because she liked to know what was going on. Everyone else onboard utilized the ship’s gym but Hyerin, never a fan of exercise machines, greatly preferred just taking laps around the Unity.

Fortunately, she had a lot of downtime. Serious injuries were incredibly rare and most of her job was simple patch-up stuff. She took temperatures, distributed over-the-counter medication, even gave some stitches if the situation called for it. Luckily for everyone, she had never had to perform surgery.

They had a fully-stocked (however crude) operating room onboard but while Hyerin was confident in her abilities, she didn’t feel comfortable cutting someone open while they were in the air. She needed a surgical team, a safety net in the form of additional help and resources, and a whole lot more room, but a small part of her took great comfort in knowing that the OR was there if they needed it.

If Yuri’s appendix burst or Solar had a blood clot, she could go in and fix them up without having to waste precious time finding a planet with a functioning hospital.

But that slight comfort paled in comparison to the relief she felt that she’d never had to operate on the Unity members and the knowledge that she probably wouldn’t have to in the future.

Approaching the first corridor that would eventually lead her to the infirmary, Hyerin’s hand hovered over the button on the wall. For reasons she didn’t really understand, each hallway was sealed with a pair of double doors, each made of Plexiglas and framed in bright red. Most of the ship’s fixtures, in fact, were the same shade of crimson, making everything seem very uniform. Something about the bold red accents against the pristine white of the walls and floors gave the halls a very clean, professional, almost clinical feel.

She pressed the button, the doors slid open with a soft whoosh of air and Hyerin detected distinct, albeit faint, smell of bleach. Wheein must’ve been cleaning again.

Solji could tolerate a lot of things but a dirty ship had never been one of them. As it was, the crew was pretty tidy. Yuri was the messiest and even she’d been known to push a mop around the halls every now and again. Though Solji had told her on several thousand occasions that it wasn’t part of her job description, Hyerin could be found cleaning the halls, bathrooms and common room when she had time to kill.

The Unity had the space and accommodations to host a lot more than just seven people and Hyerin wondered idly how much messier the ship would be if they were at full capacity.

Her focus was broken when she passed the gym, her eyes moving to look through the big, glass windows that led inside. The floor mats were a dingy grey and one wall was lined with mirrors, reminding Hyerin of the dance studio at her high school. There were three stationary bikes, a couple yoga mats, an upright punching bag, two treadmills and a handful of various exercise machines that Hyerin couldn’t begin to identify.

For added pleasure, Solji had fitted a small flat-screen TV in the corner so that the girls could watch movies or catch up on the news while they worked out. More than once, Hyerin had found her wife spending one of her down-shifts running tirelessly on the treadmill while she caught up on her favorite crime dramas.

At first glance, the gym looked empty but as she got closer, Hyerin saw the Unity’s in-house flirts occupying two of the bikes. If Hyerin didn’t know any better, she might’ve thought that Yoona was actually working out. Her fingers were wrapped around the handlebars and she smiled as she pedaled but when Hyerin looked closer, she saw that Yuri was beside her, giggling as she poked at Yoona’s ribs and tugged at the bottom of her tank top.

It was the worst kept secret in the galaxy that Yuri and Yoona had been sleeping together for the last six months but Solji insisted that everyone feign ignorance on the subject. It was hard to pretend not to notice the way they snuck away during shifts, the way they were always whispering and the way Yuri’s hands were always all over some part of Yoona’s body, but everyone onboard just did what Solji asked, politely looking away and never commenting on it directly.

Because Solji wasn’t around to scold her and because she was feeling a little cocky, Hyerin knocked on the glass, laughing at the way the girls jumped apart. She gave them both a cheerful wave and though Yuri ducked behind the bike, pretending that she’d been tying her shoe, Yoona owned up to it, her cheeks pink as she waved back.

With seven very unique women on the ship, there were several deep, distinctive dynamics but Yoona and Yuri’s was one Hyerin kept an eye on. As far as she knew, they were just friends with benefits but she’d been in enough social circles to know that things were bound to get complicated. It was inevitable that one of them would catch feelings for the other and things would get messy.

Hyerin selfishly hoped that it would happen after they caught Jiyong. Solji really wanted this win and Hyerin didn’t want anything to get in the way of that.

She passed by the entertainment room, the galley and the UV lounge before reaching the infirmary and Hyerin smiled contently as the pushed the button that opened the door that bore her name.

The infirmary was spotless, state-of-the-art and it felt like home.

Hyerin’s things were all where she’d left them two shifts before – her laptop open on her desk, her work tablet charging near the wall, the SmartDummy surgery simulator powered down on the operating table.

The SmartDummy system had changed her life. At first, it was just a realistic, life-sized training dummy with lifelike skin and a fragile skeleton that could be set and reset to practice sutures, incisions and setting bones. She’d had access to one during med school and it had improved her skills tremendously. From there, Hyerin purchased the virtual simulation goggles, the wireless tools and the software that came preloaded with thousands of surgeries.

She spent hours locked away in the infirmary, goggles on, being talked through simulations of procedure after procedure, honing and sharpening her skills while expanding her abilities by leaps and bounds. The tools were so sensitive and the software was so accurate that the surgeries she performed on the SmartDummy were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

Even as a kid, Hyerin had loved to learn. She knew with absolute certainty that the only reason she was on the Unity was because Solji had fallen for her the first night that they’d met. Sure, it was incredibly helpful to have a doctor onboard but Hyerin wasn’t needed the way the other girls were. Because she cared for a crew of strong, healthy women, she had a lot of free time.

Honestly, it was a dream come true. She got to travel the universe with the love of her life and five girls that she absolutely adored. She had a beautifully-equipped infirmary and operating room at her disposal and all the time and resources in the world to help her become a better doctor.

All in all, it was kind of a beautiful life.

Hyerin unplugged her tablet and placed it on the desk, sinking into her chair with a sigh and sliding herself over to the SmartDummy that was beckoning to her.

“Sorry, Terry,” she said, patting the mannequin’s arm. One of her favorite professors had mentioned in passing that naming your dummy helped you form a bond and, therefore, helped you improve your skills and Hyerin had taken it to heart. “I need to tally up the pills and tissue boxes but after that, I’m all yours.” Remembering that she actually needed her tablet to do inventory, she pushed herself away from the gurney and wheeled herself back to her desk. “Maybe I’ll take out your pancreas. Or how about a nice colon resection, hmm? That’d be fun.”

Inventory rarely took more than two hours. Hyerin counted, measured and tallied then compared what she had in stock now to what she’d had the month before. They were doing pretty well on supplies, though they were running low on saline, penicillin and bulb syringes. In a perfect world, Hyerin wanted a new EKG machine but those came with hefty price tags and an upgrade was definitely not necessity. If she asked Solji for one, she’d get it but she didn’t want to do that. Maybe if they found Jiyong, Hyerin would splurge for one with her part of the reward money.

When, she reminded herself chidingly. When they found Jiyong, not if.

If Solji was confident that they were going to find him, so was Hyerin.

Hyerin was up to her eyeballs in IV tubing when Wheein entered the infirmary, knocking on the doorframe with her foot.

“Hey, Doc,” she said and Hyerin looked over her shoulder to see the ship’s handywoman clutching her left hand against her body. The front of her grey t-shirt was soaked with dark red. “Mind patching me up so I can get back to work?”

“Jesus space-cruising Christ, Wheein,” Hyerin said, dropping all of the tubing back into whatever bin was closest. “What did you do now?” She gestured to the exam table against the wall and Wheein didn’t hesitate to make the short walk and take a seat.

“I was fixing the furnace,” she said casually, shrugging. When Hyerin reached for her, Wheein moved her hand, and blood dripped onto her pants. “Got a little overzealous with a screwdriver.”

The wound wasn’t terrible serious, just a jagged gash along the side of her left palm. It wouldn’t require any stitches, just a butterfly bandage or two. Of everyone onboard, Wheein was Hyerin’s most frequent flier. The girl was a very skilled, very resourceful repairwoman but she sure was clumsy.

“Scale of one to ten,” Hyerin said, sliding her chair over to the case where she kept alcohol wipes and gauze, “how bad does it hurt?”

“Barely a four,” Wheein said. “Remember when I burned my arm on the engine last year? That was, like, a nine. This was nothing. I wouldn’t have even come in but it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I was making a mess. You know how Solji feels about getting blood on the floor.”

Hyerin snorted as she ripped open an alcohol swab.

“Yeah, she’s not a huge fan of bodily fluids in the halls,” Hyerin said. “She’s funny like that.” She took Wheein’s wrist in her hand, angling it so she could see the cut better. “This’ll sting a little.” Wheein winced while Hyerin disinfected the wound but didn’t say anything about the pain. She didn’t comment when Hyerin applied the bandages and gauze, either, and instead looked on intently the way she always did while she was getting patched up.

“Question for you,” she said when Hyerin was finished and washing her hands at the deep sink in the corner. “Where are we headed next?”

“We’re going to Cheoeum,” Hyerin said. “You know, the dwarf planet? Known for farming and mining?” Wheein stared back at her. “You didn’t read the memo Solji sent out yesterday morning?”

“I don’t have my work tablet,” Wheein admitted. Keeping her injury elevated, she used her free hand to pull at the front of her shirt, gauging the damages.

“Where is it?”

Wheein bit her lip contemplatively.

“I’m pretty sure it’s in one of the air ducts,” she said and before Hyerin could ask, she explained. “One of the heating vents had this rattle and Solji said it was annoying so I crawled inside to get a closer look. They’re bigger than you’d think. Anyway, I was using my tablet to light my way. I must’ve gotten distracted and wandered off but I’m pretty sure it’s still up there somewhere.”

With clean hands, Hyerin returned to the box of IV tubes.

“What about your phone?”

“That’s probably somewhere in the observatory,” Wheein said thoughtfully, referring to Solji’s favorite room on the ship.

Though Hyerin didn’t understand why (there were a lot of things Hyerin didn’t understand about spaceships), a whole chamber off the southernmost corridor had been set aside just so crewmembers could sit and watch space go by. It was, essentially, a giant glass dome with a couch and a coffee table inside. If ever the mood should strike, one of the girls could pop a squat and stare out into the vast universe they called home.

For Hyerin, that desire had never really presented itself.

“What were you doing in the observatory?” she asked.

“Taking a nap,” Wheein admitted with a smirk. “It was an off-shift and I find it relaxing in there. But I woke up late and rushed out of there so my phone might be under the couch or between the cushions.”

“Make sure you find one of them,” Hyerin said as she marked down the number of 16 gauge needles she had left in stock. “Solji is big on sending memos lately. Anything important will be in your inbox.” She smiled teasingly. “And it’ll be good to know where we’re going if it comes up in conversation.”

With her good hand, Wheein saluted, then she hopped off the exam table.

“Thanks for the patch-up job,” she said as she headed for the door.

“Anytime,” Hyerin said. “You know you’re my favorite patient.”

Wheein was halfway out the door when she paused, her bandaged hand lingering on the door.

“Hyerin?”

“Yeah?”

When ten seconds had passed without a question, Hyerin peered up to find Wheein biting her lip and staring at the floor.

“Do you think it’s right that we go after Jiyong?”

Hyerin was only half-surprised by the inquiry.

She’d asked herself the same question at least thirty times in the last eight days.

Deep down in the dark, dusty corners of her heart was something that looked and felt an awful lot like doubt. It wasn’t that she doubted Solji. Hyerin trusted her wife more than she trusted the scientific principles that allowed them to hurtle through space. She trusted Solji’s judgment more than she trusted gravity.

But to Hyerin, this seemed like an unnecessary risk.

They were happy. They were secure. They were wealthy. Their ship didn’t need repairs. They didn’t need the glory of finding Jiyong to help them get work. There was no real reason that they needed to go after Jiyong.

The night that the team had discussed it, everyone was riled up. They were excited, a hungry fire in their eyes. The God’s honest truth of the matter was that the Unity’s crew was arrogant. The girls knew how good they were and it made them cocky. They were used to being taken care of by a boss as competent and as generous as Solji and Hyerin thought (in that deep, dark part of herself) that it had spoiled them. They were coddled. They were used to a certain standard of living and a certain, steady workflow.

They were going after Jiyong because they were confident in their skills, perhaps to a fault. They all saw this as an easy job, an inevitable victory. They’d swoop in and school the other hundreds if not thousands of freelance ships who all had the same endgame.

Of everyone in the ‘verse, they would be the ones to find Kwon Jiyong because they were the best.

Then they’d have an extra hundred-million dollars that they didn’t need and they could blow it all and feel completely guilt-free about it. It would be disposable income that they had earned and they could buy heated floors and cupcake-makers.

Did Hyerin think that it was frivolous and maybe just the tiniest bit greedy? Probably, yeah.

But did Hyerin believe in Solji more than she believed that the sun would rise and set on earth that day? Absolutely. And part of joining Solji on the Unity meant that they presented an appropriately united front to the rest of the crew.

Solji was the captain and if she felt that this was the right path, Hyerin would be her biggest and most public supporter.

“Solji has never steered us wrong before,” Hyerin said. “She is one-hundred percent sure that we will find him and turn him in.” She put on her biggest, sweetest smile to hide any residual doubt that might’ve been lingering on her face. “And when we do, you get a whole new set of tools. Maybe a TV for your bedroom”

At that, Wheein’s face lit up.

“You’re right, Doc,” she said smiling. “I think the blood-loss is getting to me.” She waved her bandaged hand. “Thanks again for the Band-Aid.”

Hyerin nodded once and then Wheein was gone, probably off to take an unauthorized space-walk to fix a window or something equally dangerous, she sighed.

When she was having doubts about anything, she thought of Solji. On their wedding day, Hyerin had looked into Solji’s eyes and everything about the universe came into focus, fell into place and just made sense. Still, when she looked into her eyes each and every day, it was like every question she’d ever had found its answer and every worry she’d ever felt was suddenly vaporized.

Even now, as skeptical as she was, she knew she could just look to her tablet’s lock screen – a photo Hyerin had taken of Solji while the redhead was doing a puzzle in their dorm – and things would just be okay.

She was unsure of their path but she was devoted to her wife.

Solji wouldn’t steer them wrong.

A voice on the comm made her jump. Every room was fitted with an intercom and most messages came from the cockpit.

“Just an update,” said Sooyoung. “Based on my current calculations, we will be arriving in Cheoeum within three days. Probably closer to two but you can never account for some things. Please plan accordingly, ladies.” There was a pause and then another beep, indicating a new speaker.

“And tonight’s dinner,” Yoona said, “will be chicken and potatoes.”

Cheers and jeers flooded the comm, everyone voicing their opinion on the menu, and Hyerin smiled in spite of the weight that was crushing her shoulders.

Setting down her tablet, she moved to her SmartDummy. Inventory could wait. She needed to blow off some steam. Maybe she’d do a kidney transplant, just for kicks. It had been a while since she’d done one of those.

“Oh, Terry,” she said, reaching for her simulation goggles. “What are we gonna do?” She paused as if she expected a response and then shook her head. “If I’m talking to you like you’re going to answer, maybe I should be the one on the table.” She slipped the goggles over her eyes and used the stylus to swipe at the air and select the surgery she wanted to perform.

When it was all set – the specific surgery, the patient’s details, the variables that increased or decreased difficulty – Hyerin cracked her neck, a habit she’d always had.

“It’s a beautiful day to save lives,” she said. “You ready Terry?” Terry didn’t answer. If he ever did answer, Hyerin was in trouble. “Good. Let’s begin.”