“I think we’d all find it acceptable if we just dropped the whole subject while having brunch, hmm?” 595 replied immediately. She looked round at the others, daring them to say anything. “Fine by me.” Masgard smirked. Freyr couldn’t tell if 595 was genuinely horrified, if she was winding Vreta up, or something else. She could’ve answered Vreta at a push, but she was too exhausted to argue with the Agent right now.

Sensing a bit of tension, Kalax pulled a chilled bottle of champagne out of the bag that had contained ingredients for kedgeree too. He deftly unwrapped the cork, popped the bottle open and poured out five glasses. “Here’s to Vreta, for being a fine host. Cheers!” Freyr grabbed her flute and raised it into the air with Kalax before taking a drink. “To go backwards slightly, thank you for the offer of a memory share. However, I think i’ll take a pass this time; I try not to live in the past wherever I can, unless it’s to recall information for work.”

Freyr had forced herself to stop watching recordings of intimate family moments about a month ago. She couldn’t dislodge a worry at the back of her mind that even reliving last night may tempt her to start again. She gulped down another spoonful of food when she got a private call request from Captain Andersen. She furrowed her brow and accepted the call. This was quite unusual.

[i]“Good morning captain, everything okay?”

“..Good morning Dr Lang. I’m...sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But one of your team, Dr Hou, sadly died late last night. We think he committed suicide. Could you please return to the ship at your earliest convenience? We need to-”[/i] Freyr disconnected the call, in shock.