[Location: The Shelter] [Time: Day 1. 02:00 Hours.]
We slept in shifts.
The shelter was cramped. Vesper, Lyra, and Rook were asleep in the back. Silas and I sat at the entrance, watching the jungle.
The moon was huge—a shattered ring of asteroids orbiting the planet. It cast pale, ghostly shadows on the sand.
"You hate me," Silas said. She didn't look at me. She was cleaning her revolver, checking the action over and over.
"I don't hate you, Silas," I said. "I just know you."
"You don't know a damn thing about me."
"You grew up in the Martian Slums," I recited quietly. "You joined the Academy to get citizenship for your little sister. She died in the Sector 7 riots while you were in basic training. That's why you push your squad so hard. You're terrified of losing another family."
Silas stopped cleaning her gun. She went perfectly still.
"How..." she whispered. She turned her head slowly, her eyes wide. "That file is classified. Top secret. Even Vesper doesn't know that."
I poked the small, smokeless fire with a stick. "I told you. I've been here a long time."
SCREEEEEEE.
A sound echoed from the jungle. It sounded like a jaguar crossed with a chainsaw.
Silas snapped her gun up, aiming at the tree line.
"Local fauna," I said calmly. "Apex predator. It won't come near the fire."
Silas lowered the gun, but she kept looking at me. For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes. Not of the monster in the woods, but of me.
"Who are you, Caelum?"
"Just a mechanic," I closed my eyes. "Get some sleep, Captain. I'll take the next watch."