"So," Renee said, gazing out the clouded window of the cryo-pod, "just where the hell do you think we're going to land, anyhow?" She flicked her eyes back to Liam, who was squinting at the window, his gray-green eyes narrowed. She wasn't claustrophobic, but this pod could give it to anyone. It was just large enough for the two of them. Coffin-sized, she noted with a grimace, then tried to push the thought out of her mind.

"Judging by our trajectory, I would say the ship launched us back along the way we came, so we should land somewhere off the coast of Peru." He glanced at Renee. "I think."

"You think," Renee echoed grimly.

"This isn't a shuttle. I can't be certain of our course . . . "

She waved him off. She hated when people gave her bad news and no way of making it good news. "I get the picture." Just then, the pod shuddered and from outside came a sound like rushing water, the first she had heard since the pod had been ejected from the exploding wreck of Ma'el's ship. "Too late to worry about it, anyhow."

"You know, in case this doesn't work, I'd like to apologize for getting us into this," Liam said.

Renee was taken aback. "I started it, as I recall."

"But it was my faulty knowledge of Taelon that made the situation worse."

"You tried."

"I failed."

The pod began to shake and groan around them and she was reminded again of it's resemblance to a coffin.

"Apology accepted." She hated the way she sounded, snide and arrogant, like talking with him was beneath her. Always pushing everyone away.

I'd expect you to be, you're a good person . . .

"I think our rate of descent is slowing," Liam remarked as though about the weather. She almost laughed. It took quite a bit to shake up Liam. He could usually keep his cool, even under life-threatening circumstances. Especially under life-threatening circumstances. Yet a child coming up to him on the street and asking for his autograph would fluster him and he was usually dumbfounded by women who had a crush on him. You can program in Euonia, she thought, set Taelon ships to self-destruct and save the mothership, all before bedtime, and yet you're no different than the rest of us mere mortals. Triple-helix or not, Liam was very much human. The thought was comforting, strangely.

The rumbling stopped and the pod flew quietly. Suddenly, Renee tensed. They would be hitting the ocean soo, she felt it. Liam met her gaze and nodded, confirming it. Each of them braced against the walls of the pod and one another.

Impact.

The pod shook, plunging down through the waters like an arrow, bio-slurry groaning in protest (like a car crash, the thought stung Renee before she shoved it out of her consciousness). Down and down the pod sank and then slowed, then began to slowly rise. With a splash it broke the surface and there it remained, bobbing on the waves.

With a wave of his hand, Liam opened the pod. Fresh, salty air rushed into the pod, dispersing the humidity and staleness from the pod. Renee peered out over the side. The pod was floating on the surface of the ocean. Evening painted the sky amber and the seas purple. A few wispy clouds clung to the sinking sun.

"Damn, I hate it when you're right," Renee said with a smile that showed she wasn't.

Liam sighed. "Now all we have to do is get rescued."

"And pray it isn't the Taelons who do the rescuing," Renee added.

The night was cold, even with the pod closed. They woke around mid-morning, when the pod began to heat up, steam choking them, making the pod like a sauna. With the hatch open, it was a little more tolerable, but not much. Neither of them had food nor drinkable water. They would not last for too long beneath an unforgiving tropical sun.

"Hot," she remarked at noon. It was.

"Well, I could always activate the pod's cryo system . . . " Liam offered. Startled, she turned around with a start and stared at him. A smile lit up Liam's face. Oh, he's making a joke, she realized. "What's wrong, Renee?"

Swallowing, she began pushing him away. "Nothing." Then, reading the skepticism on his face, she relented a little. "Everything. My friend. Julianus. Lost at sea. You . . . "

"Me?"

"Liam . . . you called me a good person!" There. She finally blurted it out. Liam's look showed he didn't understand. "You don't know, don't want to know, some of the things I've done for the Resistance. I've had to go against my own conscience more than once, tried to justify it in the name of freeing humanity from the Taelon's lies . . . but I've always done it in the end, no matter how amoral it was. I am not a good person, not any more."

"You're wrong."

Anger made her hot. "How?" This was typical Liam, always second-guessing everybody else.

"You still have a conscience, Renee. You still care. If you weren't still a good person, you wouldn't care. You wouldn't have wept for your friend if you had no conscience. The very fact that you still care shows that's not the case."

She sniffed. No, not gonna cry. "Damn," she said, shaking her head, "I hate it when you're right."

Late in the afternoon, the helicopter appeared. Evidently not caring if it was full of Volunteers or not, Liam stood up and started waving for it to land. As it approached, the backwash from the blades made the sea ripple and the pod rock. Renee glimpsed a familiar Doors International logo on the side of the copter and sighed relief.

Strong, helping hands hoisted them up into the helicopter. Medics hurried to their sides.

"Good to see you both," came Augur's voice, shouted over the din of the helicopter.

"What's that pod?" Came Doors. The business man was dressed casually, but his face and voice were all business.

"Taelon cryo-pod! That's how we survived!" Liam shouted back. Cables were lowered and hitched to the pod, which was brought aboard. The copter's door shut and it was quiet enough to speak without yelling.

"At least we were able to salvage something from Ma'el's ship," Doors mused, running his hands down the curved length of the pod.

"We're fine. Thanks for your concern," Liam shot back, his tone barely civil.

Doors shifted his gaze to Renee, ignoring him. "Ms. Palmer. Glad to see you in one piece."

"We are both well," she said, adding a little emphasis to "we". "I need a few days off, Jonathan," she said, then glanced at Liam, "I have a funeral to attend and a friend to remember."

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