'Here.’ said Karkasy. The shutter of Keeler's billet was closed. Would you like me to... ?' Karkasy asked, gesturing to the door.

-Yes.’

Karkasy rapped his fist against the shutter and listened. After a moment, he rapped again, harder. 'Euphrati? Euphrati, are you there?'

The shutter slid open, and the scent of body warmth spilled out into the cool corridor. Karkasy was face to face with a lean young man, naked but for a pair of half-buttoned army fatigue pants. The man was sinewy and tough, hard-bodied and hard-faced. He had numerical tattoos on his upper arms, and metal tags on a chain around his neck.

'What?' he snapped at Karkasy.

'I want to see Euphrati.’

'Piss off.’ the soldier replied. 'She doesn't want to see you.’

Karkasy backed away a step. The soldier was physically intimidating.

'Cool down.’ said Loken, looming behind Karkasy and lowering his hood. He stared down at the soldier. 'Cool down, and I won't ask your name and unit.’

The soldier looked up at Loken with wide eyes. 'She... she's not here.’ he said.

Loken pushed past him. The soldier tried to block him, but Loken caught his right wrist in one hand and turned it neatly so that the man suddenly found himself contorted in a disabling lock.

'Don't do that again.’ Loken advised, and released his hold, adding a tiny shove that dropped the soldier onto his hands and knees.

The room was quite small, and very cluttered. Discarded clothes and rumpled bedding littered the floor space, and the shelves and low table were covered with bottles and unwashed plates.

Keeler stood on the far side of the room, beside the unmade cot. She had pulled a sheet around her slim, naked body and stared at Loken with disdain. She looked weary, unhealthy. Her hair was tangled and there were dark shadows under her eyes.

'It's all right, Leef.’ she told the soldier. 'I'll see you later.’

Still wary, the soldier pulled on his vest and boots, snatched up his jacket, and left, casting one last murderous look at Loken.

'He's a good man.’ Keeler said. 'He cares for me.’

'Army?'

"Yes. It's called fraternization. Does Ignace have to be here for this?'

Karkasy was hovering in the doorway. Loken turned. Thank you for your help.’ he said. 'I'll see you tomorrow.’

Karkasy nodded. 'All right.’ he said. Reluctantly, he walked away. Loken closed the shutter. He looked back at Keeler. She was pouring clear liquor from a flask into a shot glass.

'Can I interest you?' she asked, gesturing with the flask. 'In the spirit of hospitality?'

He shook his head.

'Ah. I suppose you Astartes don't drink. Another biological flaw ironed out of you.’

'We drink well enough, under certain circumstances.’

'And this isn't one, I suppose?' Keeler put the flask down and took up her glass. She walked back to the cot, holding the sheet around her with one hand and sipping from the glass held in the other. Holding her drink out steady, she settled herself down on the cot, drawing her legs up and folding the sheet modestly over herself.

'I can imagine why you're here, captain.’ she said. 'I'm just amazed. I expected you weeks ago.’

'I apologise. I only found the second file tonight. I obviously hadn't looked carefully enough.’

What do you think of my work?'

Astonishing. I'm flattered by the picts you shot on the embarkation deck. I meant to send you a note, thanking you for copying them to me. Again, I apologise. The second file, however, is...'

'Problematic?' she suggested.

'At the very least.’ he said.

'Why don't you sit down?' she asked. Loken shrugged off his robe and sat carefully on a metal stool beside the cluttered table.

'I wasn't aware any picts existed of that incident.’ Loken said.

'I didn't know I'd shot them.’ Keeler replied, taking another sip. 'I'd forgotten, I think. When the first captain asked me at the time, I said no, I hadn't taken anything. I found them later. I was surprised.’

'Why did you send them to me?' he asked.

She shrugged. 'I don't really know. You have to understand, sir, that I was... traumatised. For a while, I was in a very bad way. The shock of it all. I was a mess, but I got through it. I'm content now, stable, centred. My friends helped me through it. Ignace, Sadie, some others. They were kind to me. They stopped me from hurting myself.’

'Hurting yourself?'

She fiddled with her glass, her eyes focused on the floor. 'Nightmares, Captain Loken. Terrible visions, when I was asleep and when I was awake. I found myself crying for no reason. I drank too much. I acquired a small pistol, and spent long hours wondering if I had the strength to use it.’

She looked up at him. 'It was in that... that pit of despair that I sent you those picts. It was a cry for help, I suppose. I don't know. I can't remember. Like I said, I'm past that now. I'm fine, and feel a little foolish for bothering you, especially as my efforts took so long to reach you. You wasted a visit.’

'I'm glad you feel better.’ Loken said, 'but I haven't wasted anything. We need to talk about those images. Who's seen them?'

'No one. You and me. No one else.’

'Did you not think it wise to inform the first captain of their existence?'

Keeler shook her head. 'No. No, not at all. Not back then. If I'd gone to the authorities, they'd have confiscated them... destroyed them, probably, and told me the same story about a wild beast. The first captain was very certain it was a wild beast, some xenos creature, and he was very certain I should keep my mouth shut. For the sake of morale. The picts were a lifeline for me, back then. They proved I wasn't going mad. That's why I sent them to you.’

'Am I not part of the authorities?'

She laughed. Той were there, Loken. You were there. You saw it. I took a chance. I thought you might respond and-'

'And what?'

Tell me the truth of it.'

Loken hesitated.

'Oh, don't worry.’ she admonished, rising to refill her glass. 'I don't want to know the truth now. A wild beast. A wild beast. I've got over it. This late in the day, captain, I don't expect you to break loyalty and tell me something you're sworn not to tell. It was a foolish notion, which I now regret. My turn to apologise to you.’

She looked over at him, tugging up the edge of the sheet to cover her bosom. 'I've deleted my copies. All of them. You have my word. The only ones that exist are the ones I sent to you.’

Loken took out the data-slate and placed it on the table. He had to push dirty crockery aside to make a space for it. Keeler looked at the slate for a long while, and then knocked back her glass and refilled it.

Imagine that.’ she said, her hand trembling as it lifted the flask. 'I'm terrified even to have them back in the room.’

'I don't think you're as over it as you like to pretend.’ Loken said.

'Really?' she sneered. She put down her glass and ran the fingers of her free hand through her short blonde hair. 'Hell with it, then, since you're here. Hell with it.’

She walked over and snatched up the slate. Wild beast, eh? Wild beast?'

'Some form of vicious predator indigenous to the mountain region that-'

'Forgive me, that's so much shit.’ she said. She snapped the slate into the reader slot of a compact edit engine on the far side of the room. Some of her picters and spare lenses littered the bench beside it. The engine whirred into life, and the screen lit up, cold and white. "What did you make of the discrepancies?'

'Discrepancies?' Loken asked.

Yes.’ She expertly tapped commands into the engine's controls, and selected the file. With a stab of her index finger, she opened the first image. It bloomed on the screen.

Terra, I can't look at it.’ she said, turning away.

'Switch it off, Keeler.’

'No, you look at it. Look at the visual distortion there. Surely you noticed that? It's like it's there and yet not there. Like it's phasing in and out of reality.’