Fourteen

You take a deep breath. The captain's briefing room had been the site manager's office during the later stages of construction, and you'd had to make the laborious trek there from the flight deck on more than one occasion when the site manager on duty hadn't answered the comm. But that had been years ago, even if you didn't count the time spent in stasis for the trip to the Altan system.

You lead the way down several corridors to a bulkhead where you remember seeing a freight elevator. Now, there is no sign of it, or the button to summon it. Had the Genesis changed that much? The button had been right there…you reach over to touch the spot on the wall, just to see if your eyes are playing tricks on you. A light glows to life inside the wall, before a voice says, "Elevator will arrive in twelve seconds."

Twelve seconds? Ha. You begin to count.

The doors slide open just as you reach eleven.

"Which floor?" the same voice asks. It almost sounds like it's laughing at arriving early and exceeding your expectations.

"Deck 88," you reply. That never changed. The boss always had as many eights as possible, because eight was good luck for money, and if the boss did well financially, so did the company. You have no idea where the superstition started, but every place you've ever worked, the boss's number was extension 888.

When you arrive on Deck 88, though, you can't remember which way to go. You've only got two choices, but if you choose wrong, Torny might send you screaming out an airlock as a suspected Titan spy.

Which way do you go?

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