CARRIE STEELED HERSELF as the cabin door opened. She peeped inside, but, apart from one occupant, the room was empty.
“Carrie, what are you doing here?” asked Gavin. “You must return to your room at once. We cannot move about the ship. There has been a...ah. I see.”
Carrie’s palm was open, and in it rested the small green weapon. She stepped into the room and looked around. “Where are your children?”
“They are moulting at the moment. Carrie—”
“Where?”
“Where what?”
“Where are they moulting?” She wondered if a hundred larger versions of Gavin’s offspring were about to pile out of the shower room. Except he didn’t seem to have a shower room. Or a bed. All there was in the room apart from Gavin and a communication screen was a large hole in the floor.
“My children are in a room in a se
