Page 6

“Boring.”

“Eat.”

“Less boring.”

“Hydrate.”

“Now you’re just describing basic human maintenance.”

“Yes.”

“You really know how to show a girl a good time.”

That time he smiles for real, and warm satisfaction shoots through me, wildly out of proportion to its size.

“Got you.”

“You’re trouble.” He shakes his head. “You argued for flying on four hours of sleep. That’s trouble, little girl.”

“Four and a half.” I pretend I don’t hear the last two words. Did he? Is he? Could he?

His eyes narrow. I grin. “That half hour matters to me.”

“It shouldn’t.”

“See, this is why gamers have patch notes. We can review controversial changes.”

“You think fatigue is a controversial change?”

“I think the developers overcorrected.”

“Who are the developers?”

I wave vaguely upward. “Life.”

Christopher looks at Rick. “Is she always like this?”

“Yes.”

“Hey.” I interject.

Rick points at me. “You asked me last week if checklists count as side quests.”

“They do.”

“No, they don’t.”

“They literally reward you for completing sequential objectives.” I remind him.

Christopher looks at me again. “What happens when you finish the preflight checklist?”

“You get to fly.”

“Then it’s not a side quest.”

I blink. He continues, perfectly serious, like he’s presenting evidence in a court case he’s already won. “It’s a prerequisite objective.”

I stare. Rick stares. Christopher’s jaw tightens, a man watching his own composure slip through his fingers.