For a moment, the two friends gazed at each other, then Celia skipped forward and hugged Gillian. "It's so good to see you again, Gillian! I was so scared and frightened by what happened to you - I couldn't believe they'd shot you!"

They released each other and Celia stood back. "You look so well! The last time I saw you I was sure you were - were...!" Her voice trailed away.

"Dead?" Gillian suggested.

Celia nodded in silence, lowering her eyes.

 Joan Rubilio, Celia's escort, stepped forward. "We're only here for an hour or so, I'm afraid. Gillian's still under detention, officially."

The two friends turned to face the Executive Officer.

"Oh! I'd forgotten my prisoner status!" Gillian exclaimed. "Getting back to work pushed it into the background for me."

"I'm glad to hear that, Gillian," Joan said. "I've heard you've been doing good work with Liam. I haven't met him yet. What's your opinion of him?"

"He's, um, enthusiastic."

"They fight all the time," Abel said.

Joan smiled. "I wondered about that possibility. I heard all about the ballet lessons to make him more aware of his body. That was a great idea, Gillian."

"Thanks," Gillian replied, enjoying a burst of pleasure at this praise.

"Captain Xing was particularly pleased with your initiative there."

"Oh?" Gillian felt her voice become awkward. "I wondered what he might be thinking about me, after my incident. I suppose he was upset after what I did - or apparently did."

Joan nodded. "It was a terrible day. Captain Xing thought he was going to lose his ship, the worst possible thing that a Captain can experience. I'm afraid the marines didn't behave well. I suspect none of them had ever had to use their weapons before. They panicked and fired off far too many shots when they tried to disable you, Gillian."

"And that's why poor Mr Barry died," Celia said. "Hit by several knockout darts."

"What!" Gillian exclaimed, horrified. "Nobody told me there was a death!"

"I'm sorry, Gillian," Joan said. "You were having such a tough time: being detained, facing legal charges. We kept the rest of it from you."

"But how - why did he die?"

"He jumped up on the stage when they raised their guns to shoot, and got between you and the marines. They would have killed you if it wasn't for him."

"Why did he do it?"

Celia said, "He'd fallen in love with you. I saw it in his face, every time he looked at you, Gillian."

Gillian was astonished and horrified. She gazed blankly at her visitors. Then she turned to Abel. "Did you know this?"

"Of course - I was there too. I watched it all happen."

"I don't know what to say." Gillian sat down in one of the reclining seats by the pool. "I feel terrible. I, I - didn't like him much, and now he's dead, because of me?"

The Executive Officer patted her on the shoulder and sat beside her as Celia and Abel joined them.

"Gillian, you aren't responsible. The fault was the poor experience and training of the marines."

Celia said, "I'm sorry I've spoilt our reunion by blurting that out, Gillian."

"Neither of you are to blame," Joan said.

The little group fell silent for a while, gazing at the little stream splashing into the pool. It was, Gillian knew, part of a decorative mechanism, driven by the second wheel's automatic mass balancing system. Gillian pondered on the water, running endlessly around the wheel until the day it would stop, when the ship's useful life ended.   

Celia asked, "Joan: when will Gillian be allowed back to the main wheel?"

Joan sighed. "It's up to the Captain. He seems too upset to consider it, still. He's stayed up on the bridge ever since the incident."

Silence fell for a few moments, until Celia, to restart the conversation, spoke. "Gillian, I saw on the Ship news that your parents are here with you on the ship. That was a big surprise to me! Will I be able to see them?"

Gillian was uncertain. "They're not as you remember them, Celia. They're both suffering from a type of dementia."

"Yes, I heard. I remember they were both seemed absent minded the last few times I met them, back in the Gliese system."

Gillian nodded towards the cabins. "They're in there. But Abel and I have just been talking to them. I don't want to take you in there just yet, not today. I hope you don't mind."

"Ok," Celia said. "Another time, perhaps."

"Did you know them well, Celia?" Joan asked.

"I used to visit Gillian all the time, so yes, I suppose I did."

Gillian, noting Joan's interest, explained to Celia, "My background is being investigated, because of what I did, what you saw me do, on the last Walk."

Celia nodded. "You have this other personality, I saw it before they shot you. I've been interviewed several times about you, and our friendship. But I didn't come up with much that was useful."

"What did you think when I took over the ship?"

"It was the voice that amazed me."

"That strange little girl voice?"

"Yes, I could tell that it was you when you were young, sort of, even though I never knew you then."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Joan asked.

Celia glanced at the Executive officer. "I just meant that she couldn't talk exactly like a little girl, because she's a grown-up. Her voice-box isn't a little girls anymore. So I still recognised Gillian in her voice." Celia turned back to Gillian. "I suppose you sounded like that because whatever happened to you, when this other personality somehow moved in - it was when you were a little girl."

"It seems so," Gillian said. "Did I tell you anything about it when we were kids? Do you remember anything?"

"You had nightmares, you told me. About the Stones."

"Nothing else?"

"They were always wanting to give you stuff that you didn't want."

"What was it?"

"You never said, clearly, or I don't remember."

Gillian gazed upwards into the gloom that hung over Pool Ten. "If someone had told me what I would be doing when I grew up, I wouldn't have believed it. I wouldn't even have understood it."

Celia replied, "And we can't go back to when we were little and safe. That place doesn't exist anymore."

"It never did," Gillian added.

The two young women talked on, gossiping about old times, until Joan announced, "It's time for us to go, Celia. Gillian, I'll bring her back in a couple of days, ok?"

Gillian nodded at her, leant forward and gave Celia a kiss. They all stood. Gillian felt irritated by the Executive officer's apparently arbitrary limit to her meeting with Celia, wondering whether it was because of some regulation, or part of a disciplinary regime aimed at herself.

As they were leaving, Celia turned to Gillian and Abel, and remarked, "It's a real adventure coming here! Like climbing over a mountain range. We go all the way up to the big axle, we float along inside it, and we come down again." She looked around. "It's a different world."

"It is," Gillian replied. "It's the netherworld."

Joan half smiled at her, then the pair left, Celia turning to give one last wave before they disappeared into the gloom. Gillian and Abel were alone. They sat down again, and Gillian voiced her annoyance.

"I wonder why they only allowed us an hour together?" Gillian wondered. "They must be suspicious about something."

Abel suggested, "Perhaps it's just that Captain Xing thought you shouldn't be distracted for too long. Maybe he didn't realise that Liam was working with the others over in the main wheel today."

"Hmm, I wonder," Gillian replied. "I'm beginning to worry that Celia might be under suspicion - like me. So the Captain doesn't want us together for too long."

"You mean he thinks there's an alien Celia inside her? But she was never on Mars, was she?"

"No."

"So she couldn't have your problems."

They stared at each other in silence.  Then Gillian suggested, "I wonder if the Captains suspects I and my parents might be somehow infectious?"

Abel shook his head. "No! That's impossible. If there's a spore or a virus or something, it would have to be the same sort of life as us, with DNA like ours. And if that possibility were in the Captain's mind, you and your parents would be locked in an airtight sealed ward. Neither I nor Liam, nor Celia and Joan today, would be allowed here with you. No, the idea's too silly."

He gazed around them. "This wheel encourages paranoia, it's so small and dark, and empty. I'm quite looking forward to another rowdy session with Liam tomorrow."

"Me too," Gillian, said, though slightly surprised at the thought. But there was no doubt she looked forward to working again.

A movement nearby made them both turn around. Gillian gasped in surprise.

"Hello, Dear, we thought we'd come out for a walk."

It was her parents, standing side by side a short distance away. Looking strangely purposeful, they advanced towards the pool where their daughter and her colleague sat. This was the first time Gillian had seen them leave their cabin. She felt suddenly fearful. Abel jumped up, his face wary.