"You don't just miss," one of the crew members was saying. "And the captain sure as hell doesn't. He could put the Magellan in orbit around a pebble if he wanted to."

The crew member with his back to me said something low, which I couldn't hear.

"That's crap," said the first crew member. "How many ships have actually gone missing in the last twenty years? In the last fifty? No one gets lost anymore."

"What are you thinking?"

I jumped, which made Enzo jump. "Sorry," he said, as I turned to give him an exasperated look. I put a finger to my lips to shush him, and then motioned with my eyes at the table now behind me. Enzo glanced behind me and saw the table. What? he mouthed. I shook my head a tiny bit to tell him he shouldn't distract me anymore. He gave me a strange look. I took his hand again to let him know I wasn't upset with him, but then focused my attention back to the table.

"—calm. We don't know anything yet," said another voice, this one belonging (I think) to the woman. "Who else knows about this?"

Another mutter from the crew member facing away from me.

"Good. We need to keep it that way," she said. "I'll clamp down on things in my department if I hear anything, but it only works if we all do it."

"It won't stop the crew from talking," said someone else.

"No, but it'll slow down the rumors, and that's good enough until we know what's really happened," the woman said.

Yet another mutter.

"Well, if it's true, then we have bigger problems, don't we?" said the woman, and all the strain she was experiencing was suddenly clear in her voice. I shuddered a little; Enzo felt it through my hand and looked at me, concerned. I gave him a serious hug. It meant losing the rest of the conversational thread, but at the moment, it's what I wanted. Priorities change.

There was the sound of chairs pushing back. I turned and the crew members—it was pretty clear they were actually officers—were already heading toward the door. I broke away from Enzo to get the attention of the one closest to me, the one who had had his back to me earlier. I tapped him on the shoulder; he turned and seemed very surprised to see me.