A dark science-fiction novelette On the run, the survivors of the scientific spacecraft, Magpie, take on an unorthodox job for a rogue space station's eccentric chief medical officer. Looting is not what the Magpie was built for, but debts to maintain freedom must be paid. Any job will do. Within the ghost ship, Mesmer 003, is a valuable reactor core sealed behind a biometric lock. Only command level crew of the Mesmer could have opened the vault. Unfortunately, they're all dead. The Magpie's doctor, Selma Seaward, has a macabre solution.