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Sylvia stepped outside her door while Carter waited for Magnus to show him how to use the guard’s key to gain access to the room.
“See?” Magnus said. “It’s not that difficult.”
“I’m glad you’re back,” Sylvia said, holding Digger. “I was worried that guards might discover you.”
Magnus smiled and scratched the ferret’s ears. “You mind watching him a bit longer?”
Sylvia nodded, but appeared slightly worried. “Sure. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “I . . . uh . . . need to check out some things.”
Carter walked past and placed his briefcase on the bed.
“Okay,” Sylvia said. “But do come back. You’re more than welcome to stay here with us tonight.”
“Thanks. I will be back. That way we’ll all be together in the morning when we head to the maintenance storage room.”
“We’ll be waiting for you.”
Magnus rubbed the back of the ferret’s neck and then he pointed his thick finger. “You behave yourself, Digger.”
The ferret rubbed the side of its head against Magnus’ hand. Magnus chuckled, turned, and headed down the corridor. After he was out of sight, Sylvia let the door slide shut. When she turned around, Carter was staring intently at his feet.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
Carter didn’t respond for nearly half a minute. His eyes were locked in an eerie trance. She nudged his shoulder. He shook his head and looked up at her.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m tired.”
“Well, go take a hot shower and you’ll feel better. We can go to sleep afterwards. We don’t have to wait for Magnus to return.”
Carter stood, took the briefcase, and walked toward the small bathroom. “A shower sounds great.”
“You can leave the briefcase here.”
He shook his head. “No. No, I can’t.”
With concern, she watched Carter mumbling to himself as he staggered to the shower. He set the briefcase right outside the shower, glanced toward her, and turned on the water. He didn’t step into the shower until she finally looked away from his intense glare.
Feeling uneasy, Sylvia busied herself by sorting through her clothes in one of the drawers. The shower curtain slid across the rod with a harsh scraping sound, and she dared to glance toward the shower. His clothes covered the briefcase. She wondered what he kept inside the case that he didn’t want her or Magnus to discover.
Carter had been too protective of the case, and his behavior whenever he was asked about it made her uneasy. He didn’t seem to be the man she had remembered from a few months earlier, but then again, he had witnessed the deaths of all of the inhabitants on Deimos. She assumed that was why he was acting aggressively paranoid. With that kind of mental trauma, she was willing to give him a pass until he managed to get control of his emotions or talked to a psychologist when they reached Earth.
She hoped that by being his friend and showing him compassion, he might recover somewhat from what she considered to be the early stages of post-traumatic stress. Since the event was recent, his symptoms might decrease or possibly get even worse. She wanted to help him heal so his emotions wouldn’t darken or become destructive.
Sylvia thought it best to avoid asking about the contents of the briefcase, but that didn’t lessen her curiosity about what was concealed within it.