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Ethan's smile shifted, becoming unsure... then puzzled. Yet it remained a smile throughout the transition.

"Of course I am-"

"Not just," said Shaw. She stepped close to him, squeezing into the small area in front of the locker. She looked up at him. His smile seemed frozen now. Forced. "Not...JUST... a mechanic. Sure, you can make any machine do anything you want... but there's something else, isn't there?"

"Shaw. What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out what it is about my mechanic that attracts terrorists like flies."

"Attract-"

"There are hundreds of ships they could have hijacked, but they picked us."

"It had to be somebody, didn't it? I mean... whoever ELSE they picked would be thinking the same thing: why them? Well, it was us so we have to deal with-"

"You," said Shaw. "They. Need. YOU. They came for YOU. They took my ship for YOU."

"Where's this coming from, Shaw? Where are you getting this-"

"It's true, isn't it? They said it themselves when we first got here-"

"They're trying to confuse us; it's what they do. It's how they get inside people's minds."

"Ethan, just tell me the truth. Whatever it is can't possibly make the situation worse. And it might be something we can use."

Ethan looked down into Shaw's eyes, then out at the corridor. He watched for movement-

"I recognize stalling when I see it," said Shaw.

"Fine." Ethan looked down at her again. "I've never seen these people before. Stryger and his friends? I don't know them; I'm not WITH them; you have to believe that."

"Okay. But..."

"But they... they think I can help them carry out an attack. On PL1. I don't know how the ore they've been mining figures into-"

"Why do they think a mechanic can help them attack a corporate capitol?"

"I'm not sure-"

"Don't insult me, Ethan. Answer the question. What do you know or have that can help them take out an orbital city?"

Ethan blinked, then sighed.

"Access

"Access to what?"

"To the city. They're probably interested in... I dunno...the field generators, the power system, communication encryption, automated security routines. All of the above? But maybe they just need to get a ship into the secure corporate hangar. It depends on exactly what they're trying to do."

"And you have all that... how?"

"Well, I don't exactly HAVE it. But I can GET access to... whatever.... I need. I've got clearance. Not to everything, but to enough."

"Clearance. That means you're corporate."

"Y-yeah. I am."

"Not JUST corporate. Not just some nobody-"

"Not just a nobody. I'm an undercover corporate operative. A spy."