Ania walked with large strides, her head up, arms swinging by her side. Her pace would have been slowed by others had the hallways been any more lively, but instead she could glide around the station unimpeded.
She was one of the few pilots on the station. Seraph didn’t need many. The other pilots were largely elusive, invested in their own work. Ania was the most social, perhaps because she didn’t have a lab of her own. She didn’t need one.
Turning a corner, stopping, then two knocks on the door in front of her.
“Apologies, I cannot have company at the moment,” a disembodied voice said. It belonged to Erik, on the other side of the door.
“Are you with that captain I saw you talking to earlier?” Ania’s tone conveyed teasing. Ania and Erik got along well, probably better than anyone else on the station.
“That makes… thirty-seven incorrect guesses since you started that, out of thirty-seven.” Erik laughed.
“Shucks. I still think I was dead-on the last time I guessed you were with Ethel!”
“Conference call!” Erik sang.
“See ya, Erik.” Ania had been walking away from Erik’s door for ten seconds before then. A chirp signalled that the call had ended.