Andy was demented at first, but when she identified their attempted escape, she made her hasty walk across the room to reach the deck in time.

"Go," Finn said, alarmed.

"Not without you," said Lena.

"Hide at Pacu's house, I'll come after."

Lena was hesitating to choose freedom over Finn, and Andy's hand seized hold of the door. In desperation, Finn gave Lena a push and plunged back down into the fresh snow on the wooden platform. 

While Lena picked herself up and disappeared behind nearby houses, Andy had her hands on her hips in disappointment and threw Finn a shameful expression.

"Let her go," he bade.

"She's a criminal," Andy argued.

"She saved my life!"

"She put you in danger. All of this is her fault."

"No, you've got it all wrong. It's the other way around."

Andy found it demanding to believe him.

"Help me to prove her innocence."

"You're being naive," she said and helped him up.

"If you won't help her, just pretend you didn't see anything."

"I can't do that."

"Yes, you can."

Andy seemed torn between the rights and the wrongs.

"Please."

To avoid his request, she moved the attention to his worsening physical condition and made it their prime concern to get the bullet removed.

Moments passed, and Finn was sitting shirtless on a bed, examined by Day, and supervised by Andy. Saturated marks of rich greens and purples bedecked his ribs. A colorful collection of irritating bruises.

With a flashlight in one hand, Day cleansed Finn's skin with a wet sponge. By a simple peek at Finn, it appeared that he felt no pain. A misguided assumption. He did feel pain, though he thought to show it would delay his discharge.

Day, in his familiar nature, grinned at Finn, without losing his focus. "The last time I saw you, you were going to the bathroom. I always wondered what took you so long."

"Shouldn't you be with my father?" Finn asked Day, unamused by the enthusiasm.

"I don't work here, therefore I don't have access to the operation room."

"But you could help."

"They're all trained doctors. Your father is in good hands. Can you lift your right arm?"

Finn followed Day's instructions, nearly crushing his molars to stifle a groan. "Do you think he'll make it?"

"The bullet missed his heart. He's got a good chance."

Joining the three were Nathan and Hajo. Nathan did a good job masking his anxiety, but Finn could see through his act in spite of everything.

"He's stable."

"That was quick," said Day surprised, delighted nevertheless.

"Yeah, they didn't remove the bullet," said Nathan.

"What?" Finn strived to stand up, but the flashlight in Day's hand poked his open wound. In hot pain, he bleated and found his seat afresh.

"Easy," Day said to Finn, resuming the check-up.

"We should go after Arrakis," said Finn, looking directly at Nathan.

"You're not going anywhere," retorted Hajo, his arms crossed and his feet apart. "Your lack of judgment could cause your father to lose his job. I hope you're aware of that."

"I'm aware," Finn said, burdened with guilt.

"Then you better have some credible explanation for what you were doing in Pluviam's mission control."

Before Finn could compose a logical lie, Day distracted them all from their issues by announcing that a bullet was stuck in Finn's middle trapezius.

"Arrakis shot you too?" Hajo asked Finn.

Through the room, Finn's and Nathan's eyes met for a single instant, and although neither one uttered a word, both understood each other's looks.

"Yes," lied Finn, watching Nathan's facial expressions change from begging to thanking. It remained unnoticed by the rest.

Holding forceps in his right hand and the slim silver flashlight in his left, Day approached Finn's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Finn freaked while backing up.

"Flying a rocket," Day joked. "What's it look like I'm doing?"

"Frankly," Hajo smiled, his arms still crossed, "if you were flying a rocket, Finn's expression would be pretty identical to how it is right now."

"So not much different to when you fly it," Andy countered with a smug simper.

"Are you telling me I'm a bad pilot?" Hajo bantered with Andy.

While the group's teasers continued in the background, Day clarified for Finn that he was going to remove the bullet from Finn's body.

The tip of the forceps touched Finn's flesh and steadily bored through the hole. Pain shot up his neck like fire, he grunted with a grimace. Searing and blazing bursts pulsated around the wound as Day dug deeper. 

Grabbing the bullet intensified and amplified the pain. Finn's bloody muscle quivered, his arms were inflexible like steel, his fingers pierced the mattress, and inside his boots, his toes curled up so far he did not care if it would break them. Sharp stings lanced through his head and prismatic spots flashed before his sealed eyes. It felt like being shot all over, with the slight adjustment that this time Finn felt it. Every twist and turn, he felt it all. 

Day pulled out the golden pointy bullet and let it drop into a little metal bowl; a sprinkling of blood freckled its shiny bottom.

Six stitches later, Finn and Nathan made their way to Christopher's room. He was drugged and unconscious, impossible to address. Despite his imperfect state, he was on his way to recovery, and Finn felt grateful for it. 

Standing at his father's bed, Finn suffered from a shortfall of words, until he made a three-word-apology, and stopped at that. 

Nathan walked up to Finn and revealed from his pocket a black braided bracelet, torn to two ends.

"Your father wanted to return this to you. He never believed you were dead."

Having gaped at the bracelet in Nathan's flat hand, Finn picked it up with three fingers to scrutinize it. "Nitha," he spoke sotto voce.

"He said you never take it off."

Finn never did, until it had fallen off on Pluviam. He hadn't even noticed it happening, and only now did he realize that it had been gone all this time. Mortified, Finn squeezed it in his fist. Never did he feel more shame. 

Thinking about Lena, Nitha, and the lost ship caused the war in his head to rouse. Three different paths lay ahead of him, and he felt that one was more impossible than the other. Whichever choice he wanted to win, Lena was waiting for him, and no other thought in his head could overshadow that one. 

It made him question whether she was a distraction to his mission, or if perhaps she had become his mission.

While scratching the back of his head and looking out the window, Nathan thanked Finn for lying to Hajo. "I never meant to hit you. I didn't want to shoot the guy's face, after all, he's just a kid, so I aimed for his leg, but the bullet went through, and—you know the rest."

It couldn't have been easy for Nathan to apologize; his intimidated behavior and the absence of his usual pride and ego were evidential, and having acknowledged that, Finn had already opened his mouth to grant him forgiveness when an idea came to mind.

"I need something in return," he said in earnest.

Nathan's miffy eyes returned to judge Finn's confidence. "I don't understand."

"If you don't want me to tell everyone that you shot me, you'll have to do me a favor."

"You're blackmailing me?"

"I'm offering you a deal," Finn said. A subliminal affirmation.

"You have some nerves telling me what to do. You have no evidence to prove your false accusation."

"Are you sure about that? The bullet Day fetched was that of a rifle, not of a pistol."

"What's the deal?" asked Nathan, visibly reserved and skeptical, but discouraged, too.

"Look the other way."

"Come again?"

"For thirty seconds, close your eyes or stare at the wall, I don't care, just—look the other way."

"What for?"

"If I don't tell you, you won't have to lie."

"Lie to whom?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Hold on a second—" Nathan pushed his jaw forward, feeling dethroned and less powerful, and a bellicose provocation heated his throat.

"Don't make me tell my father that his best friend almost killed his son."

"It was an accident! I did it to save you, you ungrateful brat."

"By looking away now, you'll save many more. Arrakis is still out there, and somebody has to stop him from hurting more people. This is my only chance, the other's will never let me go."

"They're in the right for that. That boy has chosen his fate. He's wounded and will probably freeze to death."

"I won't rest until I'm sure."

"Then we'll send troops, but I'm not letting you go after him. It's a suicide mission. Your father would never forgive me."

"So you'd let him believe that you wanted to shoot me?"

"I'd let him hate me if that's what it takes to keep you safe."

Finn was dubious to believe that Nathan candidly felt emotional responsibility. With each ticking second of silence, Finn recognized that Nathan's most robust attribute was founded on mental strength. He was untouchable and determined not to fall for a deal. 

Blackmail had ended in a quick pitiful failure, and whatever Finn chose to try next to achieve his desired escape, it would not be a more compelling threat than his first attempt. A problematic situation Finn found himself in, and no time was given to design a plan B.

Nathan endeavored to hold his tongue, for he felt no ambition to carry on a conversation with Finn, but his dominant personality caused him to start a prying interrogation. "I'm curious. What's out there that you are willing to risk your life for? And that of others, too."

Guided by mistrust, Finn made no answer.

"What were you doing in Pluviam's KSP building?"

Finn remained mute.

"Why did you run away from the guards? How did you leave unnoticed? What were you doing on Demeter?"

"How did you know we were there?", Finn now said, confounded by Nathan's inquiry.

"We followed the ship that you stole to fly there. It had a tracker."

"You were there? When?"

"You were already gone, as informed to us by that tree-person that lived there."

"Kassiopeia? How did you find her?"

"We didn't. She found us; told us to leave 'her' planet. We imprisoned her on Pluviam for the theft of a space vehicle, the unauthorized launch, and the illegal inhabitation of an uncolonized planet. She's bound to face the death penalty."

Finn fought to find words. "How could you do that? Genus Terra was her home!"

"Lawbreakers must pay the price of their felonies."

"Then I shall be there, too! I've done wrongs just as much as Kassiopeia and Lena, so why am I not facing the consequences?"

"Because you are a member of the most eminent aeronautics and space program. For now at least. I'm sure your internship will be revoked the minute we land on Kepler."

Day burst into the room, apprised the escape of the girl, and called for Nathan's assistance, who flung a blameful look at Finn. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"I was here with you all this time," Finn said casually, "How could I be involved?"

Nathan, still deciding whether he should accept Finn's lie as a tenable argument, rushed down the hall with Day and Finn behind them.

"I'm going after her," Nathan said to Day as they reached the staircase. "You keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Can't you just leave her alone?" Finn begged.

"She doesn't belong here."

"But she could if you let her. She—"

"Phineas, stop!" interrupted Nathan, stomping his foot, "Let us hear no more of it now. She's got to go back; end of discussion."

By analyzing the looks tossed to the other, Day sensed that somebody was in danger of getting hurt if they stood at the top of the stairs for any longer. He thought it best to escort Finn to the room to watch over him.