Five minutes of painful silence ticked by, then they heard a noise from the other side of the rock-fall.

“Someone’s there!”

“At last, thank god!”

They moved to the back of the cavern, keeping clear from any falling rocks and waited impatiently. It suddenly occurred to Simon that in a few moments, King would know exactly who he was. That was the trouble with fantasies, safe and totally under your control in your own mind, once you tried to act them out they became complicated, with consequences. And this one had the potential to become incredibly complicated. If only there was some way of hiding his identity, but he couldn’t think of anything he could do to avoid exposure; he would just have to deal with it. A minute later he had barely time to think “be careful what you wish for,” when the ceiling collapsed on top of them in a roar of dust and rubble.

Danyel regained consciousness in the sick bay aboard the Revel. He had a wealth of bruises and contusions, and a broken arm from when he had flung it up to protect his head. He opened his eyes. Thank god he could see again! His next thought was for Simon. “Excuse me,” he got the attention of Medical Officer Kumar, “the man who was with me? How is he?”

Kumar looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who that was. Several men were buried under the rocks and it was a race to get everyone out. We have eleven of you here in sick bay with varying injuries.” His expression turned grim. “Three of them are serious. Who was the man with you?”

“He said his name was Simon, but I don’t know if that was his surname or his first name.”

Kumar was already shaking his head, “I don’t have anyone of that name here, sorry. Perhaps it’s a nickname.” He peered more closely at Danyel. “How do you feel, yourself? Any pain?”

“I’m fine. Who are the men who are badly injured?” Surely if he was alive, Simon had to be too?

“Roy, Singh and Cohen. Roy and Singh were part of Alpha team, Cohen was with Beta team and the Captain.”

He knew who the two men from Alpha team were, he had met them at the briefing for the mission, but he didn’t know Cohen.

“How is the Captain?”

“One of the lucky ones. He’s up and about, all he got were some bruises and a broken nose. He’s been in to see everyone here a couple of times already this morning.” Kumar moved away then to tend to the next patient.

Danyel had given himself firm instructions to put the incident, no, the experiment out of his mind and under no circumstances to try and find out who Simon was, but he couldn’t help glancing around to see if anyone seemed familiar. Would he know the man if he met him face to face? He could hardly go around kissing everyone to find out for certain. No, he would simply have to try and forget all about it. If Simon ever wanted to find him again, he knew exactly where and who he was.

Danyel was back on duty after a couple of days, working hard to fit in to his new ship; meeting the men, getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of the other officers. Second Lieutenant Bailey, who had organised their rescue, was a good man to work with, straight forward in his dealings with people and efficient at what he did. He found the Captain more difficult to analyse; he seemed to tense up when he was with him, a reaction noticeably different from his easy interaction with the other officers. Not that he was unfriendly, just more formal. Perhaps he was one of those who found it hard to be natural with a man who was also an om.

Danyel was the only om amongst the officers, not an uncommon situation in ships of the P108 and P112 type. The Jerez, where he and Ferris had served as First and Second Lieutenants, had been an exception. He shrugged. He would just continue to be his normal self and hopefully the Captain would soon come around. At least he knew he wasn’t Simon, thank-you-god. (How awkward would that have been!) The Captain had been with Beta team, leading a separate group at the time of the explosion, with Harris and Cohen, the man who was in critical care.

Despite his best intentions, Danyel kept scanning the men of Alpha team, trying to work out who Simon had been through a process of elimination. He was able to exclude three men instantly, one was bald and the others had long hair, tied back from their faces. He thought a fourth was too short and a fifth too stocky. Simon had been a little shorter than himself he decided, and solid but not broad. He remembered thinking his nose had been broken in the past. It had felt a bit crooked, but that didn’t really seem to apply to any of the men, not even Harris or the Captain; although of course one couldn’t tell with Captain Hayes because he had broken his nose in the explosion. Perhaps it had felt more noticeable than it looked.

In the end he narrowed it down to two men, Corporal Larsen or Private Garcia, although neither seemed exactly right and they both treated him quite normally without any awkwardness. Surely Simon had to feel at least some tension when they met again? Unless he was an incredibly good actor, of course. Mind you, one would think someone who had been successfully denying his sexuality for years must have some acting ability.