I don't mean to mess with your head, but...

<snip>
“You're right Cass, the huzards and the rodents, and whatever else is out there evolved here. To go back and change what happened would erase them from history, and that would be make me no better than the bug's that took everything from me....I guess i just figured everyone wanted to go 'home'....I was blind to anything that fell outside of what happened that day...I'm sorry"
</snip>

Cass frowned
“I had no idea time was so mutable” she sighed “If that’s the case, it’s less about the critters that have evolved on this crate, and more about the untold billions that would be affected by a species of murderous insects and an additional five hundred people suddenly being brought back into play”
“Well, it’s mutable, but not totally elastic” Jay explained, gesturing vaguely to try and illustrate his point “It’s like there are nodes that emerge around which the rest of a reality’s timeline flows; some elements can change, but major events are usually pretty static, and take a whole lot of work to entirely scrub from a timeline – It’s likely that the Hymenoptera would have stayed dead, but someone else would have killed them”
“Huh” Cass muttered “So in spite of that, we could all still just wink out of existence if some dickhead in the Time Agency decides we’re loose ends that need tidying up?”
“They’re not like that” Jay said simply
“Are you really sure?” Cass countered “I mean, I’ve just got to ask what they did to you!?”
“How do you mean?”
“Jay, I’m sorry to hear about Katrina and the baby” Cass said softly “But for you that was six hundred years ago; most people get over a bereavement, or at least learn to live with it, in around five to seven, so I’ve got to wonder what sort of conditioning you’ve been subjected to, to keep you focussed on that one terrible day for more than six centuries?”
“I…” Jay frowned
“You probably weren’t even aware of it” Cass soothed “Or maybe you’ve just had six hundred years of false memories implanted and have been dumped on board here with a bunch of subconscious triggers, primed to activate under certain conditions - Who’s to say what the Time Agency's plans are?”
Jay scratched the back of his head, his brow furrowing
“I hadn’t considered that” he admitted
“Oh, don’t worry Sparky” she smiled, sliding off from her crate of mushy peas “I’ll give you a deep trawl as soon as I’m able, and we’ll see what’s inside your head, and what, if anything, we need to do anything about it – it’ll be fun!”
“Wow” Jay muttered “Thanks”
“And for what it’s worth…” Cass sighed after a moment’s reflection “You pretty much got both barrels there; I… I’m sorry too”
They regarded each other in silence for a moment before Jay cleared his throat
<snip>
"As for heading for engineering" Jay said "That's all well and good....but we need that access key to do anything once we're down there. Honestly, i'm amazed that life support has lasted as long as this as it is....how about we split up? Some of us head down to engineering, and see what you can do...the rest of us go after that key.....we'll work out the rest from there..."
</snip>
“I’ll take engineering” Cass volunteered “Although I’ve got to say I’m not mad keen on us all splitting up – I’ve seen too many teen slasher flicks to think that it’s ever going to be a good idea, and I’m worried as well that trying to chase around after the key might be the wrong thing to do - Are we sure that Holly is really going to relinquish control of the ship if we go waving the thing around in the drive room? He may be mad and bad, but he’s still bloody clever – it might be a trap…”
Seymour rolled his eyes
“Every silver lining has a cloud for you, doesn’t it? How do you even sleep at night?”

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