Viridian code slowly filled up the screen. Each command was entered with deliberate precision. The code unfolded within the confines of the virtual world. Line by line, with meticulous strokes, Matt was filling up a canvas with art.

He painted each line of code into the program, his will pouring through his fingertips like so many drops of dye.

Creation was a tender act. It required not a rigid mind, but a flexible one. Gingerly, he connected the strands together. With delicate intent, the desire of his heart took shape.

The four walls came up first, solidly built and more spacious than the European flats he was used to. Many programmers overlooked the walls, but Matt now crafted them with a deliberate hand. Walls of the real world were meant to protect and separate. The Great Wall had been erected to keep out invaders from foreign lands. The walls of homes kept out the harsh elements and the danger of robbers. This was no different, really. Matt had already felt the keen sting of watching his work unravel at the hands of the Zin. There would be a reckoning for what Zinyak did to Nyte Blayde. Today's work, however, was not one of revenge.

It was one of adoration.

He wove lines of security into the coding, ensuring the Zin could not exploit the same weakness they had used before. The framework that held his masterpiece would be safe, he was sure of it.

The details of the room sprang to life with clarity of purpose that defied spontaneity. He had thought about this scene for months. Now that he sat down to program, it sprang as easily to his fingertips as the memory itself.

Seating, carpet and bookshelves materialized, rising up out of the sea of green coded lines.

Once they had taken shape, he turned to his colors. His palette stretched out before his mind's eye. In reality, it was a rather unromantic string of numbers. But to his heart, the code arched like a veritable rainbow. He dipped his paintbrush into this fountain of color and each stroke bled love into his code.

"Got anything on Shaundi yet?" A feminine voice purred into his ear. The sound of it wrenched him from his work abruptly. He snapped his head around and found himself nose to nose with Rain. She was starting to make a habit of sneaking up on him while he was working.

"Hm? Oh, not yet." He couldn't help but notice there were small flecks of gold in her eyes. Matt grinned nervously at her. "I have some promising leads, though. David has a hunch that the Zin ships must be coded somewhere in the program. It makes sense, if you think about it. There has to be a gateway between the prison program and the physical cells holding the prisoners."

"I knew I made the right call naming him Vice President. Man seems to have the Zin in his sights."

"Mmm." Matt murmured in agreement and couldn't help but detect the smell of machinery on her.

"What's that you've got there?" She queried suddenly, leaning across his shoulder to tap the screen.

Matt made a sudden motion to minimize the program, pulling up a map of the stars. "Oh it's nothing." He hedged, lacing his fingers behind his head and doing his best to appear nonchalant.

Rain tilted her head this way and that, giving him a dubious look. Her lips curved upward into a smile and she teasingly slapped him on the shoulder. It was not a particularly hard blow, but it knocked Matt several inches forward in his seat. "Plotting to wreck another of my aircraft? Need I remind you that you're on this one?"

Miller gulped and wheezed out a nervous laugh. Rain had not let go of his shoulder and began to slowly squeeze it. The fabric of his space suit sighed in protest.

"It's a surprise." He relented at last. The woman's grip released.

Matt could not see her face from his position, so he turned about in his chair. She wore a curious, guarded expression on her fine features.

"What kind of surprise?" She asked after a moment, looking down at him.

Matt rose from his seat and nudged her with his shoulder. "It's a place in the program. It will be somewhere the crew can go if they can't get to a portal out. You know, a safe haven."

From his new standing position, Miller noticed something new. Rain had been keeping one hand behind her back.

"What's that you've got there?" He echoed back the woman's question.

The smile returned to her face. It was strikingly attractive when paired with those gold flaked eyes. That smile seemed to whisper promises all on its own. It made his chest ache in an entirely pleasant way.

"A surprise." She shot back impishly and closed what little distance separated them.

Standing, Matt was a shade taller than her. It was refreshing to have outgrown the feeble height boasted by his teenage years.

She lifted the hand from behind her back, keeping it tightly closed over something. Her fingers smoothed over the collar of his space suit and then gripped it. She tugged it down, forcing Matt down an inch or so until they were level with each other.

Matt pursed his lips slightly in expectation of a kiss, but was surprised when something metallic tickled his chest.

He looked down. A crudely fashioned pink star was pinned to his collar.

The look on Miller's face must have tickled Rain, for she let out a husky laugh that made her cheeks color in a fetching way.

"How did you make this?" He asked incredulously. The woman's eyes sparkled with undisguised mirth.

"Weeeelll," she drew the word out with a singsong voice. "I was going through the engine room to find something for CID and discovered that some of that stuff was just the right shade of pink."

The thought of her pulling important wiring out of control panels gave him pause long enough to ask "you're sure it wasn't to the life support?"

Rain let out another laugh that brought the color back to her freckle dusted face. "Don't worry." She tittered.

If he had been asked to share his feelings at that moment, Matt would have been at a loss. He was adrift in a medley of sweet musings.

"I was just thinking," Rain continued, "that since I had your star all those years, it really should go back to its owner."

Matt smiled boyishly at her. "Thank you. I really don't know what to say."

Rain chortled again and pulled his collar down for the second time. "Say 'give me some sugar.'" She was just about to close her lips on his when the reedy voice of Kenzi broke the two apart.

"Boss, we've got it."