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"Have you had a chance to figure out where we are?" I ask, interested

Marae scowls "It’s auess, I’d say this was deliberate, probably as far back as the Plague--after all, we did lose communication with Sol-Earth at that tiue Eldest, cut coation equip how both operations were housed in the saed electronics under theto sort it all out"

Even though she tries to disguise it behind an even-toned voice, I can still hear the disdain "I’m sorry about today I know the Feeder Level problems interrupted your work"

Marae eyes me "You did well today," she says finally

"Did well?" I snort "That was one step away from a riot Next time it will be a riot But--thank you It really helped that the Shippers stood on my side"

"The Shippers always stand on the side of the Eldest," Marae says simply, in the same tone she’d use if she were to tell me that the name of the ship is Godspeed or that the walls around us are steel "ButI hope you realize, Elder, that ouldn’t have needed to be down there if you’d put the ship back on Phydus If we didn’t have this kind of trouble, then the Shippers and I could focus on the probleine and the nav system"

"No Phydus," I say immediately, but the deterone Even if Stevy was poisoned by Phydus, Marae’s still right How much time asted--not just in the Shipper level, but across the whole ship--today? We have to work, or we’ll all die We can’t afford to break down like this

"Eldest," Marae starts

"Elder," I insist

"Without Phydus, things are going to keep getting worse They don’t care what kind of leader you are--they want someone else Anyone else Or no leader at all People are, at their heart, constantlytoward a state of entropy Much like this ship We’re all spiraling out of control That’s e need Phydus Phydus is control"

I sigh "I ads--or not--in the past three ht I could trust everyone to keep doing things the way they were"

"Can’t you see?" Marae asks gently, like ato her child "That’s exactly e need Phydus That’s the first thing you need to do, if you want to control the ship like Eldest"

"I don’t"

"You don’t what?"

"I don’t want to control the ship like Eldest," I say "Amy--" Marae narrows her eyes at the rowl in my voice now "Amy helped me see that Eldest never controlled the ship anyway; he just controlled the drugs I think I can do better than that I hope I can"

"You realize," Marae says, "without Phydus, this may mean mutiny"

I nod

I know that

I’ve known it all along

30

AMY

I STARE AT THE PRINTED LIST AND CURSE ORION ALOUD Another puzzle

I glance behind en lab Orion’s clue was sier down the list, counting Twenty-seven people on the list The doors on this level are locked with a keypad-- in 27 will unlock one of theoes immediately to the wi-com on my wrist I know Elder would want to open the door with me But I don’t push the button All I can think about is the anger in his voice when he ordered a curfew And--I cringe--I proht to my room and lock the door How mad will he be if he finds out I ca the list, I rush past the rest of the cryo chambers and head to the hallway on the far side of this level There are four doors here--each made of thick, heavy steel and sealed shut with its own keypad lock The hatch that leads out to space is through the second door--the keypad is sht There’s one door to the left of it, one door to the right At the end of the hallway is another door, the largest of all

I start with the door to the left of the hatch The keypad has both letters and nu in 27 first, but an error code flashes across the screen--ERROR: PASSCODE MUST BE FOUR DIGITS OR MORE I try 0027 next, and when that doesn’t work, I spell it out: t-w-e-n-t-y-s-e-v-e-n Nothing

I ht, past the hatch, and try the password on each of the other two locked doors

Still nothing

Frustrated, I recount the number of the people on the list, but it’s still twenty-seven I run back to the elevators and grab a floppy froainst Orion’s list Twenty-seven