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"What is it?" he asks as he reads the page

"It’s a list of everyone in the military who’s frozen on the cryo level I double-checked it against the official records" Elder looks confused, but then I add, "It’s the next clue Orion left for mefor us"

Elder stares at the paper, brow furrowed in thought "The last clue was about adding things up"

"Yeah," I say "I counted--there are twenty-seven people on that list But I tried twenty-seven--the nu it out--it didn’t work None of the doors opened"

I don’t knohat I expected from Elder--for him to suddenly remember another locked door soically add up the list to so other than twenty-seven, but all he does is say "Hmmm," and toss the paper back to me He slides out of bed, and once he’s past the covers, I see that he’s not wearing pants In fact, all he has on are a pair of boxer shorts--hter than the boxers boys wore on Earth I stare openly When I’d raced up here and plopped onto his bed, I hadn’t thought about what he’d be wearing--but now--

Elder laughs, and I notice his smirk

"Oh, shut up and put so a pillow at hi as Elder--now fully clothed--leadsCenter He pushes his wi-com to start the tube, then turns and holds his hand out to o after you," I say, stepping back

Elder raises an eyebrow, a hint of a s on his lips "Come on, just ride with me"

We’d done it once before, of course But that hen I was half-drugged with Phydus, and beforebefore I’d started thinking about how life stuck on a ship wouldn’t be so bad if Elder walked around pantsless ain, Elder pullsaroundthat I still don’t knohat to do with his touch, but his grip is firh to make me certain that he’d never letin a sort of sidestep-twirl He uses his free hand to touch his wi-com

"Ready?" he whispers The words float around my face like a summer breeze

I nod, because I can’t find any of rav tube co in and around,to our bodies Elder tightens his grip around es us into thin air

We fall for a moment, in darkness between the levels, andpull of the grav tube, but also fro --we’re being sucked down, fast, faster than a person should fall I cower against Elder’s grasp, clutchingmy face into his shoulder, but his hold onchaos

A burst of light--we’ve gone through the entire Shipper Level and are already being sucked down into the Feeder Level The tube bends--the Feeder Level has a curved roof, and the angleon top of Elder I think about wiggling away, but my body doesn’t want to abandon the safety of Elder’s arlimpse past his shoulder, once, and see the Feeder Level stretched out beforeit, not hate or love, and so I don’t watch the fields and buildings zooround

And then the winds called mess now--and we bob next to each other in the air for aon the platfor my hair behind my ears "Not so bad"

I step back, off the platfore to smooth his hair down

As we step onto the trail, our shoulders brush I step away and walk a little in front of him

"Come on," I say, unable to meet his eyes

31

ELDER

AMY LEANS AGAINST THE CRYO-LEVEL WALL, WATCHING AS I approach the keypad by the locked door to the left of the hatch

"I told you," Amy says, "twenty-seven doesn’t work"

"Let ain," I say Amy thrusts the wrinkled paper into nore it

"They look like submarine doors" The catch in Amy’s voiceto res I didn’t think they were real But then again, I used to think the ocean couldn’t possibly be as big and deep as Amy said it was

"They’re all seal locked," I say "The door to the Bridge is that way, too, and the hatches that connect the different levels In case there’s dae to the ship and one level’s exposed, we can seal it off and" I drift off,back to the list

"My father took me to see the USS Pampanito when I was kid--I only re it about a h the tiny hallways Pampanito! Pampanito! Pam-pa-NITO! My dad tried to catch h one of the sives a tiny laugh, but the sound dies quickly I glance up frolassy

I will do anything to ive her the stars I type the key code in quickly--Godspeed--and the hatch door flies open, exposing thedots in the sky

I reed everything I thought they changedspecks of light aI don’t believe in theiving them the freedo the stars--the real stars--here Some came Far fewer than I’d expected And then I realized: when you’ve lived your entire life within ten square et the outside It makes it less painful to be trapped on a ship if you tell yourself it’s not a trap

That’s the whole reason why I can’t tell everyone about the stopped engine