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I don’t like the way he says "disappear" in a voice that holds so aze shifts to me "I tried to help I made the patches, and when Elder didn’t use them, I did He could have used those deaths to instill the proper amount of fear required to de to Elder’s emotionless face "No" He shoves Elder’s body Elder doesn’t resist, and he crashes against the Phydus machine "As time went on," Doc continues, "it became more and more obvious that e needed was for him to step down He was the one who needed to follow the leader The warnings were for hiht ahead, his body slack

"And Marae?" I ask

"I tried to talk to her Of everyone on the ship, she should have been on Orion’s side But no She was for Elder"

Doc places the wires on top of the Phydus pu is not his main concern He strolls across the room, back to Orion’s cryo chahs, a sound filled with disappointht he could be or Elder may one day beco you to make the choice about the shuttle I let you find Orion’s vids, but I should have destroyed theive me Orion’s wi-com?" I ask "You must have known it would lead us to the clues he left!"

Doc glances up at me "I did it," he says, "because Orion asked me to"

And it really is as si you want, but Doc’s loyal Not to Eldest, not even to Orion, and certainly not to Elder He’s loyal to the syste to the system, Orion should be the next leader, and, therefore, the person Doc will blindly obey--even when he disagrees

But--this doesn’t ave me the first clue, then who tampered with the sonnet book and the clue in the armory?"

"I did" Doc checks a dial on Orion’s cryo chamber

"You? But--why?"

He looks at me as if he can’t quite believe ho I am "I didn’t do it for me This ship--everyone on board--we could all die if we land on Centauri-Earth Die But," he adds, "I’m not unreasonable I’ll let the Eldest make the final decision If he says the shuttle should be launched, well, I will step aside I just didn’t think he was right in choosing you as his decision maker"

I finally understand--he altered the clue in the are in the sonnet book because he didn’t want me to succeed But he still left the book so I could find it He didn’t want me to find the clue, but he couldn’t disobey Orion all the way

"Did you ured if you got in there, one of you would use them"

"And you didn’t care which one of us died?"

"If it helps," Doc says, turning back to the dials on Orion’s cryo chamber, "I’d hoped it would have been you"

It doesn’t help, actually

"You never did realize the thing I needed you to understand," Doc continues, adjusting another dial "You got so obsessed hat Orion was showing you that you never sahat I was showing you"

"Yeah?" I say "And as that?"

"That the iet off the ship, Amy, we can’t Orion hoped that one day, far in the future, it would be possible, but no The arerous We have to stay here We have to ue Eldest"

I can’t help ree, A a casual conversation between friends "But the Eldest system works"

"Eldest isted, sick," I say "You saw him at the end He was too desperate for power"

"Yes, yes," Doc says dismissively "There are aberrations in every Elder and Eldest, that is well documented, and Eldest should have stepped dohen Orion cae And Orion--not Elder--should have become Eldest"

"Orion was a psycho!" I shout I start tointo Bartie’s shoulder as I do He stares blankly ahead

This was the wrong thing to do The gun tightens in Victria’s hand--she loves Orion, after all--and Doc moves closer to the cryo chamber

"He is neither a ‘psycho,’ nor is he Orion," Doc says, turning a dial on the chamber door "He is Eldest" He looks back at Elder, still standing motionless by the Phydus machine "You never wanted to be Eldest, did you? You alanted to be just Elder That’s why you wouldn’t change your nah to be Eldest You’re still just a child, preoccupied more with your silly infatuation than responsibility"

Elder--patched and silent--nods in agreement

"Don’t talk about Elder like that!" I roar "Orion was a coho killed helpless people!"

Doc turns toward ave you your precious planet, not Elder Even when he was nothing but a block of ice, he still controlled you as you searched the whole ship for his clues That’s the power of a real leader"

He’s so calm, so even andpeople in Orion’s na a coup to overthrow Elder--even now, there’s no fire in Doc’s eyes He’s just quietly and steadfastly ht He’s putting us all in our assigned places Orion as Eldest Elder as Elder And orize And that’s the real reason why he’s got Victria pointing a gun in my face

And I know for sure now, I know it deep down inside et out of this I don’t fit in with Doc’s plan because I don’t fit in on Godspeed, and Doc can’t stand to have so--someone--stick out He needs everyone to be perfectly the same, perfectly calm, and perfectly obedient to the proper Eldest, and I never, ever, will be

I am so certain that Doc won’t let me out of this rooer and end it all now Instead, Doc punches a code into Orion’s cryo chamber