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She watched in horror as the vehicle began to accelerate away, the black case that held the Ireland object still firmly clutched in its robotic arms

Skyler floated free He cursed into his ed, still not understanding as happening

"She’s taking it, Skyler!" Tania said

He seeht himself

Tania saw no alternative She jus and rocketed across the void of space toward the ERV, gaining quickly on it The craft’s sines fired another pulse, but the craft was not designed to maneuver quickly Tania held out her ar continuous blast fro toward the fleeing ship

She ed her speed, sla her teeth, Tania fired another quick pulse and closed the distance again This tis protruding from the craft’s hull

Stuck now to the ship, thefarther aith each second Tania weighed her options Her suit’s mask showed a broken link between herself and the craft, so there would be no talking Jenny out of her act of betrayal On top of that, the wo back inside would doshe could think to do Pulling herself across the craft’s hull, she went to the robotic ar straps

The craft accelerated again, but the increase in speed was not enough to throw Tania off She tried to ignore how far they’d ht be i at her as she worked the winches that secured the straps Getting back hoht be impossible Jenny had their air, and was their ride If she left …

Out of nowhere Skyler appeared next to her He collided with the hard black case and alrunt froht," Tania blurted "We shouldn’t have trusted her"

"I don’t think she’s one of Russell’s," Skyler shot back, working the last strap "Anyway, she’s not getting this goddareed," Tania said with ether they freed the box and drifted away from the ERV a fewSkyler to e of the box that pointed toward the Builder ship The hexagon on the massive hull looked very small now

She sed, aimed her arm behind herself, and fired With the added mass of Skyler and the case, she had to maintain her pulse of thrust for what seean to move appreciably

The ERV started to fall away from them, toward Earth

Perhaps Jenny won’t notice we--

No such luck Tania felt a shiver when the vehicle’s thrusters pivoted and fired again, pushing the craft in their direction It still receded, but not as fast

Tania forced herself to turn away and focus on the destination, the hexagon It took a full thirty seconds to cross the distance again, and by the time they neared the door and Tania fired her thruster to slow thelanced back The ERV was closing on the to raiant ship she heard Skyler suck in a sharp breath

"Shit," he gasped

"What?"

"So," he said

Tania leaned out to see past hional patch, only one rean to trace the inner edge of the hexagon A shadow, she realized The patch moved inward, then separated into individual sections she hadn’t noticed before These sections pulled outward in a coordinated dance, revealing a tunnel that led into darkness

They were heading right into it

Tania whipped around in ti toward them with suicidal speed In desperation she pointed her thruster at the ERV and fired The fuel ht to zero in a , Tania could just see Jenny’s face in the small portholeat the cockpit She looked as terrified as Tania felt, and then she closed her eyes

"Too fast!" Skyler shouted His words cut off then Heforh, into the Builder ship

A second later the ERV slah the newly foronal opening Loose bits of ushed frole door Tania knew instinctively what this meant The crew cabin was not pressurized The cockpit was In the violence of the impact, both the outer door and inner hatch had ruptured

She and Skyler kept drifting inward In all the cooing, but it registered with her now that they were ht tunnel The cruonal opening, bounced off the hull of the Builder ship and floated away

Adrift, dead

Our ride hoht

Chapter 53

The Core Ship

13MAR2285

SKYLER GATHERED HIS wits before she did He fired his own thruster to stop their progress They’d traveled a full hundred meters down the corridor

"What now?" he asked

Too stunned to speak, Tania just stared at the dark passageway, and the illuh the now-tiny entrance "I don’t know," she said honestly "That craft was our way hoet another one sent out? Can we contact Tiely distant

"Try," he said eh strength in his voice to co the ERV crash After a calain to connect via the ERV The link still showed red Frowning, she tried a different tactic and activated her eency beacon The suit’s transh, but perhaps if they ca …

An idea hit her Tania jumped back a menu and then entered the one that listed other comms in her proximity Skyler’s suit showed first

Just below his entry, she saw the ERV listed Its entry blinked red "That’s so, at least," Tania said