I strain my ears to make out the indistinguishable sounds in the background—Orion’s muttering something, words I can’t make out over the sound of his footsteps marching back and forth in front of the camera. He picks up the camera, and a jumble of images wash over the screen. After a moment, he turns the camera back to his face, now cast in shadows.

ORION: I’m leaving this for whoever finds it. If something happens to me . . . if Eldest . . . you know. Well. If something happens to me, I figured someone ought to know.

Orion takes a deep breath, then opens his mouth to speak.

The video cuts off abruptly.

“That’s it?” Amy asks.

“No, look—there’s more.”

Scrolling words fill the screen again.

That was a long time ago, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Amy, you’ve seen the truth for yourself. You’ve seen the weapons. You know—you must know—that if we need weapons like this, then whatever’s on Centauri-Earth isn’t worth it. Lock up the armory, forget the passcode, and walk away.

Chapter 32

32

AMY

“WELL, FREX,” ELDER SAYS, LEANING AWAY AND LOOKING AT the blank floppy in disgust.

I look up at him inquiringly.

“All that floppy did was prove that he was paranoid—and that this whole clue-chasing thing has been pointless.”

“Pointless?” I pick the floppy up and stand as well.

Elder nods. “Pointless. I was hoping to learn how to restart the engine, but all we get from this vid is some big secret that Orion decided not to share with us. He sent us on a chase all over the ship to find clues that lead to a door that he just tells us to lock again. You don’t get much more pointless than that.”

I nod, folding the floppy and slipping it into my pocket. “There is definitely something sketch about this,” I say as soon as the last words fade to black.

“Sketch?”

“You know, weird.”

A wry grin slides across Elder’s face. “Every time I think I know you, you say something so . . . strange.”

“Ha!” I punch him on the arm. “I thought we’ve been over this before: you’re the one who speaks sketch.”

Elder pushes the heavy submarine-like door closed, and I make sure the door does lock behind us—but I’m not going to forget the code.

“I think Orion was scared,” I say, following Elder down the hall.

“He was loons.” Elder’s voice is bitter. “That was filmed around the time Eldest tried to kill him, and it’s clear he’d already lost it. Orion was paranoid—”