ORION: There’s still the contingency plan. That’s still here. If the ship has to land, it can. If you haven’t figured it out, the last thing you need can be found in Godspeed.

Orion pauses, staring straight at the screen, as if he’s given me some enormous clue. But Godspeed is huge, and everyone is already making preparations to leave. How am I supposed to find one tiny clue in the whole ship?

ORION: But if it doesn’t have to . . . if there is any way to survive without landing the ship. You must. You must. I can’t protect this truth forever, I know that. You have to. If there’s any possible way for this ship to survive, you must do whatever it takes to stop the planet-landing.

What is Orion saying? I thought the whole point of his messages was to bring me to a point where I could make some big important choice. But now it’s like he’s saying the opposite.

ORION: No matter how bad things are on the ship, if you’re not dying out, if the solar lamp still works . . . stay here. And make sure the ship stays too. Amy, you’re my little contingency plan—but that’s just it. You must only lead the ship to the planet as a last res—

Orion doesn’t even get the last word out before his face disappears into loud static. I’m so surprised that I almost drop the floppy. The abrupt cut-off makes my stomach twist with dread, a feeling that doesn’t go away when the static fades to black. Heavy white letters scroll over the dark background, spelling out a phrase I’ve come to fear.

Follow the leader.

The video cuts off.

That phrase—follow the leader. The static. The fact that this video was on a floppy, not a mem card. This clue must also have been tampered with. I don’t know if Orion’s message continued—maybe he was going to tell me the code to get behind the locked door?—but I’m certain he wasn’t the one who left those words.

I look up now, carefully examining the armory. Before, I’d rushed in there looking for someone. Now, I look for something . . . and I find it. An empty shelf, a row of missing explosives.

“Oh, God,” I whisper, my hand unconsciously going to the cross at my neck.

I race out of the armory, straight to the elevator.

I’ve got to get to the Shipper Level. Now. I’ve got to get to Elder. If I’m sure of anything, it’s that whoever’s telling us to “follow the leader” doesn’t mean Elder—and those explosives are going to wipe out anyone who tries to land the ship.

Chapter 57

57

ELDER