The glass box inside is missing a lid—it broke in pieces when Doc and Elder dropped it in their haste to rescue me from drowning in my chamber.

I’m thrown back into that time. I remember being in pain, but my memory of what hurt and how has faded with time. Instead, I remember Elder’s deep soothing voice. I was so scared, so disorientated, and his voice pulled me through the fog of terror.

I force myself to quit thinking about waking up and instead focus on the actual cryo chamber. The glass is cool to the touch, and I marvel at how slender the box is, how my arms and legs pressed against the glass as I struggled to escape.

My hands stop.

There—right where my heart would be if I were lying in the box now—is a single piece of paper, folded in half.

My hand shakes as I unfold it.

MILITARY PERSONNEL ABOARD GODSPEED

1. Katarzyna Bergé

4. Lee Hart

12. Mark Dixon

15. Frederick Krasczinsky

19. Brady MacPherson

22. Petr Plangariz

26. Theo Kennedy

29. Thomas Collins

30. Ximena Roge

33. Alastair Potter

34. Aigus Wu

38. Jeremy Doyle

39. Mariella Davis

41. Robert Martin

46. Grace Spivey

48. Dylan Farley

52. Iñes Gomez

58. Aislinn Keenan

63. Emma Bledsoe

67. Jagdish Iyer

69. Yuko Saitou

72. Huang Sun

78. Chibueze Kopano

81. Mary Douglass

94. Naoko Suzuki

99. Juliana Robertson

100. William Robertson

Chapter 29

29

ELDER

AFTER REMINDING DOC TO STOP BY LIL’S HOME BEFORE taking Stevy’s body away, I help the Shippers inspect the City streets. Faces peer through windows as I pass. Sometimes I catch a meek glance marred by worry and fear, but more often the people glare down at me. They may have obeyed my curfew, but their eyes are defiant, angry.

My stomach roars—my last real meal was yesterday—and I only stop to eat when Marae insists. The streets are empty, but we don’t leave until the solar lamp clicks off. As I ride the grav tube up to the Shipper Level, I can’t help but notice that nearly every light is on in the City. I’m pretty sure I can guess what they’re staying awake to talk about.

Most of the Shippers remain in the City—they make their homes here, after all, only coming to the Shipper Level to work—but Marae follows me up the grav tube. As our footsteps ring out across the metal floor, I realize that tonight, after Marae leaves the Shipper Level and I return to the Keeper Level, I’ll be even more separated from the rest of the ship—two empty levels, all for me.