At first, I recited snatches of my own poems, but their subject matter proved to be so relentlessly grief-stricken that I started muttering the lyrics from popular songs instead. They might have been artistically inane, but they were catchier and more uplifting than anything that had fallen from my pen.

Towards the end of the second day, I began to worry. My food was gone and we did not appear to be appreciably closer to the distant sun. If my destination lay with the white ships, I didn’t think I’d last long enough to reach it. The distances involved were huge, and the lift simply wasn’t moving quickly enough.

What a cruel irony it would be, I thought, to have been spared a quick death only to expire slowly of hunger and thirst, trapped in a cage the size of a large wardrobe.

In my head, the part of me that was Ona Sudak quailed at the thought. She wanted to pound her fists against the glass door and weep for release. Captain Annelida Deal, on the other hand, decided to bide her time. At some point, this stupid contraption would arrive at its destination. If I happened to still be alive when it did, I would need all my training, cunning and strength to survive. So, right now, the best and most sensible thing I could possibly do was to rest and conserve my energy. I was a soldier and, by god, I was determined to face the unknown with pragmatism and military discipline. If my fate was to become a desiccated bag of skin and bone on the floor of this floating prison, I would accept it with dignity. I would be patient, and hope for the best possible outcome, while simultaneously preparing myself for the worst.

Forty: Trouble Dog

FORTY

TROUBLE DOG

As we neared the outskirts of the Gallery system, I received a second transmission from Adalwolf. This time, he had given his hollow-cheeked avatar the aspect of an emaciated warrior god, clad in mirror-bright armour with a mane of fiery hair billowing out behind him, the flames seemingly streaming like windblown tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Sister,” he said, “I cannot help but notice your failure to heed my advice.”