“I gave him so many chances. To do what I needed him to do to fulfil his potential. But he couldn’t commit.” Valerie’s forehead smoothed. “There is no place on Cavendish for him.”

Naomi’s breath came short and fast. “Bullshit.”

Valerie’s head reared back, a cobra flaring its hood.

“No.” Naomi pressed on. “This is murder. Genocide on a global scale. You can’t use morality here. There is none.”

Valerie’s eyes flashed. “Don’t test me, Naomi. You’ve already pushed me enough.”

“I guess you can take comfort that your DNA will live on,” she said, her voice bitter as wormwood.

“Indeed it will,” Valerie said. “Hixon.”

The pilot’s head snapped up, almost to attention. A soldier through and through.

“Stay the course. We’ll jump on schedule.”

Hixon’s spine was straight as the ghostly blueprints behind her. “Valerie…” she began.

“Dr. Black,” Valerie corrected. “That’s a direct order, Hixon. Now’s the time to decide: are you staying to the mission or wavering?”

Lebedeva shifted subtly by the door.

Hixon’s shoulders fell, her head dipping. She slid past Lebedeva, who watched with narrowed eyes.

“Jerrie!” Hart called after her. Hixon paused, but didn’t turn back. Hart’s face creased in betrayal.

“Now,” Valerie said. “Hart, you are to be confined to your quarters. Naomi, you’ll be in the lab. Lebedeva will bring through your mattress. You’re to keep tending to the crops and processing nutriblocks. You’ll both stay there at least until we jump. After that. Well. It depends on you.”

Lebedeva took cable ties from the pocket of her coveralls. She clamped Naomi’s hands behind her back first. Naomi debated fighting back, but between Lebedeva’s strength and her growing belly, she didn’t have the bravery. Lebedeva’s brows drew down, as if she guessed Naomi’s thoughts.

Hart’s nostrils flared, and she made a run for the door. Lebedeva caught her by the ankle with a hooked foot, and Hart went down, hard. She struggled, and Lebedeva wrenched her arms back, securing the cable. Naomi clenched her jaw. What was the point in running? Where could they go on a locked ship?

“Earth is gone,” Valerie said. She looked at Naomi, and Naomi alone, as if pleading for her to understand. The plastic of the cable ties dug into Naomi’s skin. “It is a fossil. A past civilisation we’ll study on Cavendish, no different than the ancient Romans or Egyptians. All empires fall. But we can build something that lasts.”

Valerie drifted closer, rested a hand on Naomi’s cheek. “I suggest you start thinking about what you want your place in this new world to be. What sort of life on Cavendish you want my grandbaby to have. We can make it a blank slate for the both of us. It’s up to you.” Lebedeva tugged Naomi, dragging both her and Hart from the room.