I dont know, said Tarrant, his face looking grey and pinched. I cant feel anything on my left side. I think I must be having a stroke.

Unable to think of anything to say, she made her way over to the astrogation chair.

Look down at the base, Tarrant instructed from behind her. Theres an emergency release lever, hidden inside a panel. You need to throw it.

She kneeled down next to the chair and searched around for a few moments. I see it. She had found a small hook in one side and, when it popped out, she saw a lever within. When she pressed this, it clicked into a recess.

Gabrielle scrambled quickly out of the way as the petals unfolded from around the chair above. Szymurski was seated within, his mouth slack and eyes rolling in their sockets, and she noticed that his chin and clothes were spattered with vomit. Judging by the smell, he had soiled himself, too.

She turned to Tarrant, who was staring at Szymurski with dread. When I spoke to him just a minute ago, he declared, he sounded fine.

No, she said. You spoke to something, but it wasnt him.

You need to get him out of that chair, said Tarrant. Can you manage it?

I think so.

She stepped gingerly up on to the base of the chair, and leaned in closer to Szymurski. Like Bash, he showed no apparent awareness of either her or his surroundings. Hooking a hand under one armpit and the other around his neck, she gently tugged him forward. He slumped against her, with his drool staining her jacket, and after another few seconds he slid out of the chair.

Leave those petals folded down, instructed Tarrant, as she pulled herself into the vacated seat. Though he had dragged himself around so as to see her better, he already sounded weaker than a moment before. Just lean your head back until it touches the plate built into the headrest.

The moment the back of her skull came into contact with the plate, menus blossomed around her.

Before you do anything, said Tarrant, you need to try and figure out where everyone else is. They should have come running here long before now.

Occupying the astrogation chair made her feel as if she had been born to sit in it which, in a sense, she had. Screens and menus and query options popped up the instant she thought of them.

As if its reading my mind, she thought, then realized that was precisely what it was doing.

The chair guided her swiftly to the information she needed. Theyre all dead, she told him, after a few moments investigation.

He closed his eyes for a moment. What happened to them? he asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.