I finally turned around to face forward and was shocked to see how massive the ship was. When we first came inside the hangar, I’d thought our ship on the far side was the same size as the other two we passed—maybe a bit bigger—but it was easily three times the size. It loomed overhead, impossibly large, like a monster coming to swallow me whole. I stepped inside on shaky legs. Turning back wasn’t an option, especially with a tracker in me.

“The 78X4 is the biggest in SpaceTech’s fleet,” Ahiga said without looking back at me.

I struggled to keep up with him as he started through the ship. I wouldn’t have known it on the catwalks, but Ahiga could move faster than I’d thought for someone his size. “78X4?”

“I didn’t make it up.” Ahiga shrugged. “They’ll be dropping off supplies for the base, and picking up lucole. To move that crap around you need a heavy-duty ship. Every speck of it weighs way more than it should.”

“Right.” I kind of liked that the crystal that fueled all of SpaceTech was a pain in the ass to manage.

The ship wasn’t as bustling or fancy as I’d pictured. I assumed that there’d be comp panels on the walls or more doors. Maybe more people. Just more of everything. But from what I could tell, it was all empty hallways, not unlike what we’d walked through to get to the ships. No windows. Everything was shades of gray—the floors, ceiling, and walls.

As we walked deeper into the ship, I felt like it was closing in around me. My palms were sweating even though the air conditioning was blasting hard enough to chill my skin. A row of dim lights lit the floor and ceiling where they met the walls, but that was the only light. The only sound was our echoing footsteps. I couldn’t hear anything from outside. It was like an enormous gray coffin.

I wondered if that was what SpaceTech had wanted. It would’ve been easy enough to brighten up the ship a little, but having only been inside it for a few moments, I felt a certain doom. Like anyone in here was heading to their death. But that could’ve easily been me projecting my feelings about where I was going.

I wasn’t sure what would be in store for me on Abaddon, and I didn’t really know if I could keep my promise to Declan to survive. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try, but fear was making each step I took into the ship harder.

Finally, after an endless zigzagging hallway, we came to a door that whooshed open as we approached. The air inside the room brushed against my face, sending chills across my skin.