“Well, you could follow the hallway for a kilometre to get to the next stairwell…”

Mitzi heard typing noises then a frustrated sigh from Nic. “It’s not pretty out there, doll. They’re blocking the door, plus every passageway you could take. I don’t know what to suggest.”

“Go through the roof.”

The voice was so quiet and unfamiliar that it made Mitzi jump. She turned to see Eoin, eyes fixed on his book. He shot her a glance before returning his gaze to the pages in front of him. “This is a load-bearing level. There’s a crawlspace above the ceiling where they put the support beams to prop up the buildings on the planet’s surface.”

Mitzi blinked at him. “How do you know that?”

“I read it.”

“Really?” Mitzi grinned as she crossed the room, feeling a little surge of pride for her black horse. “So that’s what the book is about! You’ve been reading up this station to prepare yourself! Clever, Eoin.”

She plucked the book out of the boy’s hands and glanced at the title, expecting it to be an instruction manual for station maintenance or possibly an architectural guide. She frowned at the book’s actual name. “Prominent English Monasteries of the Eighteenth Century. What the hell, Eoin?”

He shrugged, reaching for the book. “I already read about stations. Years ago. Now I’m learning about monks.”

“He reads a lot,” Ellen said, offering Mitzi a small smile, as though that explained her friend’s behaviour. Mitzi dropped the book back into Eoin’s hands with a sigh.

“Well. Regardless. You’re sure we can get into the roof?”

“Yes.”

Mitzi sucked on her teeth as she worked through the plan. If they could use the crawlspace to get out of the room then drop back into the hallway beside the stairs, they might just stand a chance of getting to the reactor before the Cymics noticed they were missing.

“Okay,” she said, waving Skye and Mir closer so she could explain the plan in whispers. “We’re going through the roof, then. Adam is in no fit state to fight, so he’ll need to rest here.”

“No, I want to fight!” Adam said, trying to push himself up from the lounge.

Skye placed a hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down.

“Perfect, because you’re going to be fighting that concussion until we can get you to a medical team. Now, can I get a volunteer to stay with him?”

Mitzi stared pointedly at Ellen, who only hesitated for a moment before raising her hand.

“Great, that’s settled. Stay with hot shot here, and don’t let him move around too much. I don’t think the Cymics will try to break in. We need food and water, but they have all the time in the world and are probably content to wait for us to come out. That said, keep as quiet as possible once we’re gone. Eventually, the Cymics will realise we got out, and it’s in everyone’s best interests if they think all of us have escaped. They should remove, or at least reduce, the number of guards around the door, which will make it easier to bust you out once we’ve set the detonator. Everyone clear on that?”