“My mother never knew anything,” I said. “And my father did not kill anybody. Your whole mission was pointless before it even began.”

“I know that now,” he said. “And I will make sure everybody knows it. I will make sure the whole world knows it. I promise you, Zahra, I will see that they learn the truth. But we can’t do that alone. I’m contacting Pangong. Captain Chavannes will help.”

He was not asking for agreement. “Pangong, this is House of Wisdom. Captain Chavannes, do you copy?” He adjusted something and tried again. “Pangong, this is House of Wisdom. Do you copy? I don’t understand. The radio is functional, but the transmission is blocked by a new command code—shit.”

A low hum rose from the walls and machines around us. I felt it as much as I heard it, a vibration born in my bones, at the base of my throat, behind my eyes. I looked around frantically, but Malachi’s attention was fixed on the terminal.

“Shit,” he said again. He tapped in a series of commands, but nothing happened. “Shit shit shit!”

“What is it? What’s that sound?” I asked.

“It’s the ship,” Malachi said. “It’s waking up. Panya and Dag are on the bridge.”

My stomach twisted. “They have control of the ship?”

“Not yet,” Malachi said with an expression that was almost a smile, or a grimace. “My skeleton key can only get them so far. We have to stop them before they get farther.”

•   •   •

The ring corridor around the ship’s bridge was lit with bright white light. I had thought the low dormancy red was bad, giving the ship a dingy look no matter where we went, but with the glaring emergency lights on, House of Wisdom looked even more like a derelict. There were splatters of blood with no attendant corpses, handprint smears along the wall, discarded tools floating in corners, doors scratched, panels smashed, wires exposed.

To say that Malachi and I had a plan would be more generous than we deserved. All we knew was that we had to get onto the bridge. We could not risk allowing Panya and Dag to control this ship and welcome Homestead to House of Wisdom.

“Get over there. Move.”

I stopped at the sound of Dag’s voice from up ahead. His words were firm, with a trace of impatience.

The answer came from a woman: “Okay, okay. We’re going.”

I felt only a small pang of surprise. They had found the hostages. I pulled myself along the curved wall until I saw the entrance to the bridge. Malachi was right behind me. I had no idea what he was thinking. I didn’t know who he was, now that he had shed his false persona. I didn’t even know if Malachi was his real name. He nodded, urging me through the door.