“If it’s responding to an order, it would have to transmit its position to Orbital Control,” Boudicca said. “And in order to do that, it has to connect to the master system. There might be a glitch that lets it show, especially if they aren’t using this system often. It’s one thing for a ship to be dark when it’s still, but once it starts maneuvering, there are a lot more variables.”

“Protocol,” Dag said, with satisfaction. “They are always predictable.”

“There’s a dark ship,” Boudicca said firmly, “and it began to maneuver as soon as we docked. That’s not a coincidence.”

We didn’t predict this. I looked again toward the dead woman. We should have predicted it. Liars and deceivers. Adam had warned us, long before our mission plans were made real, that the Councils were always watching. Their eyes were everywhere. They were as hungry as buzzards circling a dying man in the desert. Wherever we go, they will be watching, he had said once, his words ringing with certainty. Another planting of crops had just failed because of poison in the soil, and Adam paced before us, shouting at the agents he knew to be hiding in the darkness outside our fences. They will watch us until we leave them behind forever. They will not stop hunting us until they destroy us, or we break away.

Inside my space suit, my skin prickled uncomfortably. Even here, in this ship so long abandoned, so far from Earth, they would not leave us alone.

I asked, “How long before it reaches us?”

Boudicca exhaled shortly. “If it’s where I saw it and they’re accelerating from orbital velocity—”

“How long?”

“If it’s unmanned, two or three hours. If it’s got crew on board, maybe twice that.”

Malachi added, “They won’t burn higher than 3 or 4 g. Not if they want to stay hidden. The drive thermals would give them away.”

“We don’t know their propulsion capability,” Dag said.

“Is it a gunship?” Nico asked. “Will it attack?”

“SPEC doesn’t have gunships,” Boudicca said. “That’s a myth. Don’t be stupid.”

“He’s not being stupid. He’s only worried.” Panya, still soothing.

“He’s always stupid,” Bao said, and Nico spluttered.

“All we know is that it’s out there,” Malachi said. “We need more information.”

“Too risky,” Boudicca said.

“Then how do we—”

“Be quiet. All of you,” I said.

I was gratified when they obeyed. I could not allow them to fall into squabbling now.

It would be at least another six hours before Homestead reached us. That had been an unavoidable part of the plan. It needed to be safely in orbit before we seized Pilgrim 3, and the necessary launch window meant that it was not yet anywhere near House of Wisdom—but neither was anything else, or so we had believed.