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Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

She selected the sub-submenu for the steam system map and navigated to a macro showing the entirety of the Silent Child. The sortie was up top, connected to the docking ring just aft of the ship’s center of mass. She zoomed in and found four thruster hubs just behind the ring. Thrusters meant critical steam and that meant pipes.

“Okay, okay,” she said, canting her head to call to the deck above. “Turn it off.”

Aptat came through. “Thought you said turn it on?”

“Turn if off now. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Explain.”

“I need you to let me out.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

There was an unfamiliar character to my stirring. It didn’t feel like waking from slumber as much as I imagined it did emerging from a coma. My eyelids were like chainmail and my jaw was glued shut. A rapid deceleration pressed me forward, stretching the sore muscles of my neck and back. And then, it seemed, we’d stopped moving.

The wall and floor began to shift, like they’d been waiting for me to reach some baseline wakefulness before I could be regurgitated. The blue-eyed cyclops eel was gone. Or maybe it was slithering around in the dark, just off my skin. I felt myself contracting inward. I didn’t have to pee anymore. Maybe it was just a harmless space catheter: a piss eel.

Patton was still embedded in the floor of the scull and didn’t stir when I shook him. He was breathing, though.

My eyes felt small, weak. Atrophy takes a long time, right?68 Still, it was tough to tell in the black. I felt around for Pickles. When I didn’t immediately find him,69 I sprawled across the floor, stretching my arms and legs like a four-armed starfish blindly reaching for a crumb.70 My middle finger grazed the lid. Weakly, I pushed to all-fours, trying to right myself. My arms failed and I slipped to the side. I fell hard but shielded the jar, allowing my shoulder to take the brunt. That hurt more than it should have.

Still on my side, I latched my fingers around the jar and dragged it protectively into my chest.

“Patton! Wake up!” I said over my desiccated vocal cords, while struggling to sit straight. I coughed bitterly. The amount of effort it took to remain steady was exhausting and my breath came ragged. I felt insubstantial, ghostlike. “Patton!” Apparently still under the piss eel’s spell, he didn’t answer.