“And you?” Tamara said.

“And me, I’d be dead in five minutes without one of you to look out for me,” I said. “But I know where the Philosopher Stone is.”

“Fucker,” Tamara said, not quite under her breath.

“I can find the Stone without either of you,” Indigo said.

“No, you can’t,” I said. “My friends and your people are somewhere on this ship, but we don’t know where they are or if they’re alive. Tamara, your people won’t arrive for a couple of days, if they can even find you after they do. We’re all alone,” I said, “and we’re all fucked.”

Tamara shrugged her broken arm more firmly against her chest. “Even if I agree with this picture you’re drawing for us, you’re forgetting one important thing.”

“What thing?”

“I’d have to rely on you.”

“You already have,” I said.

“When I had no other choice,” Tamara said. “When he had no other choice. Look at the Minister, Sean. You, Indigo—do you trust us?”

I needed no dictionary, no language at all, to understand the meaning of his expression.

“It doesn’t matter whether we trust each other,” I said. “This is the only way we’re going to get out of here alive.”

“Trust matters,” Tamara said. “Trust is the only thing that matters, and the only person I trust to keep me alive on this ship is me. I’ve been here for five years to complete a mission. I’m not going to fail it in the last five days.”

“If you’re alone, you’ve already failed,” I said. “Indigo, help me out.”

“My purpose is too important to put in the hands of humans,” Indigo said calmly, “especially humans with a vested interest in my failure.”

“So you’re just gonna let the manikins cut you to pieces, and fail alone? Didn’t you tell me you’d prefer to gamble?”

I made myself stop, take in a deep, deep breath. I’d almost been shouting. I didn’t like getting worked up; life was a lot nicer without shouting. Besides that, if I started shouting, something with teeth and claws and a murderous disposition might hear me.

“I’m not suggesting this out of some sort of grand, cross-species altruistic peace project,” I said, when I was sure I could speak levelly again. “I’ve got a vested interest in staying alive. And I need that data as much as either of you. But none of us will reach it unless all of us work together.”

Tamara sighed. “Say I agree to this arrangement. Say it works out without one of us killing the other two, and we make it across the ship before the sun blows. Eventually we will reach the Philosopher Stone. What happens to our arrangement then?”

“We’ll have to decide when we get there,” I said, and watched her grimace. She liked her plans and strategies, Lantern-Eyes did. “The point is we’ll never get there unless we work together first. Or we can try to kill each other in this room here and now, and whoever survives dies a day or two later, and nobody gets the Philosopher Stone. What do you say?”