“I’m not concerned about what Mara Zhu and the other scientists thought of me,” Indigo said.

I’d just wanted to comfort him. But I didn’t even understand what he was upset about. I was as isolated and alone here with him and Tamara as I ever was on my own aboard the Nameless, like we were three islands, separated by the sea.

Islands maybe, but like islands with thin ropes lashed between to make tentative, fragile bridges.

“Mara Zhu shouldn’t have tried to hide the truth about what happened here,” Tamara commented. “She felt too guilty about her role in it to think about what was owed the dead. But if the Philosopher Stone experiments hadn’t been completed, humanity wouldn’t exist today. As much as it pains me to admit it, Indigo, it was the Ministers who kept humans alive for the first few centuries of colonization.”

As alien as Indigo was, I sometimes thought I understood Lantern-Eyes even less. “So all the horrible things that happened on this ship, they were worth it?”

“They should never have happened,” Tamara said. “But they have happened. I can’t say I wish they had never happened without knowing for sure what life would be like if the Ministers had never existed. There’s no point in dwelling on the past. The only thing we can do is make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

“And what do you predict will happen if the Republic gains this data, lieutenant?” Indigo had rested his fingertips on the tank, like he was checking the temperature of the glass. “The same thing that happened the first time.”

“There’s more that can be taken from the data than just how to make a Minister,” Tamara said. “I’ve seen what I’ve seen on this ship. I know that whatever precisely is in the Philosopher Stone data, we’ll be able to use it to cure illnesses, heal wounds, to help people—as well as to guard against your people attacking mine. What will happen if your people get it, Indigo? You haven’t said exactly why you want it, but you’re going to use it to strengthen yourselves somehow, aren’t you? Otherwise why would you come looking? What is the first thing a stronger Maria Nova will do?”

“There are factions among the Ministers, like there are among humans. Not all of my people want war.”

“And which faction usually wins out?”

My fingers were aching, so tightly wrapped around my flashlight. Not so long ago, they had been trying to kill one another over this very debate. But now, though Tamara spoke clearly, loudly, she didn’t sound angry. And Indigo kept his back towards her, narrow shoulders unshielded.

Indigo said, “Mara Zhu was only wrong because she failed. She should have destroyed both the data and the specimens, but she let the Minister embryos be taken from the ship, and she failed to eliminate every last copy of the Philosopher Stone data aboard the ship. The individuals who suffered and died for this data should be allowed to rest, not have their data picked over by scientists like carrion birds. But my people need this data, so we cannot finish the job our creator started. What she felt for us does not matter, Sean, in the face of what she did and failed to do. I understand the greater purpose of the data, lieutenant, but even knowing, I can’t condone the cost.”