I was alive, all right. And I was awake. But I was still infected by the Dreamer-bots. Every person Tamara had seen infected had died—I wondered how long until the infection would kill me.

Benny sat across from me, alive against all odds. I was dead, implant or not, but he still had a chance to survive.

“I know where the Philosopher Stone is,” I said. “It’s in Lab 17.”

His brows lifted, then he nodded, grim and satisfied. “I know where that must be; the numbers increase in that direction.” He gestured vaguely off to the side. “Soon as you can stand, let’s go.”

“Indigo and the lieutenant know the data’s there, too.” The thought made me uneasy, but what else had I expected? Aside from the aberration with the Dreamer-bots, I’d always expected to end up in competition with them again.

“Then stand up now.” Benny set the empty ration box aside. There were still traces of food in the crevices of the plastic, and I thought of Lantern-Eyes swirling water around in her bowl to clean it, wasting nothing. “We don’t have long, either way. We’ve only got a day until the sun’s radiation starts to tear the ship apart.”

“Only a day?” I echoed. I’d lost track of time long before I’d fallen into a machine coma, but I still hadn’t imagined we were so close to destruction.

“Quint had a timepiece on her.” Benny’s words were clipped.

He didn’t want to talk about Quint, and I couldn’t blame him. I stood. My legs were shaky, but they would hold me for a little while longer, at least. “Lead the way.”

CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN:

The Wall

Benny had the only flashlight. I trailed behind him through dark, inaccessible hallways, and trusted he knew where he was going.

Benny had everything, in fact. I hadn’t been in as pathetic a situation, supply-wise, since the hull wall had decompressed and Indigo had hauled me back inside. And even then, I’d had Indigo, who was better than a backpack full of supplies. Now I had the shirt on my back, torn in places and soaked in blood, and—oh, and I had Lantern-Eyes’ tablet. It was in my pocket and ominously dark, which could mean either it needed a charge or I’d broken it by landing on it.

As we walked, it struck me, all that Benny did not know. “I know what the Philosopher Stone is, Benny. It’s the data on the experiment that made the Ministers.”

“Yeah, I know. Quint told me.”

“Quint told you?”

“Yeah. Turns out she, and her boss, knew a lot more than they’d told us. She even knew what quadrant of the ship the data was probably hidden in. If the Ministers hadn’t arrived so fast, she would’ve directed us there. She was very chatty, before the end.”

The only way Quint could have known that was if her boss had known it, and the only way the Senator could have known that is if he had known about Lantern-Eyes. But if the Senator had known Lieutenant Gupta was here, why had he bothered to send us at all?