“We’re from the Remnant Nation,” he said after a pause. “Our whole civilization exists to fight the Flare and all its variants. And to fight the Godhead, who want to use the Flare to turn humans into an entirely different species. It’s a battle that’s been going on for decades. Not a literal battle, but a . . . philosophical one, I guess.”

“Seems to me that maybe that’s changing.” Jackie raised her eyebrows.

The Orphan looked so uncomfortable that she felt sorry for him. “Yeah. Looks that way.”

“Tell me more about the Godhead. I mean . . . are they supposed to be actual gods? And how has the Flare changed since it first broke out? How many variants are there? Are they all bad?”

The Orphan started coughing. He kept at it, covering his mouth, not stopping. Jackie thought it was an act, and a poor one at that. He stood up.

“Sorry, I need a break. Need to use the bathroom. Do you?”

For the first time, all the weird things he did with his eyes, trying to say something without saying it, clicked for her. He had a message to give, and it was killing him that he couldn’t come out and spill it.

“Yeah, I do, actually. Gotta pee real bad.”

“Come on. It’s close.”

He opened the door and waited for her. They stepped into a narrow hallway and she followed him ten feet or so to another door. He was just about to open it when he leaned toward her, close, his nose almost brushing her ear.

“We can’t let them get all the way to Alaska. It’ll be too late if we make it that far.”

She pulled him into a hug, hoping that anyone who watched might think they’d made a connection during the interrogation. She’d heard of that before in school—something called the Stockholm Syndrome, where the captive gains a closeness to the captor. She banked on it, now.

Whispering back to him, she said. “You’re going to get us off this ship?”

“Yes.”

“Me and all my friends?”

“I’ll try. We’ll try. I’m gonna need your help. But we have to do it in the next hour. In the next hour or never.”

“Okay,” she said, unsure of exactly what she was committing to, trusting this weird guy who called himself the Orphan. “So . . . how?”

“Two of my friends are on the other Berg. I didn’t know they were coming, but they came. And that changed everything. Gave us a chance. Roxy is over there, too. Just be ready.” He quickly pulled back from her hug and looked down the hallway at a man approaching. Much more loudly, and a little too formally, he said, “We appreciate your willingness to help. Would you like to go first?”