Before he had time to process this, several other survivors suddenly appeared all at once, as if they’d just returned from a picnic. He didn’t know them all by name, but Jackie had told him enough details to see these were her friends, a few of them from the other crashed Berg. And then he saw Orange, looking battered but whole. She gave him a sad smile and a stiff nod, showing that she already knew about Skinny—the boy never had a chance of surviving whatever malfunction or miscalculation that had catapulted him through the walls of two different Bergs.

“We need to go,” Jackie said, breaking up the brief moment of reflection. “Half the Cranks have already been let loose. They’re coming.” The calmness of her voice was something Minho knew he’d never forget.

Eleven people stood there, each with a strange expression that somehow mixed relief with sheer terror. And they were all staring at him.

Frypan, exuding the natural wisdom and presence of his grand old age, put a hand on Minho’s shoulder and turned to the others.

“This young fella has a plan.”

“We can trust him,” Ms. Cowan whispered to Sadina and the others standing next to her. “Jackie does, and he gave us a warning before the ship crashed.”

Orange must’ve overheard this because she stepped up and agreed. “I’d trust that handsome sack of muscle with my life. Do what he says.”

Isaac didn’t know the first or last thing about this Minho guy, but he hoped he lived up to the legend of his name. He was about the same age as Isaac, maybe a little older, and definitely bigger and stronger. Adding credence to what Orange had said, he wore the same bulky suit of weaponry as she. They were obviously friends, and on their side in all this, as much as Isaac could discern the sides.

“Follow me,” Minho said.

He ran to a spot on the crashed ship where a large gash had split it open, and one by one the group disappeared into the darkness of the interior. Sparks still popped from one section of the gash, a few meters above the ground. This Berg was different from the one in which Isaac, Trish, and Sadina had flown. This one was at least twice as big, with a globular structure jutting from its middle, obviously the storage tank for the monstrous machine with spiked wheels that had dropped on them at the bridge. Isaac had no idea how or why some of them had ended up in the smaller ship on the other side of the oncoming Cranks. It had all been a blur, flashes of terror.

Isaac was in the back of the line, Dominic right in front of him. Ms. Cowan entered the Berg ahead, right after Trish and Sadina, nursing her wounded eye.