“Lots, I think,” she said.

“Anything that’ll help us stay alive?”

“I don’t know. The Jellies are—”

“Unless it’s urgent, save it.”

Kira swallowed what she was going to say and trailed behind Falconi as he hurried off the ship. Trig was waiting for them at the airlock.

“Keep watch until the Entropists are on board,” said Falconi.

The kid saluted.

From the airlock, they went to Control. Nielsen was already there, studying the holo projected from the table in the middle. “How’s it look?” Falconi asked, strapping himself into his crash chair.

“Not good,” said Nielsen. She glanced at Kira with an unreadable expression and then pulled up a map of 61 Cygni. Seven dotted lines arced across the system, intersecting upon the Wallfish’s current location.

“Time to intercept?” Falconi asked.

“The nearest Jelly will be here in four hours.” She stared at him, grave. “They’re burning at maximum thrust.”

Falconi scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Okay.… How fast can we get to Malpert Station?”

“Two and a half hours.” Nielsen hesitated. “There’s no way the ships there can fight off seven Jellies.”

“I know,” said Falconi, grim. “But it’s not like we have a lot of choice. If we’re lucky, they can keep the Jellies tied up long enough for us to jump out.”

“We don’t have the antimatter.”

Falconi bared his teeth. “We’ll get the antimatter.”

“Sir,” whispered Gregorovich, “the Darmstadt is hailing us. Most urgently, I might add.”

“Shit. Stall them until we’re back under thrust.” Falconi stabbed a button on the console next to him. “Hwa-jung, what’s the status of those repairs?”

The machine boss answered a moment later: “Nearly finished. I’m just pressure testing the new coolant line.”

“Hurry it up.”

“Sir.” She still seemed annoyed with the captain.

Falconi poked a finger toward Kira. “You. Spill it. What else did you find over there?”

Kira did her best to summarize. Afterward, Nielsen frowned and said, “So the Jellies think that they’re the ones being attacked?”

“Is there any chance you misunderstood?” asked Falconi.

Kira shook her head. “It was pretty clear. That part, at least.”

“And this Staff of Blue,” said Nielsen. “We don’t know what it is?”

“I think it’s an actual staff,” Kira explained.

“But what does it do?” said Falconi.

“Your guess is as good as mine. A control module of some kind?”

“It could be ceremonial,” Nielsen pointed out.

“No. The Jellies seem convinced it would let them win the war.” Then Kira had to explain again how she had inadvertently responded to the compulsion. So far she’d avoided thinking about it too much, but as she recounted the events to Nielsen, Kira felt a deep sense of shame and remorse. Even though she couldn’t have known how the Soft Blade was going to respond, it was still her fault. “I fucked up,” she finished by saying.

Nielsen eyed her with no great sympathy. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Navárez, but I want you off this ship.”