“Command only goes to one of us if the system senses he’s dead,” someone growled from a corner Park couldn’t see. A sickening sensation overwhelmed her as she strained to turn, a feeling of corkscrewing in one direction without actually moving. It was like exiting one of those ancient virtual reality cocoons too fast, or lying on a bed after too many drinks. With a feeling of faint nausea, suddenly her perspective switched to a different part of the room.

Now she was looking at Boone, standing to the side and watching the argument with his arms folded. He pushed himself off of the wall with one shoulder and said, “I didn’t want to kill him. But we had no choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” Fulbreech said. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head; his fingers vibrated with suppressed nervous energy. “Look. Let me take Sagara and Park and the robot downstairs. We’ll get in an escape pod. You don’t have to tell us where you’re going. We’ll leave, you can take the ship, and by the time we make it to Corvus, you’ll be long gone. They’re never going to find you then.”

Natalya pressed her lips together. Chanur glanced at Boone. Fulbreech pressed, “We’ll tell them you all died. That the ship was destroyed in an accident. They won’t even go looking for you.”

“You know too much,” Natalya said sharply. “Too much about our plans. The Nikolai—”

“I’m not going to put your families in jeopardy,” Fulbreech said firmly. “My brother’s family was going to board the ship, too. I’m not—I still get why you want to leave. I won’t turn you in for doing it. But we can’t keep Park and Sagara in the freezer. It’s inhuman.”

“If we let you go with them, they’ll just take the pod back to us and do something stupid,” Chanur said abruptly. “They won’t be content to just go back to Corvus.”

“I’ll make them content.”

“You’ll do anything Park wants,” she said dismissively, tossing her head. “You’re infatuated, for God’s sake! Here and now, of all places!”

Fulbreech’s mouth fell shut for a moment. Then he said, “You’re all acting like I’m unreasonable for wanting them to live. Because I don’t want to use them as collateral.”

“You’re being a child, Kel,” Natalya said, crossing her legs and leaning back into Chanur’s touch. “We’ve all voted. This is how it’s going to be. Now it’s time to get this ship moving.”