Lolola remained silent as he died, although tears might have glinted in the turquoise eyes where she stood, one dainty hand pressed to her mouth.

The corridor’s destruction meant that they had to double back in order to reach the docks, but at length they came to the area, pushing their way through the crowds and chaos. Alarms were going off, klaxons and shrill tones and the big boom of a Terellan time gun. A film of yellow firefighting foam covered everything, including the sticky floor underfoot.

The majority of the ships occupying the docks had already taken off, while others were mobbed by beings trying to get aboard, sometimes in ones or twos, other times in more organized groups. From afar, Niko saw the last of the admiral’s group boarding their ship, moving in formation. Guards held the edges, keeping away the surging crowds despite their protests and pleas.

By contrast, You Sexy Thing stood by itself. Small guns on the main hulls swiveled, tracking anyone who came too close as it waited for its master.

Bioships are grown, not manufactured, and every gleaming, curving inch of You Sexy Thing managed to convey a sense of barely restrained power itching to be unleashed. It was a deep black in color, a black that greedily gulped up the light and buried it where no one would ever find it again. Scarlet lights skittered over its surface as sensors sampled everything in the vicinity. It looked like a wasp, alert and deadly, the appearance intensified by protruding yellowish lumps on either side of the prow, resembling vast compound eyes. The tail tapered into blue and violet vanes, looking like nothing so much as vast feathers colored in midnight peacock shades.

Niko paused, scanning for Dabry and the others.

“We need to go,” Milly said.

“I know, I know,” Niko said. She moved up, standing just outside the range of the guardian guns. “Seeking admission, with the password ‘I believe in miracles,’” she said, hoping that Arpat Takraven had resisted the urge to give her a bad password. She put the odds at fifty-fifty; she’d been figuring and refiguring them all the way since his death. A pointless calculation, trying to keep the fate of Dabry and the others out of her thoughts. But they kept returning to that worry.

The swiveling guns paused, all fixing on her for a tense moment before continuing to circle outward. A landing ramp unfolded from the side and extended in front of them, its color an ominous black, its surface webbed with purplish veins.

Niko glanced around at the others. They lost no time getting themselves and their luggage aboard.

Niko crouched by the hatchway, watching for Dabry.