29. Thomas Collins
30. Ximena Roge
33. Alastair Potter
34. Aigus Wu
38. Jeremy Doyle
39. Mariella Davis
41. Robert Martin
46. Grace Spivey
48. Dylan Farley
52. Iñes Gomez
58. Aislinn Keenan
63. Emma Bledsoe
67. Jagdish Iyer
69. Yuko Saitou
72. Huang Sun
78. Chibueze Kopano
81. Mary Douglass
94. Naoko Suzuki
99. Juliana Robertson
100. William Robertson
29
ELDER
AFTER REMINDING DOC TO STOP BY LIL’S HOME BEFORE taking Stevy’s body away, I help the Shippers inspect the City streets. Faces peer through windows as I pass. Sometimes I catch a meek glance marred by worry and fear, but more often the people glare down at me. They may have obeyed my curfew, but their eyes are defiant, angry.
My stomach roars—my last real meal was yesterday—and I only stop to eat when Marae insists. The streets are empty, but we don’t leave until the solar lamp clicks off. As I ride the grav tube up to the Shipper Level, I can’t help but notice that nearly every light is on in the City. I’m pretty sure I can guess what they’re staying awake to talk about.
Most of the Shippers remain in the City—they make their homes here, after all, only coming to the Shipper Level to work—but Marae follows me up the grav tube. As our footsteps ring out across the metal floor, I realize that tonight, after Marae leaves the Shipper Level and I return to the Keeper Level, I’ll be even more separated from the rest of the ship—two empty levels, all for me.
We make our way toward the whirr-churn-whirr of the engine. It’s dark inside the Engine Room, but the engine still casts a shadow. It smells of burnt grease, but it seems smaller in my eyes, now that I know it’s not moving the ship. Marae doesn’t look at it at all as she crosses the floor and goes straight to a thick, heavy door with a seal lock.
The Bridge.
I remember Eldest’s words for me before I started training—the Bridge is for the Shippers. I take care of the people, not the ship.
Marae opens the door and waits for me to enter first. An arched metal roof curves over the Bridge. The room is a pointed oval, drawing me to the front of it. There are two rows of desks with monitors protruding from them. A giant V-shaped control panel is built into the front of the room.
I sit down at the control panel and try to imagine what it would be like to steer this massive ship down to the new Earth.