My vision swam and my body stirred faintly. The blood rushed through my head. I could only watch through lidded eyes as the woman – Perenna – stepped into the room and grabbed the case from Semper. "We're out of here."

   "What about her?" Semper jerked her head towards me. I tried to move, to get up, but my brain refused to function. Stars swam in my eyes.

   "Leave her.. This crew is finished, anyway." Perenna smiled sickly. "Let them suffer for a fraction of the time we have." And then the two women helped Emrys, still bleeding, from the room. My mouth was gasping for air as I struggled to get up. My elbows finally moved. I pulled my legs up and slowly under myself. On all fours, I pushed off of the ground and swayed to my feet, hand bracing on the wall.

   I staggered down the hall, leaning heavily against the walls. I couldn't see straight, but I had to stop them. They had the only way to save my crew in their grasp. For once, I couldn't hear their thoughts. I was cut off from everyone as I weakly followed, empty-handed. Finally they stopped at the air-lock. Perenna yanked it open and shoved Emrys through. Semper held the case tightly and did the same.

   "Ambrogio is already on board," Perenna said. "I'm assuming Julian is too." She started to go through the door. I finally managed to grab the deactivated aquarius from my belt and flick the switch. With a groan, I threw it as hard as I could.

   It missed widely. Perenna heard it clatter to the floor and glanced around. She looked surprised to see me there. I'd gotten so used to hearing thoughts that it was disconcerting when I still heard nothing. Her lip curled. "You lose, Genevieve." And then she was gone. The airlock door slammed after her with a resounding crash. I heard it over and over in my ears, unable to believe it. They'd gotten the battery.

   My knees buckled. I slid down the wall and leaned against it with my shoulder, my head drooping. My neck wasn't strong enough. I knew it was the blood-loss that was messing with me, but it didn't make it easier.

   "Autumn! Autumn, where the hell are you?"

   My chapped lips weakly parted. "I'm here. J-Just down here."

   Footsteps thundered and Captain Thorn skidded into the hall. His eyes were wild as he landed hard on his knees beside me. "Dear God, Autumn, don't scare us like that. Why aren't you responding?" Blood was leaking from his ear and his arm was covered in the stuff again.

   I shook my head slowly. "Ca-Can't hear anything."

    "What's happened to you?" He pulled my shoulder away from the wall and swore. "Goddamit, Autumn, there's a knife sticking from your back."

   "Oh." I felt for it and sure enough, there was a hilt buried into my skin. "I guess that explains it. B-But it's not the worst. B-Bird lost his fingers."

   "Byrne and Peterson have concussions, Decker's throat was slashed but he's somehow alive, and I've got a bone sticking from my wrist," grunted Captain Thorn as he wrapped an arm under mine and pulled up. My legs straightened under my body, but they refused to strengthen. He helped me stagger toward the bridge. "Edwards is the only one that isn't seriously crippled."

   "T-They got the battery."

   "I know." His face was dark. "And they've damaged the ship. We were nearly there, but now..."

   Cold went through my blood. "What about them? We have to get the battery back."

   "That's what we're going for." Captain Thorn's lip curled. "They left one of their own behind. We've got him tied up and in the bridge. But I need someone to pilot the ship and you're the only one that can do it."

   They had left one of their teammates behind? I could hardly believe it. He helped me into the bridge and sat me in the seat. The dead body of the pilot was thrown aside. Captain Thorn exhaled and pressed his hand against the area near the knife. "I've got a bandage here and I'm going to pull it out."

   "G-Go for it."

   He pulled the blade from my shoulder. I clenched my jaw and shook my head sharply. He pressed the gauze against the bleeding wound and wrapped it tightly. I turned my head to look through the room. Bird was sitting to the side, his face strained, as Byrne slowly wrapped his hand. It looked as if his first and middle fingers were gone.

   Peterson sat to the side, his hand still wrapped into nubs. Decker had a bandage around his throat and was missing part of his ear. He saw me looking and grinned weakly. "They didn't cut my neck deep enough." Edwards was the only one somewhat intact, even though his eye was swollen shut. We'd been beaten to hell and lost anyway.

   How could we be in any condition to go after the battery?

   There was one other. The man from the Courtroom in Satov was strapped down to a seat in the bridge. There was a tie around his mouth and he was bleeding from multiple places. I still couldn't hear his thoughts, but as my eyes met his, he apparently thought something so vulgar that Peterson flinched.

   "What can you tell me, Autumn?" Captain Thorn watched as I turned to the console and studied the screens. An image of the ship told me where the damage was and I watched the report log scroll in. My heart sank. "It's not good."

   "How?"

   "They killed the Hyper engines. Apparently those are the things that keep us moving in full speed. We can only go regular speed now. Besides that, the ship is mostly intact except for a few hull breaches."

   "How long until we reach Zoel?"

   I shook my head. "Hours. Maybe even a day. I can't tell. These coordinates are in another language."

   Captain Thorn checked the timer on his wrist and swore violently. 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds. "We don't have time for a day. What can you do to speed us up?" My face was solemn. He shook his head. "Anything?"

   "Not without fixing the Hyper engines, which is impossible in space." I felt like I was being choked around the throat by a chain sinking further and further into an ocean.

   Captain Thorn opened his mouth, paused, and his eyes slid to the captive. They narrowed and he straightened. He stalked over and tore the gag out of his mouth. "Have anything to say, Julian?" I made sure the ship was flying as fast as the regular engines allowed and turned to watch as the captive glared daggers at Captain Thorn. "Nothing at all, Silk."

   "I highly suggest you don't lie to me," Captain Thorn snarled in his face. The anger simmered off of him enough that I saw the crew shift uneasily. "You're at our mercy and you haven't done one thing to earn it."

   "Then kill me already."

   "That's what you want." Captain Thorn straightened. "I know better. If you have to die, it's going to be because we lock you in the airlock. You'll lose oxygen slowly as the temperature dips. It'll get colder and colder the more you try to breathe. And eventually, you'll use up all of the oxygen. It'll take about a day, though. You'd be a popsicle the while."

   A bit of color drained from Julian's face. I found myself hating that I wasn't able to hear his thoughts. Something seemed to appease Captain Thorn because he crossed his arms. "What do you want with the battery, anyway? Nothing but our ship can use it."

   Julian snorted. "Just to get it away from you, idiot."

   Captain Thorn's face flashed. "Quit lying."

   "I'm not—"

   "You're transparent, as far as I'm concerned," Captain Thorn sneered. "I know much more than you could ever think. I know you're Julian Ordell, one of five in the group that are doing their damn best to keep our crew asleep. My crew. I know that Ambrogio Tase's name has appeared over and over since our takeoff from Earth. I know Earth's been destroyed."

   Julian's eyes widened. "Wait, Earth's gone?" Everyone in the room suddenly looked at him in shock. I gritted my teeth since it was clearly another one of his thoughts. Byrne stared at him, her mouth hanging open. I was left in the dark from what he'd been thinking. My head was aching.

   Captain Thorn watched him, calculating. "I also happen to know that you somehow tampered with the Patriot before takeoff from Houston."

   "...Florida, actually," came a faint whisper. I exhaled, realizing my head must've been healing I was able to hear him again. Then what he'd thought registered and I looked at him sharply. How did he know that? No one from Zoel or Nusora should even know the names of Earth's continents, much less a state in the USA. Captain Thorn smiled. He'd set the trap and Julian had walked right into it.

   "How did you pull it off?"

   "Pull off what?" Julian asked distractedly. He still seemed shaken by Captain Thorn's threat to put him in the airlock to die.

   "The tampering of our capsules in the Patriot." His voice lowered. "I know you did. Somehow. To kill us in flight, right? So how'd you do it?"

   "I don't know what you're talking about." "Can't tell him, Perenna will kill me—"

   Captain Thorn tilted his head. "We could just put you in one of them, put you to sleep, and see if you wake up. That'll tell us what you did pretty easily. And an easy way to get rid of a body."

   Julian stubbornly kept his mouth shut. His thoughts simmered. "Please tell me he's kidding. He's got to be." Captain Thorn straightened. "Byrne, get me a sedative. We'll sedate him enough to keep him compliant. That way he'll be awake when we land and put him in a capsule." In reality, I knew he'd never do it because the Patriot didn't have the power to, but Julian's face went white as Byrne shakily pulled out a needle from the medical bag.

   She handed it to Captain Thorn, hurrying toward me to check on my shoulder now that she was done treating Bird. I hardly cared as she peeled off the bandages to examine the wound. Captain Thorn jabbed the needle into Julian's arm and Julian suddenly shouted, "Wait! Wait, I can help you."

   "How's that?" Captain Thorn looked at him, almost bored.

   "I can answer your questions," Julian gritted out. "Just promise you won't put me in that capsule."

   Captain Thorn raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"

   "Because I know what it'll do to me." Julian shook his head. "I-I'd rather have Perenna kill me as a traitor than be put in there." His thoughts matched. He was telling the truth.

   After pretending to consider, the Captain pulled the needle from his arm. I noticed it was empty and exhaled. Captain Thorn set the needle away and crouched, boring his gaze into Julian's scattered one. "As soon as you don't answer a question or you lie to me, I'm sticking that needle back into your skin. Understand?"

   Julian nodded frantically. I scowled. He was such a coward. Captain Thorn nodded slowly. "Good. First question: what are your friends going to do with the battery?"

   "They're going to Zoel," he said instantly. "They're going to use it."

   "Why can't they do it on their ship?"

   "It's too unstable. It'll kill them."

   "How quickly will they be landing?"

   "The same time you will, actually," said Julian with a nervous glance at me. "Neither of you have Hyper engines. You'll land at the same time."

   Captain Thorn grunted. "What did you do to tamper with the capsules?"

   Julian swallowed. "Ambrogio toyed with the proportions of the awakening sequence. Too much electricity, not enough freezing liquid, and on. Little details that no one notice but they'd kill you. And even if they didn't, they'd toy with your bodies." "But I can't see any evidence of it. Ambrogio said it would damage their brains, either way. Their minds seem perfectly fine, dammit."

   Suddenly I understood. It clicked into place. I exhaled. "The side effects . . . the voices. That's why. The awakening sequence was wrong. Somehow it ... it did this to us."

   Decker was pale enough as it was. He shook his head slowly in disbelief. Byrne nodded slowly to agree. Bird shared a look with Peterson and Edwards stared at Julian, his face turning red. With anger or hatred, I didn't know. Captain Thorn gazed at Julian, his face even. "And who messed with the coding of the supply check?"

   "Semper did." Julian wrung his hands. "She worked in the coding department."

   I shook my head and finally spoke up. "I fail to believe any of this. How could any of you do it? That was five centuries ago." I scoffed. "Who are you working with?"

   Captain Thorn was staring. His face was impassive. "They weren't working with anyone but themselves." His voice was soft. "Because they were there. How old are you, Julian?"

   I stared at him, aghast that he was considering Julian was telling the truth, when Julian did the mental math. "Five hundred and seventy-three years old, I think... I lose track."

   Everything went quiet for a moment. We all stared. I couldn't make myself believe him. The rest of the crew had similar looks of skepticism on their faces. Only Captain Thorn seemed to be able to keep neutral. "He has to be lying," Decker finally said.

   Captain Thorn shook his head. "He's not."

   "That's impossible."

   "As impossible as us, Decker?" I snapped my open mouth closed, blinking at his sudden point. As impossible as hearing thoughts and communicating telepathically? I still couldn't make myself believe it.

   "But five hundred and seventy-three years old?" Edwards piped up. "He'd be dust six-feet-under in half of that time."

   "He's not lying." Captain Thorn looked sad. "You were right, Autumn. I knew more than I was letting on. We're part of the mission Zoel-2. There was a mission before ours: Zoel-1."

   A memory niggled at me. An image came to my mental eye. I'd been reading the mission report on Zoel-2 on the Patriot before we left Earth's atmosphere. I remembered wondering why it was called Zoel-2 if we were the first ever crew on a Patriot. But now... what if we weren't?

   It hit me across the face. Everything finally connected. How these people were able to sabotage us. How they were always two steps ahead. How they had advanced technology. And why they hated us. I stared at Julian. "You were part of the first ever Patriot crew."

   His thoughts swirled into a darker spiral. "That's right," he said snarkily. "How's it feel to know that you're not the first ones, hm? You're replacements."

   Byrne's mouth was hanging open. She'd apparently forgotten about my shoulder because she sat down hard nearby. "That's it. That's how you know everything about us. Why Tase's name appears everywhere. But why are you trying to kill our crew? You're a part of the same mission."

   "No we aren't!" Julian suddenly snarled. "We were banned from the mission once the doctors realized what they had done to us. Their first ideas were to make the Patriot crews immortal. So we put up with their testing. We dealt with it for years. And once they achieved what they wanted, they cast us aside because another doctor had created cryogenic-freezing."

   Captain Thorn suddenly had the front of his shirt in his hand and jerked Julian's seat forward. His face was twisted in his rage. "They took you from the mission because you and your crew went insane. You started to call yourselves gods. The testing warped your head, Julian Ordell. I saw the report. I'd hoped that you'd all died when Earth was destroyed. I forgot you existed until my First Officer told me that I should know you. I wish for your own sakes that you'd stayed on the planet so you'd be done with this shit."

   "Of course not," said Julian with a sick smile. "We followed the Pioneer all the way here. We've been on the forefront of every big discovery on this side of the Milky Way, like you were supposed to be. I guess we still ended up being the Patriot crew more than any of you were."

   Bird had moved before any of us noticed. His good hand slammed into Julian's nose and blood spurted. Captain Thorn let go of Julian's shirt while he groaned, his teeth bloody. Bird was seething. "So you decided to try and kill us, right? Like you should've."

   Julian spat out the blood. "We knew as soon as you arrived that you'd be monsters. The capsules messed with your heads. And you called us the crazy ones." He glared at Captain Thorn. "Just admit it, Captain. You've failed. You're nobodies. And your crew is about to die."

   This time it was Captain Thorn that moved. He punched him straight in the face once more. Julian howled as his nose broke. Captain Thorn shook out his bleeding hand and jerked his head at Julian. "Put him in the airlock." Decker and Edwards obeyed, untying him from the chair and dragging the swearing Julian from the room. Captain Thorn sat down hard and rubbed his head. He shook his head. "I should've. . . Dammit."

   "He still didn't tell us what they stole the battery for," I said.

   Byrne shook her head. "They took it for their own uses. He thought about it. But Julian was right about them not touching it during flight. It's too unstable." There was a pause and Decker and Edwards returned. I checked to make sure the doors to the airlock were sealed.

   "How is any of this possible?" Peterson finally spoke up, his voice small. "How could they be so old? They don't look older than twenty-five."

   Captain Thorn had his head in his hands. "What they don't know is that they're not just random people that were chosen for the ship, like we were. They were selected before they were even born." His knuckles paled. "Before being conceived, their genetics were changed. They were given the same genetic code that prevents deterioration in cells."

   Byrne stared. "That's a lobster. You're telling me those people are part lobster?"

   "No. The scientists made their own genetic code. The lobster gene was just inspiration. That crew is completely human. But they grew up without knowing. The testing Julian was talking about was to make sure that they were perfect. They had already been created as immortals." He exhaled. "I was on the Board of Commissions when I heard about it. It was I that ordered them to be removed from the mission. They don't know that, either.

    "They grew crazy because of it. I removed myself from the Board and tried to retire. Instead the ISGC pulled me back in to make me a Captain. I only agreed because I could pick my own crew and prevent the same mistake. And I was a little selfish. I wanted to get away from the first crew in case they found out it was me that had them removed. I was worried they'd go after my family." Captain Thorn sighed. "So I left my family without telling them and ... disappeared."

    My heart felt tight. I knew that he had a history but I'd never think it was anything like what he'd just said. He had been the one to remove the first crew and had lived in fear for the rest of his time on Earth. I could now see why he'd been discharged in more sense. He did what he thought was right and didn't look back. It made for a horrible solider... but an excellent leader. Still, he should've known already. And yet he hadn't told us anything. Despite myself, I felt betrayed.

   "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I suspected that this was their doing the moment we found Tase. I'd wondered when we got the DNA test back and it profiled the man from Satov as Julian Ordell, a man too old to be alive. But I knew the moment Autumn told me she'd caught Tase. I should've known when Byrne said she'd found an expert with his name." He shook his head. "But I had removed the first crew without even looking at their names. I had no idea whose lives I was messing with."

   He'd removed them without even knowing who they were. I shook my head slightly. I felt like I didn't know whoever that Captain Thorn had been. This man here was different...right?

   But I knew that it didn't change anything. He was my Captain and my friend. We'd flown through the vast space asleep beside one another for centuries. We'd saved each other's lives. Hell, I'd spent the first week of my time awake making sure he'd be safe.

   I stood up shakily. He didn't look up as I moved to him and dropped my hand on his shoulder. "We don't blame you for your actions. You're our Captain." My fingers squeezed softly and he looked up, surprised. I smiled a little. "We flew through space for five centuries and then we've spent every waking moment depending on one another. We're crew."

   There were nods around the room. Bird snorted. "I'd lose my fingers all over again if it meant we were still part of your crew, Captain Thorn. And I think everyone can agree."

   "Well, maybe not my fingers," muttered Edwards half-heartedly, but Decker smacked him over the head.

   Captain Thorn looked back up at me. I offered him a hand. "Besides, as you said, we haven't got any time to cry about it. That bloody crew – immortal or not – has the only way to keep our crew safe. We've got to get it back, Sleek."

   He considered my words before taking my hand and allowing me to pull him upright. He nodded curtly. "You're absolutely right, Veve."