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Butnow?

Orion may believe that the frozen military personnel will force the people born on the ship to be soldiers or slavesbut why did he start unplugging the is impossibly far away?

He’d hidden from Eldest for years before Elder woke

So I guess my real question isn’t just why, but

Why now?

3

ELDER

I STARE AT MARAE, MY MOUTH HANGING OPEN “WH-WHAT the frex do you mean?” I finally stammer

Marae rolls her shoulders back, straightening her spine andherself appear even taller My eyes flicker to the other Shippers, but I notice that hers do not She doesn’t need them to affirm who she is or what she believes “You have to understand, EldElder,” Marae says “Our priine ”

My voice rises with anger and indignation “Of course your frexing duty is to fix the engine! The engine is the most important part of the whole ship!”

Marae shakes her head “But the engine is only a part of the ship We have to focus on Godspeed as a whole ”

I wait for her to continue as the engine churns noisily behind us, the heartbeat of the ship

“There arewith Godspeed; surely you’ve noticed ” She frowns “The ship isn’t exactly new You know about the laws of motion, but have you studied entropy?”

“Iulance around at the other first-level Shippers They’re all watching , and I don’t have the answer they want to hear

“Every