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“I did ” Doc checks a dial on Orion’s cryo chamber

“You? But—why?”

He looks at me as if he can’t quite believe ho I am “I didn’t do it for me This ship—everyone on board—we could all die if we land on Centauri-Earth Die But,” he adds, “I’m not unreasonable I’ll let the Eldest make the final decision If he says the shuttle should be launched, well, I will step aside I just didn’t think he was right in choosing you as his decision maker ”

I finally understand—he altered the clue in the are in the sonnet book because he didn’t want me to succeed But he still left the book so I could find it He didn’t want me to find the clue, but he couldn’t disobey Orion all the way

“Did you mess with the space suits?” I ask

“I figured if you got in there, one of you would use them ”

“And you didn’t care which one of us died?”

“If it helps,” Doc says, turning back to the dials on Orion’s cryo chamber, “I’d hoped it would have been you ”

It doesn’t help, actually

“You never did realize the thing I needed you to understand,” Doc continues, adjusting another dial “You got so obsessed hat Orion was showing you that you never sahat I was showing you ”

“Yeah?” I say “And as that?”

“That the iet off the ship, Amy, we can’t Orion hoped that one day, far in the future, it would be possible, but no The arerous We have to stay here We have to ue Eldest ”

I can’t help ust

“I know you disagree, A a casual conversation between friends “But the Eldest system works ”

“Eldest isted, sick,” I say “You saw him at the end He was too desperate for power ”