I nod.
“Shh,” Bartie snaps.
Date: 328603
Ship Status: Orbital
Ship Record: A way of life has resumed with increasing stability. The crew is once more submissive. We will work on rebuilding our numbers. In the event that communication can be resumed with Earth or aid otherwise received, we can still commence with planet-landing. Until that point, with conservation and careful production, the internal functions of the ship should subsist for countless generations.
Orion sets the papers down on the control panel at the front of the bridge in the exact same spot Bartie found them.
ORION: So, that’s why we can’t land. I’m not a frexing chutz; I get what’s going on here. The Plague Eldest was right to keep us on board the ship. I’ve seen the armory—you’ve seen it too. There are weapons there. . . .
Orion shakes his head in disbelief. My eyes are on Victria.
ORION: Amy, surely you know that those weapons aren’t normal. . . . If the Plague Eldest says that there are monsters on Centauri-Earth that those weapons can’t kill . . .
He shakes his head again.
ORION: And besides, think about it. Think about those weapons.
Orion leans forward, closer to the camera. All four of us lean in closer too.
ORION: You think those frozens in the cryo chambers are going to use ’em? Frex, no. That’s what we’re here for.
Orion stands up, walks to the window, stares a
minute, comes back.
ORION: See this?
Orion picks up the camera and angles it to show ten empty circles on the floor. As one, all four of us look up, over to the far wall and the ten hollow depressions in the floor.
ORION: That’s where the probes were. After all the ones the Plague Eldest sent, every Eldest after that sent down another probe. They’ve all come back with warnings, that we can’t live on Centauri-Earth without a fight. A fight we’ll probably lose. A fight the frozens will make us fight.
“That’s when he decided to kill them,” Amy says. “All the frozens, after I woke up—that’s why he unplugged them. You were getting close to the truth, even if you didn’t realize it, and he was afraid of what they’d do. ”
I meet her eyes. “That’s what he told us. That’s what he told us all along. He wasn’t lying. ”
Amy scowls. “He was lying about some of it. I don’t care what he says, my father wouldn’t—”
“Shh!” Bartie shoots us angry looks.
ORION: We ran out of probes a couple of gens ago. I don’t know how long the engines will last now, how long we can stay here, in Godspeed. This is the contingency plan.
He raises both hands, indicating the cryo level’s bridge.
ORION: If the engines fail, if life support falters, if Godspeed can’t protect us anymore, then—and only then—we can leave the ship.
Orion’s eyes stare directly out of the screen.
ORION: Amy, I could tell from the start: the thing you cared most about was the truth. When I first met you, you were crying at the wall, remember, and I told you everything was going to be okay, and I could tell—you weren’t going to just accept what I said. You were willing to face the truth, even if it hurt.
I glance up at Amy; she’s even paler than usual.
ORION: Well, this is the truth. What you do with it is up to you. I don’t know what choice should be made—Eldest thought I knew too much; he was scared of what I would do—and I was scared too. Still am. That leaves you. Now that you know the truth, Amy, you have to decide.
Orion takes a deep breath. Amy holds hers.