Hiro laughed. “Well, he’s already fixed the old printer and begun eating everything it could make. Mostly pork ramen. Then he slept for about twelve hours. Then he spent a lot of time in the gym putting his new body through the paces. For science, he said.”
“I guess he likes his new world,” Maria said.
“Anyway, Katrina and Wolfgang are talking about your situation now. I’ve already given my opinion. I said I would check on you. You’ve got to be getting hungry now.”
Maria’s stomach was tight with anxiety. She had been hungry earlier, but now she couldn’t imagine eating.
“What was your opinion?” she asked.
He looked at her for a moment, then reached out and took her hands. “Will you, if I ask you to, remove the yadokari from my head? Give me a fresh mindmap that’s only me?”
She made a strangled laugh. “Bring me a terminal and I’ll do it right now. I’ll do anything I can to make you better—”
He interrupted her with a kiss, fierce and unexpected. He pulled back after a moment and she stared at him in shock.
“Thank you.”
Hours later, after Maria had showered, had her wounds re-dressed, and ate, she sat with the rest of the crew.
She explained how she had hacked the body scanner and Bebe’s powerful capabilities to move beyond food preferences to creating a full mindmap. She explained the secret instructions Minoru had hidden within the printer long ago, before he had been transformed, when he knew what was going to happen to him and tried to figure out the best way to lay bread crumbs toward fixing himself. Wolfgang watched stony-faced, while Joanna was unabashedly fascinated. Katrina looked confused, while Minoru nodded.
“Can you program Paul to fly the ship with no ulterior motives to betray the crew or the mission?” Wolfgang asked.
Maria nodded. “That’s simple. I can strip away the same stuff I did in my own mindmap that’s flying us now.”
“Set her free, put her in a gardening robot or something,” Joanna said. “Paul needs to work to make it up to the crew. And we need to be able to trust him.”
Maria nodded.
Katrina looked around at the rest of the crew. “In light of the fact that you saved the crew in multiple ways, solved the murders, fixed the cloning problem, and freed our enslaved AI, we’re not going to charge you with any ethical hacking crimes.” She glanced at Wolfgang’s stony face. “As for holding grudges, I can’t promise anything, but I expect everyone to do their best to work together within the crew.”
“Thank you,” Maria said.
Joanna picked up where Katrina had left off. “Wolfgang has given up command of the ship to Captain de la Cruz again, who has agreed to counseling. But I’m of the opinion that now that our secrets are aired, there should be less paranoia and more trust. We’re continuing with everyone in the same roles, except you will take the role of chief engineer and Paul is sentenced to become our new AI.”
“What about Minoru?” Maria said, indicating her head toward their new crewmember.
“He’s going to work as an assistant to the captain,” Wolfgang said sternly. “He has his own infractions to work through, and we don’t want to give him too much power to start out with.”
Minoru crossed his arms. “You had your entire world turn into a lie, and you became a crazy clone hunter. I’d think you of all people would understand my actions better.”
Wolfgang tensed, but Joanna placed her hand on his shoulder. Maria marveled that the doctor could calm him immediately.
“Also,” Hiro said, “since this whole ship was launched to fail, we’re kind of worried that there’s not reliable information about the planet at the other end of this mission. So we’re going to be doing a lot of research as we get closer to Artemis.”
“Or we might be turning around and going home after all,” Katrina said.
“Won’t they be surprised to see us?” Maria asked, smiling at last.
“Our happy crew, and our mission, are works in progress,” Joanna said, smiling slightly. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve got a lot of time to do so.”
Acknowledgments
I’m always awkward writing these because I secretly fear I will miss someone. I always think I will write my acknowledgments as the book goes on, but that’s like saying I will organize my tax receipts at the end of every month instead of waiting for March. Doesn’t happen. But onward!
The whole team at Orbit continues to be wonderful, supporting me and making this book better than I could have made it. Devi Pillai and Kelly O’Connor are excellent editors, and the cover was under the care and guidance of Lauren Panepinto. My agent, Jennifer Udden, continues to work hard to give me incredible guidance, as well as gentle talkings-down when I get anxious. Thanks also to Katie Shea Boutillier and everyone from DMLA who worked with this book.
I was lucky enough to have the science advice of astronomer Dr. Pamela Gay, who gave both lovely conversation and speedy responses to panicked emails. Thanks to early readers Alasdair Stuart and Matt Wallace, and thanks to Claire Rousseau for her enthusiasm at Loncon a few years ago when I joked that I was considering writing a book of FTL fanfic.
No, this book isn’t FTL fanfic, but still, thanks to the design team behind the iOS game FTL whose use of cloning sparked the idea behind one of the major building blocks of this book.
To the people who gave support through this writing: Kameron Hurley, Marguerite Kenner, Sunil Patel, Karen Bovenmyer, Andrea Phillips, Sam Montgomery-Blinn, Fran Wilde, Charlie Stross, and of course all of my parental units and my sister Shelley. And I can never forget the people at home who make sure that I have a schedule of a normal person who puts on pants and takes a shower and eats a food from time to time (not in that order): Jim and Fiona, my whole world. I love you.
extras
meet the author
Photo Credit: JR Blackwell
Mur Lafferty is a writer, podcast producer, gamer, runner, and geek. She is the host of the podcast I Should Be Writing and the cohost of Ditch Diggers. She is the winner of the 2013 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She is addicted to computer games, Zombies, Run!, and Star Wars LEGO. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and daughter.
By Mur Lafferty
The Shambling Guides
The Shambling Guide to New York City
Ghost Train to New Orleans
The Afterlife Series
Heaven
Hell
Earth
Wasteland
War
Stones
Six Wakes
interview
When did you first start writing?
I thought the answer was eighth grade, but then my dad brought me a stapled-together booklet of stories I wrote in first grade, so I guess it’s been a while.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Early on it was Madeline L’Engle (who answered my fan mail when I was eleven!) and Anne McCaffrey. As an adult they’re Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and Connie Willis.