A Million Suns (Across the Universe 2)

Elder emerges from the shadows and starts walking beside me.

“How did you know?” I ask him.

“Know what?”

“That Bartie wouldn’t ask you to step down then? That he wouldn’t take over leadership of the ship when you offered. ”

Elder meets my eyes. “I didn’t. ”

I try not to show my surprise at his words.

Although the Hospital has been cleared for occupancy, I steer Elder the other way, toward the Recorder Hall.

“I’ve been thinking,” I say as we plod up the path.

“About what?” Elder’s voice sounds tired and weak.

“How different you are from Orion. ”

Elder huffs out a breath of air.

“No, really,” I insist. “Orion had backup plans for his backup plan. You don’t. You just do what you think is right at the time and wait to see what happens. ”

“Maybe I should have a plan,” Elder says. “Things might work out better if I did. ”

“You can’t plan for everything. Orion couldn’t have known some nut job would blow up the Bridge. ” I steal a glance at Elder and notice his frown. “And neither could you,” I add, but I don’t think he quite believes me.

We don’t speak again as we mount the stairs to the Recorder Hall. It’s quiet here. The artifacts inside are just a reminder of everything we can’t have, and no one wants to be reminded of that.

“I’m sorry,” Elder says. Light spills into the dark Recorder Hall from the open doors, then fades to nothing as Elder silently pulls them shut.

“For what?”

“You’ve lost your chance to leave the ship, to have your parents awoken—all of it. ”

I can wake them up. I don’t say this aloud, but I know it’s true. If we really have no chance of landing the ship, I will wake my parents up, no matter what.

“I’ve still got you, haven’t I?” I say, reaching for his hand. Elder snatches it away. He doesn’t want to be comforted.

“It’s all my fault. I didn’t think any of this would happen. . . . ”

“It’s not your fault,” I say immediately. “No one could have known. . . . ”

My voice trails off. But someone did know. Someone did guess. Orion. He really did have a plan for everything. A contingency plan . . .

I point to one of the giant wall floppies. “Can you bring up the blueprints of the ship?”

“Why?” Elder just stands there, begging me with his eyes to stop, to not make him think there’s any hope left.

Except there is.

I push Elder to the wall floppy and don’t leave his side until he starts tapping on the screen to bring up the blueprint. Once he does, I rush off to the other side of the hallway and grab a chair resting against the wall. I slam it down under the clay models of the planets and the little replica of Godspeed.

“In the last video, the one that I found when I discovered the missing explosives,” I say, climbing up onto the chair, “Orion told me that the last thing I need to find will be in Godspeed. ”

“Godspeed is huge,” Elder says. The wall floppy behind him shows the giant diagram of the ship. Seeing it there, projected on the wall, I can appreciate just how huge this ship is.

“I know,” I say, “but isn’t it odd? That word choice. He didn’t say ‘on Godspeed. ’ He said ‘in. ’”