“So, that’s what the one in the message meant by ‘restart the sta tion’？” Cavalon asked, turning to look at Rake. “And why there are so many chemicals and strange supplies aboard the Drudger ship? They were recruited to restart the reactors and fix the stations?”
“Right,” Rake said dryly. “And we killed them.”
Cavalon sighed. That was … great. Just fucking perfect.
“Rake.” Jackin’s voice came over the comms.
“Go for Rake.”
“We figured it out. Had to delve into the secondary control permissions, simple little data lock, old-school stuff. We’re good to head out whenever you’re done.”
“Great, Jack. Thanks. We’ll be in—”
“We figured it out,” Jackin said again. “Had to delve into the—”
“Jack? What?”
“—secondary control—oh, fuck.” Jackin crackled away.
Rake put her hands on her hips and looked straight down at her boots. “Jack.”
A few moments later, he came back on. “Yeah, boss. So, little bit of a time ripple thing going on in here—Emery!” He cut away again, then came back a few seconds later. “Okay, I got them split up. Take your time, boss—hey, what did I just say!”
“She started—！” was all the comms caught of Emery’s high-pitched voice in the background before cutting away.
Rake let out a long sigh. “Shit.”
Cavalon swept his gaze from Rake, to Griffith, then to Mesa, but no one seemed sure what to say.
Rake finally spoke up, turning to Cavalon. “There’s nothing we can do right now, correct? There’s no restarting this generator without the supplies from the Synthesis?”
“I doubt it. Unless there’s a large amount of hydrogen just lying around somewhere.”
“Okay,” Rake said. “Then we head back to Kharon. We’ll come up with a plan after that.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Adequin tasked Mesa and Cavalon with updating Jackin and Emery, then sat next to Griffith on the circular bench for the short trip back to Kharon Gate. They quietly discussed their discovery, but Adequin couldn’t find a way to focus her full mental efforts on it. It was ridiculous and unbelievable and daunting. But Griffith was dying, and somehow, that overshadowed even this.
He still claimed he felt fine. Tired, but fine. She could hardly believe he had so little time left, but she trusted Cavalon’s diagnosis—which somehow wasn’t difficult. He had no reason to lie, and he clearly understood what was going on. She didn’t like it, but she believed it. And it was killing her.
When they decelerated from warp and cruised up to the gate, they hadn’t even docked before Adequin’s nexus lit up.
“EX?” Puck’s voice crackled in, thin and staticky. “You guys reading us yet?”
“Go for Rake.”
“We, uh, just got a mayday from the Typhos.”
“What?” she barked. The Typhos—the next closest Sentinel ship, and the next in danger of being wiped out by the Divide.
“I lost the connection,” Puck said, “But I recorded it.”
“I’ll be right there,” Adequin said. She waited for the gravity to flip, then headed straight up the ladder and out the hatch. Griffith and the others followed close behind.
In the control room, Warner and Puck stood at the terminal next to the one that still held an open comm link to Poine Gate.