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I shake my head. “Why are you sohappy, Sawoot?”

“Because Theme just told me someverygood news.”

I turn my attention to Theme. Now, he can finally meet my gaze. In fact, I can see excitement in his bright, brown eyes. It’s nice to be finally looking into eyes that aren’t slate-grey and laser focused on me. Captain Aelon has a way of making me feel like he knows every last one of my secrets, while remaining such a tangled enigma himself.

“This ship,” Theme tells me, “The Instigator. Aelon must have got it for cheap. It’s a discontinued class of warship – no longer in service in the Aurelian fleet.”

Sawoot pours me a cup of tea from the pot. I take it, sipping the steaming liquid, and make a face at the bitter taste. Sawoot shrugs. Shedidwarn me it was bad.

I turn to theme. “Why was it discontinued?”

“That’s just it,” he explains. “There are critical vulnerabilities to this class of warship –ifyou can get to the control rooms.” His eyes flash. Whenever Theme talks computers or engineering – subjects in which he’s always the smartest in the room– he’s filled with an infectious enthusiasm.

“Those control rooms are only a thousand meters fromthisroom,” he tells me. “If I can get into one alone for justfour minutes, I could hack this ship’s systems. I’ll be able to remotely control all the doors of the ship – and that includes the loading bay doors.”

My eyes widen.

The loading bay – where the Wayward Scythe still sits.

“I could open us a path to the loading bay,” Theme grins, “and we can either take our ship, or – even better – steal one of those Reavers. It’ll take me time to hack into it, but I can do it – and we’ll have the time once the Aurelians are trapped.”

“Trapped? What do you mean trapped?”

Theme’s eyes flash.

“Trapped because I can controleverydoor on this ship. I’ll open all the ones between us and the loading bay – andlockall the others.”

I whistle slowly. I have to hand it to Theme – I’m impressed.

Sawoot nudges me.

“If we want a quicker option, we can just steal the access cards for a Reaver from one of the Aurelians, so Theme won’t have to hack into its systems. That’ll cut the escape time by twenty minutes.”

Her eyebrows waggle up and down.

“Perhaps you can… ahem…distractAelon and steal a set?”

My heart skips.

Distract.

I knowexactlywhat Sawoot means by that, and so does Theme. In fact, Theme looks down, and his cheeks turn as red as my own.

“There’ll be no distracting ofanyone,” I clarify.

Theme’s hand is shaking as he raises it, like he’s trying to be called on by the teacher in class. I roll my eyes. “You don’t need to raise your hand, Theme.”

“Well… Ineeda distraction, if I’m going to get into the systems,” he confesses. “I know this ship. I’ve studied the blueprints. I’ve got a… ahobbyfor old warships, especially ones that were in the great wars between the Toads and Aurelians.”

“This ship isthatold?”

Theme nods enthusiastically.

I turn towards the door.

“You’ve got to get to the control room to access the controls, right? Which is going to be tough – what with those three lunks outside.”

Sawoot scowls. “Hey - they saved my life, or at least my ass. Don’t diss them.” Then, her eyes flash. “Ooh, now that I think about it, Garrick probably has a set of access cards for a Reaver.”