Theo pulled on his tool belt with the same careful movements he usually made. His face a mask of calm. Underneath the fa?ade, emotions raged like a hurricane.

  Theo had seen the Captain angry before, seen him snap orders, but there was an edge in Ryder’s voice this time. If Theo disobeyed a command, he imagined that Ryder would lunge at him with a shiv. He didn’t believe that Ryder was the spy, but he would tread carefully around the Captain.

  A hammer clinked at Theo’s side. Clive got the straps on his tool belt closed, then looked to Theo.

  Even if Ryder isn’t around, Clive is here, and he will do anything the Captain orders without question.

  Theo suddenly felt uncomfortable to be around his crew mate.

  “Are you ready?” Theo asked.

  Clive nodded.

  The pair took the elevator to the fourth floor. Theo ran a diagnostic check from the main console. There were no hull breaches in the reactor room, but the check showed that something was wrong with the reactor. Theo tried to coax the computer to tell him what was wrong with the reactor, but it couldn’t give him details.

  Clive paced behind Theo. His footsteps were heavy, like he was trying to bring attention to himself. Even though Theo could hear Clive, he couldn’t see the other crew member. Clive might have his hammer in hand, and was ready to bring it down on Theo’s skull.

  What would Clive gain by killing me? What would Ryder gain? Nothing. Yet Theo couldn’t let himself be at ease.

  He turned around. Clive paced with his hands open and empty.

  “The computer isn’t telling us what the problem is,” Theo said. “Can you troubleshoot?”

  “Yes, sir.” Clive stepped up to the console.

  Theo stared at the reactor core through the glass. Nothing was obviously wrong, so the issue must be within the core itself. Theo stepped out of the monitoring room, and toward the reactor.

  ? ? ?

  Naoki pinched the spot between his eyes. He’d spent a few hours looking through the dossiers of the Ark’s crew and the scientists, trying to find something that would point out a spy. Everyone’s records looked clean, which didn’t really surprise Naoki.

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  SmallWorld vetted every single person aboard the Hell’s Ark with a ruthless precision. If anyone had a trace connection to Frontier, they would have been weeded out during the first round of interviews. Naoki was wasting his time.

  He also knew it was a waste of time to look through the sabotage report. Whoever locked the doors covered their tracks well, so even though Naoki knew there was a traitor aboard the Ark, he had no way of drawing a line toward them.

  At least, you won’t find information from your cabin.

  The files were useless, but what about the people themselves? Ryder had always been sketchy, and Naoki’s opinion in him only declined after the ship explosion. He kept the Captain’s Override a secret, and though he claimed he couldn’t access the lab, he had no proof of that. Ryder had three crew loyal crew members who would protect him. If anyone aboard the ship was the spy, it had to be Ryder. All Naoki needed was proof.

  Naoki stood up, stepped out of his cabin, and began the next stage of his investigation.

  ? ? ?

  The reactor hummed its listless tune. It was usually calming for Theo, but as he approached the shielded metal surface, the hum made something crawl beneath his flesh. The reactor had ten failsafes to prevent an explosion, and fifteen to stop a major radiation leak. The core had sensors all over that would screech if something melted down. Despite all of this, something had gone wrong and the reactor hadn’t reported it.

  Theo opened a hatch on the side with a screwdriver. As he turned the screws loose, he listened to the reactor’s hum. There was no change in rhythm. Theo pulled the first panel off. He checked the inside of the reactor with his flashlight. The components inside were a mix of old and very old parts, but nothing seemed damaged at a glance.

  Theo closed up the hatch, then headed for the second one on the side of the reactor. This one, too, only showed signs of age. Theo moved to the third hatch. By this point, his anxiety had settled to the bottom of his gut. It took too much effort to remain on guard all the time.

  He pulled the third hatch off, and checked inside with a flashlight. Inside he saw wires ripped out of place. Some were ripped in half. They might have taken on too much stress during the engine explosion. Theo shone his light from different directions to see where the wires came from and where they went. These channeled energy generated from the reactor to the rest of the ship.

  Theo pulled back, and stared at the mess. The lights would keep flickering until the wires were repaired, and a repair meant shutting the reactor down and switching to the emergency generators for a few hours. During that time, a good chunk of the ship would remain unpowered to conserve energy. It was a tedious process not just for Theo and Clive who would have to fix the wires, but for everyone else on the ship who had to deal with an Ark working at its bare minimum.

  A sour smell filled the air. Theo didn’t recognize it as burning metal or composites, which he associated with failing mechanical components.

  Theo’s anxiety crept back in.

  He leaned forward, and sniffed inside the reactor. He still couldn’t identity the smell. He and Clive needed to leave the reactor room, just in case.

  Theo rose to his full height.

  And he hit something.