A Million Suns Read Free Page B

demand.
    For the first time, Marae turns to look to the other Shippers for assurance. Shelby nods, a tiny movement that I almost don’t notice. “It was before I was named First Shipper. Before you were born. The First Shipper then was a man named Devyn.” Marae’s eyes flick to Shelby one more time. “Information about the engine has always been—selectively known.”
    Which means, of course, that as few people as possible know the truth.
    â€œI was apprenticing then,” Marae continues, “and I remember that Elder—the other Elder, the Elder before you—”
    â€œOrion,” I say.
    She nods. “Eldest sent him to do some maintenance on the ship, and when he came back, he didn’t report to Eldest. He went straight to Devyn. Whatever he said then . . . it made an impact on Devyn. All research ceased for a while after that.”
    â€œThe Shippers went on strike?” I lean forward, shocked. Of everyone on
Godspeed
, the Shippers are the most loyal. I don’t know if it’s because we trusted them even without Phydus, or if it’s because they’re genetically engineered to be loyal, or if it’s simply because they, like Doc and a handful of others,
like
the Eldest system of rule, but whatever the reason, the Shippers are unswerving in their loyalty.
    â€œThey didn’t strike exactly, not like the weavers did last week. They did all their duties as normal. Except for engine research.”
    â€œWhat made them start researching the engine problems again?” I ask. I’m vaguely aware of the other Shippers in the room, the deep silence, the uncomfortable way they hold themselves, but my attention is focused on Marae.
    â€œElder died,” she says simply.
    She means Orion—when Orion was Elder, he faked his own death to avoid a very real death at the hands of Eldest.
    â€œAfter that,” Marae goes on, “First Shipper Devyn resumed research on the engine. Although . . . the research was even more closely hidden than before. Fewer Shippers were allowed access to the engine, and Devyn was not exactly, well, not exactly
forthright
with Eldest. When I took his place, I carried on as he trained me. But . . . I started to notice . . . irregularities.”
    â€œIrregularities?”
    Marae nods. “Things didn’t add up. Some of the engine’s problems seemed new—as if intentionally done, and recently. All records of past research were gone—destroyed, probably, as we’ve never been able to discover them.”
    So Devyn had misled his apprentice, Marae. Whatever Orion had told him had made Devyn change everything, even going so far as to hide information from his own Shippers and Eldest. Orion once told me that
Godspeed
was on autopilot, that it could get to Centauri-Earth without us. Why would he say that if he’s the one who knew the problems with the engine went deeper than anyone else thought?
    â€œEldest started to realize this too, didn’t he?” I ask.
    Marae looks down at her hands. “The Eldest’s job is to take care of the people. The Shippers’ job is to take care of the ship. But before he . . . before he died, I think, yes. He’d realized something wasn’t right.”
    I rub my face with both my hands, remembering where I first heard those words. Remembering the way Eldest had spent more and more time on the Shipper level, in those last weeks before Orion killed him.
    How long has this been going on? Eldest told me my focus had to be on the people, but we can’t have been the only Eldests to realize that we had to focus on the engine too. What happened to them? It all connects at the so-called Plague, the beginning of the lies, the beginning of Phydus. Somewhere between the Plague and now, the truth was lost, and we, all of us, me and Eldest and the Shippers and everyone else, whether we were on Phydus or not,