“Paul puts Katrina in a coma and moves on his plan again,” Maria said, then frowned. “We’re not on guard anymore because he’s been good for a quarter century. So he’s free to start poisoning the food printer and setting other traps.”
“Oh God,” Hiro said. “I found him. My note makes sense now; I must have caught Paul in the act and blacked out. For all I know, my yadokari could have helped him.”
“How do you know?” Wolfgang asked.
“I found my suicide note,” Hiro said, picking at the grass. “I just didn’t want you to see it since it sounds like I am guilty. I thought my yadokari were behind some of the things that were happening. I was having blackouts. I didn’t want them to take over, so when I was worried I had lost control, I killed myself. It’s not a big leap; I have considered it many times before. I just never did it.”
“So Hiro finds him. Either helps him sabotage the printer or gets convinced he’s party to the crimes, and hangs himself,” Maria said. “Then when I started getting sick, I figured it out and recorded my private log and grabbed the crew backups. By then things were getting violent in the cloning bay. I ran down to the cloning bay and connected to the drive in my personal terminal to get the backups loaded, but then Paul stabbed me.”
“I had to know something was up,” Joanna said, nodding slowly. “I found out Paul was the threat and got a syringe of ketamine. I got him, but he stabbed me. Wolfgang pulled him off me, choking him, but Paul stabbed him. The rest of us bled out while the captain slept in the medbay.”
“And I started it all because I was the reason Paul was determined to get on board,” Maria said. She sat down beside Joanna, who seemed to be the only one not looking like they’d like to kill her where she sat.
“That’s—you don’t have proof for any of it!” Paul said, sputtering.
“We have some proof,” Joanna said gently. “I’m the only one who can use the syringe. I killed you. And it all makes sense: Despite all our volatile personalities, you’re the only one who got on board with a death wish. You never thought you’d be cloned, so you had nothing to lose.”
Paul tried to struggle to his feet, but Wolfgang yanked him down. Paul yelped.
Wolfgang nodded slowly. “Without anyone having memories, it makes as much sense as anything else. You tried to kill us early on. You failed. Then you were nothing for decades. How does that feel, little man?”
Paul stared at him, equal parts hate and fear in his eyes.
“You’ve figured it out, hooray,” Hiro said in a low voice. “IAN is still shutting down the ship. So we get the truth right before we all die.”
Katrina clapped her hands. “Now we drink. Nothing else to do. We’ve confessed our sins and mourned the dead.” She frowned. “Wish I could have gotten the old captain a drink. I didn’t really mean to kill her.”
“I know you didn’t,” Joanna said. “But you did.”
Katrina held aloft the bottle. “To the brave Captain Katrina de la Cruz, who gave her life to save the crew of the Dormire.” She drank and passed it to Hiro.
“Although she started all this chaos,” Hiro said, and drank. Then he considered the bottle. “Well, Paul started it all by killing everyone. No, wait, Katrina started it by reminding Paul that the person he wanted to murder was on the ship. No, wait, Maria started it by hacking everybody and their dog. No, wait, Sallie Mignon started it all by putting us all together. No, wait—”
“Enough,” Wolfgang shouted. He grabbed the bottle from Hiro and drank as if the liquor had offended him and he wanted to punish it.
“To the old captain,” Joanna said, taking the bottle.
They passed it around, not including Paul. No one made eye contact with Maria, except for Wolfgang, who couldn’t stop staring at her, flexing his hands as if they were around her throat.
Katrina got the bottle back and held it up again. “Now to the crew of the Dormire, whom we mourn because no one will remember their last twenty-five years aboard this ship.”
She toasted the injured Hiro next, and then the new food printer for providing the feast, but only she drank to that one.
Hiro didn’t say much, although he drank. Maria couldn’t look at him. She wondered if she had any right to look at any of them ever again. She did glance frequently at Wolfgang to make sure he wasn’t going to leap up and kill her.
“Four toasts. That’s enough.” Katrina gazed around at her crew. “You are all so smart with your figuring out of things. You missed something, though, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” Joanna asked.
“IAN. We know he’s another victim of Mignon, but we haven’t figured out who?”
Hiro chuckled, the whiskey bringing his accent out more. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
“What? What didn’t you see?” IAN asked, impatiently.
“You’re ridiculously smart. You like to mess with people just to see shit happen—which got you thrown in jail for treason when you were human. You like pork ramen. And I helped Detective Lo help you escape back in 2293, probably because Mignon paid her to. You’re Minoru Takahashi.”
“Minoru Takahashi,” IAN said, as if trying out the feel of the name.
“Oh! Takahashi!” Joanna said, perking up. “The translator? I remember him. I thought he died in prison?”
“No. He escaped, and the government just made an announcement of his death and declared him legally dead. Saving face,” Hiro said. He rubbed his chin. “IAN? Does that sound right?”
IAN didn’t answer. There was only a whine as the air recyclers stopped circulating, and the lights started quickly dimming.
“No,” Maria shouted. “IAN! IAN! Minoru! Don’t do this! We can talk—Hell, you can punish me yourself! Don’t do this to the rest of them!”
The last thing Maria saw before the lights died entirely was Wolfgang reach for Joanna, and Hiro’s wide frightened eyes flickering toward her at last.
Wolfgang’s voice came through the darkness as the crew cried out in confusion. “I’ve had enough. I’m keeping command of this ship and the crew. IAN, unlock the doors. Maria, you’re going back into the brig. Katrina, you’re going to medbay to sober up.”
Katrina didn’t answer. She had probably passed out.
Maria got to her feet, feeling very cold. Too many people wanted her dead, and she couldn’t see anything in the dark. She felt disoriented, unable to remember where the lake was in reference to her right now. She thought it was to her right. She edged backward slowly, eyes wide trying to drink in any light she could.
Wolfgang swore.
“What happened?” Joanna’s frightened voice cut through the darkness.
Maria edged backward again. She felt the fronds of a willow tree at her back, and pushed through them as her crew called out in confusion. She thought she heard “Where’s Paul?”
Maria remembered she had three knives missing. One was at the bottom of the lake. One was in the medbay as evidence. She could bet that the cleaver was with Paul right now, possibly embedded into Wolfgang.
Someone screamed.
Maria’s back hit the trunk of the willow. She turned, and began to blindly climb.