DAY 9, 6:20 P.M.

Aboard the Tower Space Station

We float down the black river in silence. We’ve been roaming through the unlit rapids for thirty minutes now. Too long for my comfort. Babel has every light in the Waterway clicked off. Defoe claims it will simulate one of Eden’s moonless nights. The only light comes from Jazzy’s sonar system. Little green blips in a dark, inky sea. The only sound is the river. When we talk it is in whispers so quiet they sound more like thoughts. “We’re twenty meters from a rock. Need to drift left ten meters to hit the next strait.”

We feel the subtle change in direction. There’s a flash of light in the distance, then nothing. “Was that them?” Azima whispers.

No one answers. We started in one direction along the Waterway and Genesis 12 was sent the opposite direction. We caught a glimpse of them on the radar about five minutes ago and have been stalking them ever since. But somewhere in a rocky switchback, we lost them. I’ve got Jazzy throwing out fake radar signatures every ten seconds. Bilal’s sitting by her console, helping read the terrain. We drift for another five minutes before Jazzy whispers excitedly, “I’ve got them.” On her screen, I can see a little red dot burning through the black. “Fifty meters ahead, tucked against that big rock.”

The rock looms like a deeper, darker shadow. Ahead, the river divides into smaller sections. I take a look over Jazzy’s shoulder and notice they’re waiting at the tightest squeeze in the river. The rock they hang from has them poised above the choke point, a perfect ambush.

“Let’s anchor here,” I command. “No noise. Jazzy, ten-second scans.”

The work is done in silence. When we’re nestled against the nearest rocks, I gather the crew at the center of the ship. Their faces aren’t recognizable in the black.

“How do we know they aren’t throwing a false signal?” Jaime’s voice asks.

“We don’t,” I answer.

“It’s a solid choke point,” Katsu’s voice says. “I bet they’re just waiting for us.”

“So why don’t we bait them?” Longwei asks. “Go through the strait, make just a tiny bit of noise, and surprise them.”

“What’s the point?” I ask. “Sure, we know they’re coming, but they’ve got the upper ground. We’d be sitting ducks.”

“Then we split up,” Longwei says. “Look at the scans—these rocks connect to the big rock. Half of us climb up that way. Someone grabs the flag and drops down to ours. We win.”

“For once,” Katsu mutters darkly.

“It sounds great and all,” I say. “But I can’t even see your faces right now. How are we supposed to climb up there?”

There’s a pause. Then Longwei says, “Skillfully.”

Little breaths of laughter.

“All right,” I say. “Let’s do it.”

It’s agreed that Katsu, Longwei, Bilal, and Jazzy should stay on board. The rest of us prepare for what will be a treacherous, slippery climb. Jazzy runs the scan and freezes the screen. We memorize the rock formations and pinpoint distances together. Azima suggests using nyxia for a little extra grip. It takes a few minutes, but we each manipulate the best pair of grip gloves we can in the darkness.

“Everyone ready?” I ask.

The affirmatives are quieter than river splashes. We grope for solid rock and lower onto our stomachs as quietly as possible. The path isn’t straight or even. My stomach and knees are rubbing raw as we make our way forward. Even when the path widens, I stay low and keep crawling. I can feel the slickness left and right of me. The slightest slip would ruin our surprise and send us into the river. I’m sure Babel has their divers on hand, but I don’t want to risk it if they don’t.

In spite of the pitch black, we find the first mound of the big rock their boat is gripping. Azima runs into the back of my legs as I trace the lightless scene for anything odd, but it’s useless. Too dark. We keep crawling. I hear fabric snag on a rock behind me and freeze. We all wait like statues, but nothing happens. Three more meters and we’re at the edge of the rock. A glance over reveals the deep shadow of their boat. I reach out and touch it just to be sure. Holding my breath, I crawl back in the opposite direction. Roathy and the others are flat on their stomachs. I make sure the angles are right and set my flashlight on the back of Azima’s boot heel. I flash a handheld light twice and flatten again.

We hear the faintest sound of our ship’s engine. Jazzy guessed one minute to get around the lip and into the strait at their slowest speed. I count the seconds as shadows shift.

“All right, Azima. We’ll all climb up the side,” I whisper. “But you’re making the grab.”

“On the back of the captain’s chair, yes?” she asks.

“Yes.” There’s a soft engine thrum on our left. “Thirty seconds.”

Green dots blossom above us. I blink a few times.

“What are those?” Azima whispers.

We watch them swirl in the air like fireflies.

“They look like eyes,” Isadora says.

Genesis 12 descends. Something heavy crushes me against stone. My arms get pulled back and someone ties off my hands. The others struggle, but not for long. We’re all pinned to the rock face and gagged before we can cry a warning. Their headgear glows with enough light to see the features beneath. Anton stands above us, his hair slicked back with wet.

“We have the ducklings,” he whispers. “Now we get the goose.”

The green glow of their gear fades as they slip back to their boat. We watch the shadows vanish over the lip. A second later, they release their suction and splash down into the water. The boarding party takes our crew easily. Our flag is claimed. The lights click back on and we wait as Anton and Omar take their time removing our bindings. Morning orders her crew to undo their nyxian transformations before we can get a look at the night goggles they used.

Longwei and the others look up at us, confused about what happened. All we can do is shrug back as Defoe and Requin appear on the platforms above. They lead everyone through a side hatch. We walk by one too many scoreboards on the way back, one too many reminders of how we’ve failed.

“This isn’t working,” Katsu says heatedly. “I mean, no offense, Emmett, but we haven’t won once with you as the captain. Tonight was awful. Just awful. They always have a plan.”

“If you had such a great plan, why didn’t you share it?” I fire back.

“Because I’m the driver, not the captain. You’re supposed to come up with the ideas.”

The other members of our crew have stopped walking. Genesis 12 passes by, and Anton claps for us. “Another valiant effort! Keep at it, you guys!”

Katsu starts after him, but Longwei and Jaime grab him. When Genesis 12 is out of sight, he rounds on me instead. “This isn’t working,” he repeats.

“We’ve been close,” I say hotly. “Every time. If you just give me a few more days—”

“Close isn’t winning,” Katsu says. “Look, it doesn’t even matter that much to me. I’m going to Eden. But the rest of you need to figure it out. They’ve won eighteen straight. That’s fifty-four thousand points. If we keep losing, you’re gone. End of story.”

He storms off. I look at the others. Jaime gives me an apologetic look but says nothing to defend me. Even Bilal is avoiding eye contact. I decide to wash my hands of it.

“If that’s what you want, vote in someone else,” I say. “I don’t care.”

I stand there, heated, as the others walk away. I feel left behind, pissed off by their rejection, and halfway buried by the scoreboard. Loche’s gaining on me with my every failure. I take a few minutes to cool off before following after the others. I just need to sleep it off. We all do. Maybe they’ll realize in the morning how close we’ve been to winning.

Raised voices catch my attention. I thought the others were long gone, but an argument crashes its way from one of the side corridors and echoes through the main hallway. I follow the voices until the words, and the two people fighting, are clear as day.

“You act like I’m not trying,” Roathy accuses.

Isadora’s voice is quieter, but far fiercer too.

“Are you trying? I don’t know. It’s like you quit on me. There’s two weeks left, Roathy, and you’re not making any progress. If you don’t want to be with me, just say it.”

His voice is annoyed. “Of course I want to be with you.”

“Then act like it,” she snaps. “I can’t do this alone. That’s what will happen. I’ll have to go down without you and I’ll be alone for all of it.”

“Isa, I’m trying.”

“Try harder,” she snaps. “That’s what I need. I need you to try harder.”

There’s silence, and footsteps, and I barely manage to slide into an adjacent room. From the shadows, I watch Isadora storm out. I wait for Roathy to follow, but he doesn’t. After a few minutes, I ease out of my hiding place and glance around the corner.

They were in one of the comfort pods. Roathy stands quietly by one of the porthole windows, looking out at the endless black. I wait by the entrance. There’s a second where I think about doing what Kaya would have done. Talking to him, encouraging him, and making sure everything’s all right.

But then he unleashes a frustrated scream and flings the contents of the nearest table away. Ceramic mugs shatter against the wall, gasping white clouds of dust into the air. He doesn’t stop there. He keeps wrecking everything, and I force my feet to move, away from him and down the hall. Even when I reach the safety of my room, Roathy’s outburst stays with me.

Babel’s game is coming to a close. Roathy’s screams might as well be prophecies. When the game ends, there will be winners and losers. I always thought things would get clearer as we arrived at the finish line, but I was wrong. We’re all reaching for the same prizes. The finish line will be chaos. It will be the final and dying efforts of the desperate.

And I’ll be in the middle of all of it.