“She’s tough,” Hildra said. “She almost wouldn’t go.”

Layanna still refused to say a word. Avery squeezed her hand, but she didn’t squeeze back.

“What is it?” he whispered, then paused. “What do they mean to do to us?”

At first she didn’t reply, and he thought he’d have to ask the question again, but then she turned to him, and what he could see of her expression was blank, lifeless. She had lost all hope, he realized—and not just for themselves.

“Sacrifice,” Layanna said at last. “That’s surely what they mean to do with you. As for me, it will likely be something else—first, at least.”

A scream echoed in the background, held for a long moment, then faded.

“Sheridan,” Janx said. “That bitch arranged this.”

Avery could feel the big man’s accusing glare even in the darkness. He knew they all blamed him for this, for saving Sheridan’s life, and he knew they were not wrong to do so.

“How did she know these pirates worshipped the R’loth?” he said.

“That’s most of ‘em these days, at least in these parts,” Janx said. “Back when Segrul—the admiral of the pirating fleet—back when he told me I had to infect myself if I wanted to continue on, that’s when I knew it was time to bail on the life. I got out just when he was leadin’ the great purge to kill all non-infected or infect them.”

“I remember your story,” Avery said, half surprised—but only half—to discover it was more than just a story. “And now that Octung’s navy is broken, the R’loth are relying on the pirates to be their muscle on the sea.”

“Different players, same game.”

“Think that bitch is celebrating with ‘em right now?” Hildra said.

“I doubt it,” Avery said. “I don’t see her mixing with them very well. But as to whether she’s been taken in by Segrul and his crew as an ally, that’s an excellent question.”

“Segrul runs a hard lot,” Janx said. “If they didn’t know her, they might’ve raped her, slit her throat and tossed her overboard by now. If I’d been runnin’ things, we would’ve kept her alive for ransom if nothing else. She is an admiral.”

“But if she’s the one that called for them to attack us ...”

Another scream rose, then fell. Layanna, still just a shadow in the gloom, hung her head.

“Not all’s lost,” Avery told her. “We can still reach home again and use the Starfish tissue to devise some defense against it. The R’loth are obviously desperate. Octung’s power is broken, and the R’loth themselves have been lamed by the Device. They have to appeal to their gods for aid. That’s what you told me, right? All we need to do is escape.”

For the first time, Layanna turned to him, and even in the darkness he could see the wetness in her eyes.

“How?”

“I don’t know. Those whip weapons ... what were they? I thought the Device disrupted most extradimensional devices.”

“No,” Layanna said. “Only devices along a specific frequency—the weapons my people gifted to Octung, mainly, though there are some wider repercussions. Your race needs extradimensional devices, Francis. Seafood processors, defensive generators, air purifiers, and more. The Device only disabled, mainly, the Octunggen weapons.”

“So what are those whips if not a weapon?”

“They ain’t machines, Doc, and they ain’t Octunggen,” Janx said. “Made to be used by fishermen if they bring up something they couldn’t normally handle in their nets. Blurfish, deadeyes, whatever. Things in the sea too warped and weird for knife-work. Why, I’ve seen a blurfish take out five men before we could get it out o’ the boat. They’re not all ... here.” He rapped the metal bulkhead, indicating this world, this reality. “Part of ‘em exists outside, y’know? And the parts ya can’t see can slit you six ways to dead in half a second.”

“I believe you.”

“Remember, I was a fisher for a while, and I’ve seen so much weird shit come outta the sea I could write a book on it.”

“Yeah yeah,” Hildra said.

“Many a time we didn’t have the venom whips, and we paid for it,” Janx went on. “Alchemists from Seerwan make ‘em, and sell ‘em dear to the larger fishing companies. They’re made out of the tentacles of a certain breed of huge jellyfish, soaked in Atomic energy and kept stored in barrels filled with jellyfish poison to keep ‘em charged up. In my time as a fisher, which weren’t long, thank the gods, I only saw a few o’ the things, never at once, and they was bought used, dried out and hardly worked. Still, they were a great help. Now to see four fresh, charged-up ones together ... Well. Segrul knew his prey. Knew what he was after. He came here just to get you, darlin’, and he prepared for it. Someone paid for those venom whips, in coin or blood, mebbe both.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Avery told Layanna. “If we can just get you to the sea, you’ll be fine. Won’t you?”

Hesitantly, she nodded.

“There,” he said, as if it was all settled. “Now all we need is the right opportunity.”

Silence stretched, and Avery could hear the creak of wood and metal and laughter trickle down the halls. The ship rocked as it began to get under way again, and the thought haunted him that they might be leaving the Verignun behind, Ani and the Starfish tissue with it. It was unlikely, he told himself. The pirates would want to add it to their fleet. It would have been given a new crew, a pirate crew, and would be sailing along with the rest of the ships, its original crew either murdered or locked up. Since they hadn’t been killed immediately, Avery had to assume most still lived and had been taken prisoner. Perhaps Segrul meant to infect them, convert them and press-gang them. Either way, somewhere on the Verignun, Ani was hiding. He imagined her peeking out from a rusty, overgrown vent grill, hearing the boots of pirates storm past and shrinking into the shadows, out of sight, her heart thumping and tears running down her cheeks. Something in Avery’s chest twisted. Ani, be safe. For the love of your mother, be safe.

He wasn’t a religious man, but he prayed for her to stay hidden. He also prayed for forgiveness for causing all this. All those people being raped and killed, at that very moment—it was all on his head.

Perhaps an hour later, a shape moved toward them down the hall and stopped at the bars, no more than a silhouette. A silhouette Avery knew quite well.

“Sheridan.”

The others tensed around him. Hildra lifted her hook.

“What do you want?” Avery said.

Sheridan’s voice didn’t come at once, and when it did it wasn’t gloating, as he had expected, but, strangely, sad. “I told you to keep your head down, Doctor. You should not have revealed yourself to Segrul.”

“Is that what you would have done? Leave a friend of yours to the mercies of a band of pirates by herself?”

“I would have done what was necessary. If you had kept your head down, I could have bought you from them, but that possibility is gone now.”

“Bitch,” said Hildra.

“Can’t believe I ever served under you,” Janx said. “Gods damn.” He kicked something, and it rattled against the wall.

“Where do they take us?” The question came from Layanna.

But Sheridan hadn’t come to visit her. Her eyes, what Avery could see of them, stayed on him.

“I am sorry, Doctor.”

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. She seemed sincere, and there was no point in antagonizing her. He hadn’t the energy for it, anyway. He remained silent, gazing at her, hoping she might offer some sliver of hope but knowing it unlikely.

"How did you know how to contact the pirates?" he asked.

She paused. "The port before Ethali. I made contact with some of their people. I had the right codes. It wasn’t hard." She cleared her throat, and he could sense pain in her voice. “This may be the last time we see each other, Doctor." Then, making herself: “Francis. I just ... wanted to say ...”

“Yes?”

She shook her head, as if not quite able to give voice to whatever it was, broke off and moved away without another word. Hildra called her names as she went, but she did not look back.