Chapter Five: Names on a Rope

Batu cut six lengths from a rescue rope and joined them in a chain. Each person's belt bore the next person's name: Lin to Zhou, Zhou to Su, Su to Batu, Batu to Voss, Voss to A-Ying, A-Ying to Lin. "What if someone disappears?" A-Ying asked. "The knot stays," Batu said. "Holes eat people better than anything." No one answered. The airlock to Shaft Eight required a complete route code. Scanning light could not penetrate the wheel's hidden message, and surface life support had less than six days. There was no time for another way. "One millimeter," Lin said. "I stop when the route appears." Voss caught her wrist exactly as Han once had, though Voss could not know the gesture. "Who decides whom we forget?" "Shepherd does."