The rumbling sound ended with a screech of metal.

The lights went off, and then they came on again—weaker.

Then silence.

The silence of hundreds of passengers holding their breath.

Only Ralph knew that the noise was nothing more than the notes of a tune composed centuries earlier, by Hope's builders. It was the sound of Sophia detaching the primary drive and its array of fusion reactors from the rest of the ship.

They were not needed anymore.

Hope was broken now. Forever. And he had caused it.

Fighting down his tears, he continued towards the labs.

He got there a couple of minutes later. Not many ventured into this part of the ship. And now only a few remained. Most of them knew him. And, in contrast to those in the corridors, they were excited rather than afraid.

"You did it!" said Claudio, the Head Scientist. "Congratulations!"

Trying to push images of Hope's broken spine out of his mind, he put a hand on Claudio's shoulder and pushed him into one of the lab rooms.

"Listen!" He looked Claudio in the eye. "We don't have much time. And I don't know what will happen."

Claudio looked at him, confused. "But you are commander now. You are in control."

"For the time being, yes, but only until we have landed. And I doubt that the Captain will accept my command even until then.

"Look," Ralph continued. "I've sent a message to your account. It contains everything about the settlement procedure that I have been able to find. It tells what you must do once we have landed. Also, I have elevated the privileges of your account as far as I was able to. You should now have access to any information that I have. Once we are on the ground, you will have to make sure that the settling proceeds as planned."

Claudio looked uneasy. "But that's your job!"

"Well... maybe... yes," Ralph answered, doubting his own words. But there was little sense in worrying Claudio further. "Just to be on the safe side, let me explain some more things..."