Dragged to a halt by a force rising from the depths of her heart, Dr. Peters stopped. Nothing—not even the Filter Canister slung over her shoulder, not even the lives and deaths of every crew member—mattered more than the back she had glimpsed. That small figure brutally occupied all her thoughts, heedlessly driving out every other emotion. She stopped, threw down the Filter Canister, and hurried toward the figure like a fish caught on a hook. Without hesitation, she entered the Engine Room filled with enormous spikes. The slowly rotating spherical hyperspace engine filled her entire field of vision—as though reminding her of something, she saw her pale, thin, sickly son opening his arms to her. The urge to find that boy became unbearably urgent, making her breath come fast. Instinctively, she crossed the walkway above the Cooling Pool and slipped into the Maintenance Tunnel on the other side.
She caught a fleeting glimpse of the boy, as though he were waiting for her, guiding her toward the ending she longed for. She reached the place where he had vanished. A straight ladder stood there, leading directly up toward the heights of the Engine Room. When she looked up and saw the boy in a white down jacket running across the Grid Floor, she immediately climbed after him. The climbing and pursuit exhausted her, and the maze-like, interwoven passages left her dizzy, until she saw the boy stop and stand there smiling at her.
In that instant, happiness flooded her entire body, and she could not help but relax.
She completely forgot where she was. She completely forgot Captain Miller's orders, the Video Recording she had seen, First Lieutenant Smith's fear, even Justin, covered in blood and on the brink of death. All she wanted was for every warmth in