"Star Kings," Sagetip sniffs. "It's all psychology with them. And the weapons, but those can be circumvented. It's the superiority that makes them dangerous. Breaking their opponents' will to fight, acting as if they are invincible, and cluster bombing an opponent: that is where they get their reputation as warriors."

Ember is half listening, and half imagining the Portuguese, and more than half angry at the thought of a bunch of... and here she imagines the people of Beri, but in loud orange and green outfits... a bunch of people, stuck on that planet, stuck in a system where they have to spend their whole lives trying to scramble their way to the top, instead of there being enough for everyone. Poverty and being [i]trapped[/i] and the only way out is through the [i]Knight[/i] and what if they just--

But she has to think of the ship first, doesn't she? Like Mosaic. And how could she, leader of a pack, go in and fix it? It's not like she can trust everyone in the pack to behave, anyway. Oh, sure, they'd go down, they'd have fun, they'd declare themselves here to save the world, but... they can't. Not here. Not now. And it keeps stabbing at her, like a needle. That she has to do the right thing for the pack and the ship and her girlfriend. Not for the Portuguese (staring at her in her mind's eye).

Get in. Scatter the Star Kings. Get the materials they need. Get out. You can do that, can't you, Ember? Without getting in trouble? Without needing to be dragged back out? Without trying to slot into the [i]perfect[/i] position that will be vacated once the Star Kings are gone? For everyone (except the Portuguese)?

Staring at the simulacrum of their world, it's hard to be sure.