Part 2, Chapters 29-32 Summary

In Chapter 29, Pham wakes up in a surgical cylinder. He has been out for 30 hours, OOB is 60 light-years from RIP, and a fleet of 500 is pursuing them. Greenstalk is badly wounded and Blueshell agrees with Pham's version of the shootout. Pham orders the computer to lift both Riders' command privileges and isolate them in their quarters. Ravna points out that they owe Blueshell their lives. Together they reason that the ambush had been hurried and aimed at seizing the OOB. As Riders have never been political, the Blight must be behind this and must be the Riders' mythical Creator, living in pieces across vast distances waiting for ideal conditions to bloom. Pham and Ravna battle violently about revealing this on the Net and eliminating Blueshell and Greenstalk. She will not be a party to genocide. They will continue their...