Shadows in Flight, enhanced edition

bacterial soup, I think they'll stick," said Ender. "If they don't drown, they'll dissolve."
    "We'll do as little damage as possible," said Sergeant, "but there's no point in leaving the way we came, because the tracks just loop back to the starting point."
    Carlotta agreed, but still had no advice about where to go. "The question is, will the helm be located at the hub, where it's equally distant from all the rockets and sensors, so all the controls and connections are the same length? Or at one edge, where it might have viewports?"
    "If it has viewports," said Sergeant, "then they'll be as far forward as possible, so that they get maximum protection from the rock."

     
    "But what good are viewports that only look in one direction?" asked Carlotta. "This ship has circular symmetry, there's no belly or back, like our ships have . So . . . more than one control room?"
    Sergeant nodded. "And the control rooms are sealed off from each other, so damage to one doesn't cause atmosphere loss in the others."
    "The pilots may be hiding from the feral rabs in just one of the control rooms," said Ender.
    "So we go all the way forward," said Sergeant, "and then try for control rooms at the perimeter, exactly centered between the standpipes."
    "Best view," said Carlotta.
    "If the Formic workers ate these slugs, too," said Sergeant, "would there be a delivery system leading there?"
    "I don't think so," said Ender. "The Hive Queen stays with the eggs and food comes to her. But the workers catch their meals between shifts."
    "The question is, how far forward are we already?" asked Sergeant.
    Good question. They had come a long way through the tram tunnel. "Map," said Carlotta.
    A three-dimensional model of the ship seemed to stand half a meter away, in front of her visor. Of course there was nothing there at all -- it was just an illusion on the visor itself. The visor could see where she looked and when she made a little popping sound with her lips, it zoomed in. A click with her tongue zoomed out.

     
    "We're actually farther forward than the back of the rock," she said. "The Hive Queen is surrounded by rock above and at the sides. Anything with viewports is going to be aft of here."
    "So we passed the helm getting here," said Sergeant, sounding frustrated.
    Sergeant led the way to one of the five obvious doors at the perimeter.
    "How did you pick this one?" asked Carlotta.
    "Eeny meeny," said Sergeant.
    At the door, they found the cloud of debris again and a couple of eager rabs. A shot of gas and Carlotta closed the door again. At the next door, it was the same, and this time Sergeant led them through, they closed the door behind them, and fogged their way through to a passage leading aft -- down, the way the corridors were oriented for Formics; to the right, the way they were oriented as they walked along the wall of the low wide tunnel so they could stand upright.
    The passage was all afloat with the debris of feral rab life. "What are they finding to eat?" asked Carlotta.
    "All the debris is rab body parts," said Ender. "They eat each other."
    They were at a level now that Carlotta's map said should be just aft of the intersection of rock and hull. "If there are viewports at all, they could begin at this level."
    "Maximum shelter," said Sergeant. "Let's give this level a shot."
    They fogged the corridor and began to make the circuit. There were doors but they all led inward, toward the hub.
    "Maybe we were wrong and the control room is in the hub," said Carlotta.
    "Might as well see," said Sergeant.

     
    They took up their standard positions at the door and Carlotta opened it.
    It felt as if all the rabs on the ship leapt at her. Carlotta was knocked into the opposite wall. Both Sergeant and Ender sprayed like crazy, but it took several seconds for the rabs to fall into a stupor, and in that time, two got claws up under Carlotta's visor. If they had understood human anatomy, they could have severed her carotid artery, but instead they went for the soft place under her jaw. The pain was exquisite.
    Carlotta tried to crawl away, but something had hold of her leg and wouldn't let go.
    Sergeant. It was Sergeant holding her. All the rabs that had poured out of the inner chamber were inert, floating and bouncing around with the force of their original launch. Ender was still spraying fog into the room. Nothing was coming out.
    "Bloody mess," muttered Sergeant. "Who ever knew the girl had so much blood in her?"
    Within a minute,