Mortal Engines

As Tom watches the 13th Floor Elevator crash and sees the fire spread, he realizes how many innocent people he’s killed. To distract from his guilt, he circles back toward London to find Hester, determined that she won’t be among those lost. Meanwhile, Katherine makes her way to the cathedral, where Engineers run back and forth through MEDUSA’s jumble of wires and supports. Crome, Valentine, and a group of Engineers stand at MEDUSA’s power hub—but even after everything her father has done, Katherine can’t bring herself to use the bomb while he’s so close to MEDUSA.

Before Crome can fire the weapon, the stalkers arrive with Hester in tow, dumping her on the platform before Valentine. He unsheathes his sword to finish Hester, but Katherine darts from hiding and into the blade’s path. She staggers and falls onto MEDUSA’s keyboard, inadvertently entering the wrong security code.

The Engineers scramble to keep MEDUSA from exploding while Valentine tries to stop Katherine’s bleeding. Hester watches, numb. She spent years hunting Valentine, but seeing him grief-stricken over Katherine, Hester’s anger “[does]n't seem to matter now” (363). The Jenny Haniver appears above the city, and Hester remembers the medical bay on board. She and Valentine carry Katherine toward the roof, ignoring Crome’s frantic cries for help.