Riley is alive.
The implications cascade through Anna’s mind as she sprints across the sector. The Shinso Maru made it down. The plan to use the asteroid as a heat shield actually worked. And what was that Riley said? We’ll be waiting for you.
She barrels around a corner in the corridor, slamming into the wall but pushing off it, sprinting even faster. She doesn’t have to make the choice any more. If there are people down there already, then Dax’s decision–to take only the best and the brightest–doesn’t have to be made. She doesn’t have to play his game.
Riley made it. Maybe Aaron Carver, too, and Prakesh. She has to tell her dad. She has to tell the Kumars. Hell, she has to tell everyone. She runs faster, pumping her arms, and this time she opens her mouth and let loose an ear-splitting whoop of joy. It occurs to her that she could have used the station comms, which are operated from the control room. Then again, she thinks, that would deny her the opportunity of seeing the look on Dax’s face.
She doesn’t slow down as she approaches the amphitheatre. The door is open, slid away into the wall, and she can hear the crowd as she gets close. She can hear—
Angry shouts.
She hesitates, and that hesitation nearly kills her. She’s going too fast, and the pause shifts her centre of gravity slightly, tilting her forward. Her feet try to compensate, stutter-stepping, and then she slams into the edge of the door. It takes her in the shoulder, and a starburst of pain explodes on her collarbone.
She comes to a halt, leaning against it, and finally sees inside the amphitheatre.
Everyone is on their feet, screaming at each other, giant knots of people hurling accusations. Her father is standing on one of the chairs at the front, his hands around his mouth, yelling at everybody to stay calm. An empty food container flies through the air, bouncing down the centre steps.
There’s a woman coming out of the amphitheatre, a grim look on her face. Anna pushes past the pain, and grabs her. “What’s going on?” she says.
“You haven’t heard?”
Anna manages to controls herself. “Tell me.”
The woman shakes her head. “The escape pods launched,” she says, speaking as if she can’t believe the words herself.
Anna stares at her, eyes wide. “How many?”
The woman doesn’t answer. She shakes Anna off, then jogs away down the corridor.
Dax.
He wasn’t giving her a choice. He was just buying himself time, taking her out of the equation so she wouldn’t warn anyone before he could make his escape. How could she have been so stupid?
Anna’s shoulder is on fire. She ignores it. She takes one last look at her dad, down in the amphitheatre.
Then she turns, and runs.