15

“You can’t open the airlock yourself,” Amira said, brushing past me. The rover door shut behind her and sealed with a soft clunk.

“I’ve got the help files up,” I told her. “I’m figuring it out.”

We sat down in the two cab chairs, looking out toward the vehicle lock.

“That was a statement, not a question,” Amira said.

The entire rover jerked forward. “Got it,” I muttered. Just a test, to see if I had it figured out. I could drive the damn thing now.

“The doors require an authorization code,” Amira said. “Why do you think they left all the keys inside?”

Damn. “Wait, how do you know they left the keys in?”

“I snuck back here the first night. Took a look around. Always know your landscape. And your exits.”

“But you didn’t leave,” I said.

“Not then.”

I looked anywhere but at her. Thinking. Then I stabbed the controls forward. The rover lurched on, picking up speed. “I watched a recruit die while I was in the sickbay,” I told her. Knowing what I knew about Amira, about that nano-ink, if she’d been in here and there was a code, she knew it. “How many more are going to die? That struthiform, the scarred one: It calls itself Shriek? It told me about its dead home world. That the Accordance is slowly losing and falling back. And what are we going to get, for dying for them? Will they leave Earth, finally? Am I crazy for wanting to run?”

“I’m not going to open that door for you. You have no idea how stupid this idea is, do you?”

“I’m not going to slow us down. I know it’s on manual now, so as long as I’m pushing these controls we’re headed for that lock.”

We stared at each other.

I continued, “If you’re in the rover and we crash into the wall, you’re going to have to come up with some kind of story.”

Amira didn’t reply. But the massive locks split apart, the gentle thrum of their separation accompanied by a steady rumble and the high-pitched whistle of escaping air.

I let go of the controls and we ground to a halt, half-in and half-out of the locks. The inner door was closing quickly behind us to prevent more air from getting out. I had been holding my breath. Amira was shaking her head.

“I’m masking everything. Including the damn loss-of-air indicators you just set off. By the time they notice what happened, we should have at least a day. You have food with you, water? Suits in the locker?”

“Yes to all three. Do you want to use a suit to get out?”

“No. Take us out.”

I stared at her. “You’re coming with me?”

“Without me you won’t even make it out of the base’s perimeter without setting off every zone alarm out there. Come on, let’s go.”

Still unsure, I gently moved the rover the rest of the way out. The outer metal maw closed behind us.

My eyes adjusted to the vista of gray hills and pitted craters in the gloom of distant lights. I eased us out and away.

Amira muttered directions to me, guiding us around craters and the bases of hills as she used satellite data to map a course that wouldn’t get us stuck somewhere.

“You did the right thing at Tranquility. I like that. But this? A very stupid idea,” Amira said. “I just wanted to put that out there.”

I’d been tense, waiting for something like that. “It’s the only idea that guarantees we don’t die in some pointless, far-off, alien war.”

“It’s a stupid idea for you. Your family will pay the ultimate price if you go AWOL here.”

I flushed. “Maybe they should’ve thought about that before becoming terrorists.”

“Oh, come on.” Amira shook her head. “Even you don’t believe that. Protestors, irritants, problem makers. Yeah. But your parents weren’t setting off backpack nukes in downtown Atlanta to take out Accordance oversight buildings. And you’re lucky to have them. Some of us aren’t that lucky. But there are others who will pay a big price if you go all the way with this.”

“Who’s that?” We dipped into a crater and the tires kicked up dust. It hung in the air behind us for an eerily long time.

“Your arm, asshole. Zeus isn’t quite right in the head as it is. What do you think happens to everyone after we’re missing? Zeus may be an alien, but I can still spot a sadistic, disaffected shit who’s abusing command easily enough.”

“That’s not an argument for me to go back. I’m done with it. I’m done with it all,” I said grimly, looking out over the blasted lunar landscape. Now that we were ten minutes away I’d flicked on the lights. Driving near blind, depending on Amira’s instructions and the instruments, had been a bit unnerving.

“It’s a good thing I have a strong survival instinct,” Amira said. “Because I wouldn’t want to be back there when the shit hits the fan. You might toss them under the bus, but you’re not taking me down with you. No one drags me down. No one.”

A long stretch of flat lunar plain opened up in front of us. “Look,” I started to say. But I didn’t get to finish arguing about whether I was dragging her down or not. Amira slid out of her seat and jammed a baton up against my neck. “Hey!”

Lightning struck me. It leapt through my spine, up and down my ear, through my head, and out through my nose. I tasted ozone so deep in my sinuses, I breathed, spit, and coughed it.

My entire body spasmed, then seized. I tried to scream but managed only a gargle and fell over onto the floor.

Amira let me hit it, my head bouncing off the metal floorboards. She squatted next to me as I struggled to breathe. Every cell inside me ached and protested. “I survived the Pacification, Devlin. I fought Accordance on the street. I helped lure their foot soldiers in to kill traps as a child. I kept people on the block out of their systems. I kept one step ahead of them for a long, long time. And now that’s over. So understand me: I have no love for Accordance. But I can’t have you fucking us all over, particularly me, because you had a bad few days and need to mope. Understood?”

I managed a moan.

“At the very least, I’m saving your ass. You know your tattoo and rank, here on your arm, you know they have a transponder buried in them? It lights up on a ping; that’s how I followed you. Wanted to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid. Lucky me. But we have to head back before someone realizes you’re missing. I can only delay and hide our little unauthorized lunar hike for so long.”

She pulled out a couple zip ties. “What . . . ,” I managed.

“For your own safety,” she said, and zip-tied my arms to my legs. “Don’t want you getting jumpy.”

“Are you going to turn me in to Zeus?” I demanded sullenly.

Amira sat down and turned the rover around, heading right back for the camp. “As I said, he’s a sadistic fuck. I wouldn’t do that. But if we get discovered sneaking back in, I’ll shove your zip-tied ass out in front of me as chum for that tentacled shark. Got it?”

I swallowed. “Got it.”