“Why are you with a Mazdaar soldier?”
“I was a prisoner. She helped me escape, and they shot her for it.”
Pierce raised an eyebrow.
“They’re probably still looking for me.”
“Can you walk?”
She nodded.
“Then we better get moving.”
“Where are we going?”
Pierce eyed her with annoyance. He turned toward the others. “Grab some branches, men. We’ll need to carry the soldier.”
Two of them obeyed, but the man who’d looked at Lee like he wanted to finish her off right there crossed his arms, staring down Pierce.
“I’m not rescuing a Mazdaar soldier,” he said.
* * *
Chapter 27
Pierce held his ground. “You will if I say so, Finley.”
“What if she’s connected?”
“We can remove her implant,” Pierce said, waving toward Lee, who was still unconscious.
“She saved my life,” Grey said.
Finley jabbed a finger in her face. “And who’s she? You’re just gonna believe what she says?”
Grey started to protest, “I—”
Pierce silenced her with an upraised hand. He leaned toward Finley, his voice low. “I’m making this call. Is that understood?”
When Finley failed to respond, Pierce grabbed him by the shirt. “Is it?”
The other man twisted out of Pierce’s grasp, muttering. But he backed down.
The men quickly made a stretcher for Lee using large branches and vines. Finley and the long-haired man carried her, while Grey walked behind Pierce, cradling her elbow.
“Do the winds really make the animals hunt?” she asked in a whisper.
“Who told you that?”
Grey hesitated. “A friend.”
“Yes,” he said. “You might have been their dinner tonight.”
They were traveling without using their lights now that dawn glowed through the swirling clouds. But Grey still had to focus to keep from tripping on a root or slamming into Pierce when he stopped suddenly to listen. Once she thought she spotted a lupine deep in the trees, but it quickly bounded away when it saw them.
“Are those Tasmanian wolves from Earth?” she asked.
“You ask too many questions.”
Grey shut up at the rebuke and concentrated on her footing. They hadn’t bound her, but she still felt like a prisoner. She wondered if Lee would live through the night.
“They were here when we arrived,” Pierce finally said. “They’re only vicious when the winds come. Drives them mad or something. Be glad an entelodon didn’t find you. Your arm would be gone.”
She didn’t dare ask him how he’d ended up on the planet himself. Mrs. March had mentioned convicts. Was he one of them? If so, she might have just as much to fear from these men as she did from Mazdaar.
When they reached the edge of the woods, Grey gaped at the landscape. Before them was not the cold, utilitarian dome from which she’d escaped, but a vast stretch of plateaus and mesa-like mountains, so similar to home that she felt a pang in her chest. It was a comforting sight, until she looked up at the tumultuous sky, now brilliant with oranges and purples. Even during the worst summer storm, she’d never seen anything like it on Earth.
“We can rest here,” Pierce said, pausing to allow the men to lay the stretcher down for a moment.
“Thank you for helping us.” Grey said as she turned back to Lee’s stretcher. The soldier’s eyes were open now, though her face was still as pale as cirrus clouds.
“She’s awake, sir.”
Pierce stared down at Lee, his presence commanding yet not as threatening as Finley’s. “How many soldiers are stationed at Orion?”
Lee clutched at her side struggling for a breath. She glanced between the men who peered down at her menacingly. “Five squadrons,” she finally said, “and eighty-two prisoners.”
“What is the mission?”
“I was told we were to provide security for a new settlement.”
Finley swore. “What did I tell you?”
“Can they track you?”
Lee hesitated. “On Earth, yes. I don’t know about here.”
Grey hadn’t thought of that. Lee’s Dot implant could betray them all if Mazdaar had that technology in place up here. And why wouldn’t they?
Pierce focused on his men. “They’d need satellites in orbit for long-distance range, which they don’t have yet. But the further we get from Orion the better.”
He started walking again, leading them down a rock-strewn slope toward the buttes in the distance. Grey marveled at how Jupiter sometimes mimicked Earth, like when they passed a red-rocked butte that could’ve fit well in the dry, arid Alamo Republic.
Then she’d see a field of lush, green grass as fine as hair stretching up along the sides of the butte. Could there be an underground spring feeding the vegetation? It was flourishing where no grass would have a chance back home.
“What will you do with us?” Grey finally gathered up the nerve to ask.
A grumble came from behind her, probably Finley.
“That’ll be up to the captain to decide,” Pierce said.
As they traveled on, Grey felt as if she’d drop from exhaustion, or was it the thin air? She stumbled over a rock and would’ve landed on her knees if Pierce hadn’t caught her.
“Just a little further,” he said. “Can you make it?”
She stared up into his rugged face, unable to read his expression through his brown beard and glasses. “Yeah.”
They treaded up an incline as they neared several huge buttes, and the ground turned sandy. Her vision was starting to blur as Pierce led their party straight toward one of the massive rocks. He stepped right up to it, and Grey squinted to see any kind of opening. He waved his hand across its surface, and the entire face of the rock shimmered and became like fabric. She’d never seen such a large piece of chameleon cloth. Pulling the fabric away, Pierce revealed an actual wooden door wide enough for three men to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder.
Had she escaped from one prison only to enter another? If Grey had had any strength left, she would’ve run. But even if she mustered the will to fight, she was surrounded. Pierce alone could probably pummel her without breaking a sweat.
They led her forward, and Grey cast a frantic glance back at Lee who’d passed out again. Would they kill her?
Pierce took hold of Grey’s good arm. Grey panicked and jerked away from him. She was stranded on a planet with convicts and vicious, extinct creatures. She’d almost died only a few hours ago. Her father was somewhere out there being manipulated by Yurkutz, and she might never see her little sister again.
“Hey,” Pierce said. “Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.”
But what if he was lying? What really awaited her if she stepped into this cave? She backed up, but Pierce blocked her way. Grey was pulling in jerky breaths, partially from the low oxygen, but mostly from the horrible realization she might’ve walked right into a deadly trap.
Pierce tried to forcibly push her into the cave right as the door swung open and three people, two men and a woman, stepped out. The men looked like they were cut from the same cloth as Pierce and his companions, with unshaven faces and grubby clothes. The woman’s cargo pants and scuffed boots fit right in too.
“Captain,” Pierce said.
Grey took advantage of his diverted attention and tried to yank away from him again, but his fingers now closed around her wounded arm too. She almost doubled over.
“What in the world is going on?”
The woman stepped forward, and Grey gave up. It was futile. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“We found these two in the woods. Both wounded.”
That’s when Grey saw the face of the woman they called Captain, and their eyes met. Neither of them moved.
“Grey?”
A jolt shot through her bones when she heard the captain’s voic
e. “Mom?”
* * *
Chapter 28
Ever since General Yurkutz ignited the spark of hope that her parents might still be alive, Grey hadn’t allowed herself to fully believe it was true. Even when she saw Dad on the screen, she had doubt. It could still have been one big Mazdaar lie fabricated to coerce her into sharing the secrets they thought she had. But as Grey tried to take a step toward the woman who looked and sounded so much like her mother, her hope came to life.
“Is it really you?” Grey’s legs buckled.
The captain rushed over. “Oh, dear Lord!”
Before Grey collapsed, she was enclosed in the embrace she missed so much. Every time she climbed the ridge and watched the sunset, every day she stood in the silo’s galley trying to remember how to cook something, every time Rin asked her to tell another story about Mom or Dad, Grey had yearned for that hug again. She never told Rin how hard it was to fill Mom’s shoes. She didn’t even admit it to herself sometimes. But in that moment, when Sue Alexander held her for the first time in five years, all the loneliness and grief overcame Grey, and she sobbed against her mother’s shoulder.
“My Grey. My little Grey.”
She felt real, sounded real. This was no deceptive hologram. Her mother was alive.
They held each other until Pierce finally cleared his throat.
“Captain, I don’t understand.”
Mom released her, shamelessly wiping away a river of tears that had snaked down her tan cheeks. “This is my daughter.” She gently touched the bloodied bandage on her arm. “Where did you find her?
“The woods,” Pierce answered. “Right after the winds, just as the wolves were closing in.” He pointed at Grey. “But not before one attacked her. The other’s a Mazdaar soldier, as you can see, and this one said she was an escaped prisoner from Orion settlement. There are five new army squadrons and eighty-two more prisoners.”
“A prisoner?” Her mother searched her face, but Grey wasn’t sure this was the right time to explain. She had too many questions herself.
Mom took one look at Lee and quickly gestured toward the cave entrance. “Take her to the infirmary. Scan her. Remove and destroy her Dot immediately. Finley, stay with her. We’ll question her later.” She eyed Grey’s bandage again. “And tell Sharaya I’ll need her to treat my daughter.”
Grey watched her mom, still barely comprehending what was happening. The last time they’d been together, Mom had been a foot taller than she; now they stood eye-to-eye. Mom’s hair was longer and pulled off her face in a low knot. The khaki cargo pants and white tunic with holes in the sleeves were almost exactly like those Grey had seen in Yurkutz’s hologram.
Could she possibly be hallucinating? Had she passed out somewhere in the forest and become delirious?
“Is this really happening?” Grey whispered.
Mom wrapped her arm around Grey and helped her through the large doorway. “I think so, honey. Can you walk okay?”
She nodded, but at the threshold she stumbled. Her mother quickly steadied her and guided her into the cave.
Inside, Grey couldn’t see a thing. It was as if day had turned to night with the snap of her fingers. She kept walking, and with each step her eyes adjusted.
They traveled down a passage that emptied into an enormous gallery, lit by more lanterns like those Pierce and the men had in the woods. She felt like she might pass out again, tripping when they took a turn into another tunnel off the main space.
Her mother’s arm tightened around her. “Almost there, sweetheart.”
“How long . . . have you been here?”
“Five very long years.”
When they came to a small cavern off the tunnel, Mom let her go long enough to light two more lanterns inside. Several paper maps hung from the stone walls near a small, folding table. Was this her mother’s office?
A rustic cot was made up, and Mom eased her onto it, brushing the back of her fingers against Grey’s cheek. For a moment, Grey thought she felt her mother’s hand tremble.
Grey allowed herself to lie back onto the thin mattress. “I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You’re going to explain all this, I hope.”
“I’ll try, but . . . is Rin okay?”
Grey nodded. “She’s at home. Safe.”
A petite woman with long, salt-and-pepper hair entered carrying a metal case in her arms.
“This is medic Sharaya,” Mom said.
The woman scooted a stool up to Grey’s cot and started to peel away the makeshift bandage on her arm while her mother held one of the lanterns close to illuminate the wound. “Laser?” Sharaya asked.
“I think.”
“Did it bleed a lot, honey?”
“Yeah. The wolf ripped it deeper though.” She clenched her teeth at the sting of air on the open wound. “Mom, how did those animals get here?”
“They’ve been here as long as we have,” her mother answered. “Extinct on Earth but thriving on Jupiter.”
Grey bit her lip trying to suppress a whimper. She almost wished she could pass out as Sharaya cleaned the deep gash. By the time the medic finished debriding the wound and was carefully bandaging it with fresh gauze, Grey could feel sweat dripping down her face.
“You’re a trooper,” Sharaya said, then addressed her mother. “It’s not life threatening. Keep it clean, watch for infection, and have the bandage changed twice a day.” She gave a wistful sigh. “If only I still had my light machine, I could heal it up right now.”
Then Sharaya walked out, her cheerful humming echoing off the walls. Grey closed her eyes and tried to focus on anything but her throbbing arm.
Mom knelt beside the cot, holding her hand. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Where’s Dad?”
Her mother frowned. “I don’t know.”
* * *
Chapter 29
Mrs. March put Rin and half a dozen others to work unloading crates and setting up makeshift quarters for the animals outside Tevah, something Rin was more than willing to do. She needed to stay busy. Otherwise, she’d go crazy worrying about Grey.
Rin paused on the ramp, mesmerized. Her first look at the Jupiter surface took her breath away. They’d landed in a world full of colors more brilliant than any she’d seen in the Preserve. The dirt wasn’t just brown or red. Distinctive yellows, reds, and blues swirled together like a rainbow.
Mountains that dwarfed the Himalayans she’d seen in one of Mrs. March’s books stretched up to the roiling clouds. The entire sky glowed with a deep, orange hue. How could she even be alive standing here?
The first thing Tram and Trif did when she released them in their pen was roll in the rainbow dirt. They got up and shook, specks of color now sparkling on their coats. She smiled, thankful to still have them as friends. She might be needing them in her search for Grey.
Please help me find her.
It was getting easier to send up little prayers, and she wondered if being around people like Mrs. March, who never seemed to lose hope, was why. Or maybe it was just being a million miles from home.
As Rin finished feeding the zorses, one of the Jeeps she’d seen in the hold pulled out of the cosmoship with Dana at the wheel. She waved at Rin.
Waving back, Rin stared at the strange vehicle. She’d seen cars a few times before when she and Grey had ventured deeper into the Alamo Republic, but she’d never ridden in one. Nobody she knew could afford an antique like that in the Preserve, and they would have trouble finding fuel anyway.
Dana swung the Jeep over to her, skidding to a stop and sending a plume of colored dust into the air. “Hop in.”
She laughed at how Dana had to yell to be heard over the Jeep’s thrumming engine. “Seriously?”
“I’ve gotta do some scouting. Thought you might like to come along.”
Rin was all over it. It would be good to familiarize herself with the lay of the land. It might help her find Grey later. She
jumped in, and with a grin, Dana shot the Jeep across the landscape. Jupiter stretched before her, and Rin was in awe of it.
“Pretty amazing, huh?” Dana shouted as they drove around the largest tree Rin had ever seen. Its trunk contorted toward the churning, peach-colored clouds above.
She had no words. Amazing hardly cut it. All she could do was gawk at the weird vegetation.
When she saw some sort of large bird—or was it a giant insect?—shoot in front of the windshield, she grabbed Dana’s arm with a gasp.
“What was that?”
Dana didn’t slow down as the creature flew by, banked, and dove down at the Jeep again. As it approached, Rin saw it actually had four translucent wings and a yellow body like a bee.
“Probably a type of meganeura,” Dana said.
Rin gaped. “You’re kidding!”
Dana chuckled, and Rin pressed back into her seat as the engine roared. The Giant Dragonfly? She’d read about them. They’d been extinct on Earth for thousands of years. How did they end up here? Had Mazdaar resurrected them, or were they native to this planet?
She was still pondering the dragonfly twenty minutes later. Dana had yet to stop or even slow.
“What sort of scouting mission is this?”
“An important one.”
“For what?”
Dana grimaced. “Secret.”
“Then why did you bring me? What are we looking for?”
“Don’t worry.”
“I’d like to help if I could.” How far could they have traveled from Tevah by now? Rin twisted around in her seat but couldn’t see the ship anymore. “Shouldn’t we be in contact with the others? Did you tell them where we were going?”
Dana looked at her like she was a child and pulled the Jeep over beside a bunch of the purple scrubs. “No.”
“Why not?”
“They trust me. It wasn’t necessary.”
“But—”
“Just shut up.”
Rin eyed the older girl. Her hands were wrapped around the Jeep’s steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip.
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