“None,” I replied sharply, forcing myself to stand straight and meet his eyes in spite of the fact that the world continued teetering, in spite of the agony where the skin had torn from my palms. I didn’t know the background of every single kid I’d just turned loose on Mars, but I was willing to stand up for them regardless. “None of those kids are what you think.”

He spit on the ground in disgust. “That’s what I get for trusting an anomaly.”

“We kept our word,” Cage broke in. “The three of us surrendered in exchange for you destroying the ship. That’s what you bargained for, and that’s what you got.”

“And you simply forgot to mention the other prisoners hiding in your hold, is that it?”

“No, we left it out intentionally. You didn’t ask. We didn’t tell. They weren’t part of the bargain.” Cage flashed him an unsettling grin. I watched him from the corner of my eye. Who else had seen that grin? For some, it might have been the last thing they ever did see. “So. Are you going to keep your word, or not?”

“Unfortunately, that’s not up to him.” Another soldier spoke, approaching us from the line behind the commander. She tipped her own faceplate back, revealing a surprisingly small woman with a sharply angled nose and eyes like deep-set obsidian. “I’m Commander Yang, the officer in charge of this outpost and official representative of Mars Mining Incorporated.”

I closed my eyes. I should have known. “Your subordinate here made promises he couldn’t follow through on,” I said, laying emphasis on the word “subordinate” and glaring at the man, who showed me his teeth. “What about you, Commander Yang? Do you understand how dangerous this is? The situation we’re in?”

“No, but I’ll give you a chance to explain once we have you safely in custody.” She gestured with her gun, making it clear we were to precede her into the station.

I exchanged glances with the twins. It wasn’t like we had a lot of choice. Cage might outrun these clowns, but I knew he wouldn’t abandon me or Rune, and none of us stood a chance against this many armed soldiers. Besides, we’d made a bargain, and I had to at least try to convince Yang to follow through. According to Rune’s calculations, we didn’t have much time to destroy the ship before the aliens’ course became irreversible. Still, the idea of walking into captivity . . . Not so long ago I’d stood on the opposite side of this equation. I clenched my fists again and swallowed a lump in my throat. We’d get through this somehow. The only thing that really mattered was destroying the ship. So many of us had died. I couldn’t let it be in vain, couldn’t let those monsters return for the rest of humanity.