Finally, I started to inch my way forward, back toward the crevice I’d entered the cave through. I couldn’t get anywhere in the dark like this, with no way to light my path. I’d have to go back, think of something else.

I was just about to try to squeeze back out through the crevice when I heard the buzz once more. The drone was circling back. I froze, unable to move, unable to think.

The next sound I heard was even more ominous than the drone.

Voices.

Right outside the cavern’s entrance.

Any second now, a light would shine through that narrow crack, and the suits would find me. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Nothing I could do. It was over.

Unless I went forward.

I felt my way through the tunnel as silently as I could manage. The rock walls were cold and surprisingly smooth. It was narrow at first, barely wide enough for my body to squeeze through, but as I moved along, the tunnel began to widen.

Soon I saw light ahead of me. I thought that this must be an opening, an exit back out into the outside world. I rushed forward, and suddenly found myself in a larger cavern. The light wasn’t coming from outside at all—there was some kind of weird, glowing luminescence all around the cavern. Blue and green speckles blinked all around me, forming strange patterns of light, like stars in the night sky. Or like magic.

It reminded me of vids I’d seen on Speculus of glow worms on Earth. Could they live on Mars, too? At this point, I didn’t think anything would surprise me.

I followed a trail of the glowing dots across the cave. A puddle of water pooled on the ground. I splashed through it, the water licking through my jeans. It was as cold as ice. I scrabbled across, reaching for a thick stalagmite to pull myself back up onto dry land.

My hand didn’t land on rock, though.

I gasped in spite of myself. The sound of my voice echoed across the cavern, and I froze, listening for any sounds of my pursuers approaching, drawn by the noise. There was nothing.

I turned to the stalagmite to investigate. The rock formation was about a meter and a half high, and there was something strewn across the top of it. Fabric. I picked the material up and squinted at it in the dimness.

It was a jacket, made of thick, flame-retardant material. It reminded me of the jackets factory workers in Tierra Nueva often wore. As I ran my fingers across it, I felt something thicker, like a patch. A name badge. I moved closer to a clump of the blue glowing speckles, trying to get a better look. There, I could just make out the embroidered cursive letters—

Raymond.