“How do you actually see this working out?” Naomi asked, keeping her voice low. “Valerie doesn’t give a single goddamn about anyone who won’t always worship the ground she walks on. Even Cavendish isn’t going to be her perfect vision. Nothing in reality ever matches up to the dream in your head.”

If Naomi had more faith that it could be, would she have crossed the line to support Valerie? Would she be more tempted to let the old way of life disappear to make way for the new? Like Lebedeva and Hixon, standing by, letting it happen.

Hixon’s fingernails were digging into Naomi’s skin.

“You prepared to kiss her ass for the rest of your life, Hixon? Power is going to corrupt her as surely as it did Cochran. It already has.”

“Valerie isn’t anything like that soft-boiled asshole,” Hixon hissed as she marked Naomi to the med bay. “Shut. Up.”

“Ah, yes. She’s always listening,” Naomi said, almost sing-song.

The doors slid open. Hart was by the autodoc, and at the sight of her wife, she stiffened. Lebedeva stood, arms loose, legs hip-width apart, ready for any trouble they might cause. Naomi sensed this was a test. Valerie watching as the rest of her crew conferred. Making sure Hixon and Lebedeva were as loyal as they claimed, or seeing if Hart and Naomi could be convinced to fall back into line.

Hart came forward, helping Naomi into the autodoc. Her hands were gentle. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“As well as can be expected. You?”

Hart wordlessly shook her head.

Naomi put her hand on the glass of the autodoc before it could close.

Hixon ignored her wife, expression as cold and empty as the surface of Mars.

“Look,” Naomi said to both of them, keeping her voice as low as she could. The comms speakers weren’t oversensitive, and the humming medical equipment helped provide white noise. “Hixon, would we be able to loop Mars and use our remaining fuel to head back to Earth instead of Cavendish?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Hixon said. “That’s not the mission.”

“Jesus, Hixon, turn off that robotic urge to follow orders and answer the fucking question,” Hart said, making a show of hooking Naomi up to the autodoc for the benefit of the camera.

Hixon shook her head. “I’m not answering.” Her lips thinned. “Please. This is awful. Beyond awful. I want to save Earth, but Valerie isn’t going to change her mind. Our best hope is to make it to Cavendish. Make things as best we can for the next wave of humanity. We can’t help any of them if Valerie kills us, too.”

“You think she’d do that?” Hart whispered.