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Back Goldilocks Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 30 Years After
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. 30 Years After
  45. Acknowledgements
  46. Discover More
  47. extras
  48. meet the author
  49. A Preview of "The World Gives Way"
  50. A Preview of "Nophek Gloss"
  51. By Laura Lam
  52. Praise for

Hart’s gaze caught Naomi’s, trying to signal what had passed between her and her wife. Naomi nodded. Learning how to read lips as a child had proved useful. Hixon had whispered: “I’ll search for the cure. You’re right. We can’t do this.”

Naomi didn’t know if Hixon had truly wavered and been lured by their captain’s plan. As Hixon marched Naomi back to her lab, she had no idea how to ask. All the same, as the door to her lab swung shut, out of sight of the comms, Naomi mouthed a thank you to Hixon. The pilot gave the barest tilt of her head before the metal snapped shut.

For the first time since she’d been confined to her lab, Naomi felt maybe there was a chance. Hope blared right next to the anger.

She checked her tablet, subtly. No message.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

129 Days After Launch

2 Days to Mars

120 Days to Cavendish

Naomi had finished filtering the pepper solution and gently decanted it into a refillable aerosol can. After an hour of prepping algae, startling at every sound, her tablet finally made a soft, silent flash.

Naomi hid behind the purple algae vials to read Evan’s message, dread dripping through her.

Evan Kan: Sickness is spreading. They’re calling it the Sev. Death toll of those infected is roughly eighty per cent, with the possibility to rise. Eight per cent of the U.S. population is showing symptoms, and that will certainly increase. Breakouts are being reported elsewhere in North and South America, Europe, China, Africa—we won’t be able to stop the spread in time. Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Iceland have completely closed their borders, though I doubt that will slow it down for long. We still don’t know exactly how the virus behaves. Half of my team is already dead.

An ache travelled from her chest to her fingertips. Eight per cent was already affected and it’d only been a few days.

Evan Kan: I haven’t publicly spread that Valerie started the virus. No one knows it was her. Hopefully you can use that as leverage, to try and get her to tell us where the formula or existing doses of the vaccine she developed concurrently are stored. I don’t think we can afford to wait on her whims. Can you?