Hixon nodded, prepping the coordinates. With a flash of clarity, Naomi realised that the pilot had remained second in command. The others were looking to Naomi for guidance. She had made the final call. Valerie had accused Naomi of trying to usurp her position as captain. Looked like she had.

Hixon walked them through what she was doing—something about gravity-assist slingshots, staging, rotation velocity, and synodic periods, which Naomi only understood about half of despite her scientific background. She had to trust that Hixon knew the numbers and would get them home in one piece.

“And we are successfully on course for Earth,” Hixon finished. “Arrival in one hundred and thirty-two days.”

It was a tiny shift, rather anticlimactic, so subtle they didn’t even feel it in the craft. But that was it. The job was done. There were no cheers. Hart let out a juddering breath, her hands in a prayer position against her lips.

Lebedeva’s eyes were still red, but Naomi suspected tears as well as pepper burns. Hixon’s eye had nearly swollen shut, but her other one was bright. She lifted her face in sad satisfaction. Naomi gripped the handrail, her feet kicking uselessly as she floated in front of the window, resting her palm over the warp ring. So close, so far.

“Goodbye, Cavendish,” she whispered.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

130 Days After Launch

1 Day to Mars

121 Days to Cavendish

131 Days to Earth

Hart shook Naomi out of an uneasy sleep. She kept waking up, more faces of the possible dead flashing in her mind’s eye. What if no one could receive their message and the key to saving themselves?

“Come on,” Hart said, urgent. “We’ve got news from Earth.”

Naomi let Hart drag her from her bed and they made their way to the observation room. Naomi patted the bandage on her cheek to make sure it was still in place. It was only when they were most of the way there that she realised she’d left her tablet behind, and hadn’t checked if there was a new message.

The others were already in the observation room, and when she entered, Hixon’s wide smile, made garish by her swollen eye, caused Naomi’s legs to falter. Hart caught her, helping her to the nearest chair.

“It worked?” Naomi asked.

“The vaccine is holding,” Hixon confirmed. “New cases are slowing down. And they have better methods of supporting those who are already sick now they know how the virus behaves.”

Naomi crumpled in relief. It’d worked. It’d worked. They hadn’t changed their trajectory and bypassed the warp drive to arrive back home to a planet one-third dead.