He’d run his fingertips along her scars that last night. His skin was so smooth, but she remembered discovering the tiny scar in the corner of his left eyebrow that she could feel more than see. She’d asked him about it, after, tangled in the bedsheets. He’d bashed his head on a counter when he was young. She remembered the feel of the square of his jaw beneath her fingers. There were so many miles between them, but she desperately wanted to be held, to fall asleep next to him, breath in his scent, forget all of what had happened to them the last five months, at least for a moment.

The morning she’d left for quarantine, she’d woken up to the bed alone, only the spicy scent of his shampoo and the gentle bruise of a love bite on her shoulder to remember him by. And, though she didn’t know it then, a little more.

She sent her response, not knowing how long it’d take for whoever was monitoring their communications to let it through.

Naomi Lovelace: I’m glad you’re all right. That we both are, considering. We’re coming back. Decided not to jump through. I know you’re feeling survivor’s guilt, but remember: this is not your fault. It’s not mine. We couldn’t have known what she planned. It’s Valerie’s sin, and Valerie’s alone. See you soon, but not soon enough.

She turned the tablet off and fell back on to the bed.

Four months back to Earth.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

131 Days After Launch

0 Days to Mars

122 Days to Cavendish

130 Days to Earth

They flew directly past the warp ring. Hixon gave it a reluctant wave as they passed.

Unsurprisingly, none of the crew wanted to deal with their former captain.

Lebedeva had stocked up the rec room with enough food and water to last a couple of days. Gave Valerie the bucket she’d made Naomi use as a crude chamber pot.

Two days after they changed direction, the day they were supposed to stretch and condense space-time again, Naomi decided she should visit Valerie.

Lebedeva came with her. She’d been keeping an eye on Valerie more than the others.

“How has it been, seeing her?” Naomi asked as they walked slower than they needed to down the ring corridor.

“You mean since she tried to have you kill me?” Lebedeva shrugged. “It has been satisfying to see her powerless. I have not throttled her, if that is what you are asking. I might have imagined doing so. No promises.”

“Fair,” Naomi said.