They stopped for lunch at noon. It was dim enough it could have been the hours just before dawn. His breath was pluming in the air now, but between the exercise and the thermal suit, Amos didn’t feel the cold. Peaches seemed about a thousand times better too. She was smiling, and there was color in her cheeks. They sat on an old bench beside the road, looking east. The view was mud and a scattering of debris.

And still on the horizon, the glow of something huge – a city or a fire – lit the clouds from below, gold on gray. So maybe even the end of the world had its moments of beauty.

Peaches took a bite of her ration bar and sipped the water from her self-purifying canteen. “Is it bothering you?”

“What?”

“What we did.”

“Not sure what that was, Peaches.”

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed like she was trying to decide if he was joking. “We invaded a man’s home, killed him, and took his stuff. If we hadn’t come through, he might have made it. Lived until the sun came back. Survived.”

“He was gonna shoot me for no reason except that I had something he wanted.”

“He wouldn’t have done it if we hadn’t gone there. And we lied to him about wanting to trade.”

“Seems like you have a point to make, Peaches.”

“If he hadn’t been ready to pull the trigger, would you have let it go? Or would we still be here, with these guns and this food?”

“Oh, we were taking his shit. I’m just pointing out both sides of the argument had the same plan.”

“Then we’re not exactly the good guys, are we?”

Amos scowled. It wasn’t a question that had even crossed his mind until she said it. It bothered him that it didn’t bother him more. He scratched his chest and tried to imagine Holden doing what they’d done. Or Naomi. Or Lydia.

“Yeah,” he said. “I should really get back to the ship soon.”

Chapter Thirty-one: Alex

“You’re in a good mood,” Bobbie said as Alex sat down across from her. Her breakfast was oatmeal with an egg-like protein crumble, sausages, and hot sauce. Her hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail, was wet with sweat, and her cheeks were flushed from recent exertion. Just looking at her made him feel out of shape. But she was right. He was in a good mood.

“Captain’s bringing my girl to Luna.”

Bobbie frowned. “Your… girl?”

“The Roci.”

“Oh. Right,” she said. “For a second, I just thought… Yeah. It’ll be good to see Holden too. And Avasarala.”

“Be good to be on my own damn ship,” Alex said, tapping pepper onto his plate of reconstituted eggs. “Now if we can just get Amos and Naomi back. Whoa. Did I say something?”