I tapped a button on my arm, and the water spout came out. The water was warm and tasted like metal, but I didn’t care. I was melting in this suit.

By the time the alarm on my suit sounded, signaling our break, I was about ready to drop. We moved carefully back toward the base, icing as we walked. The gray concrete and metal structure reminded me of everything else SpaceTech did—soulless. It towered aboveground, held by countless pylons that disappeared under the black crust of the hardened lava. The base was made up of a central rectangular building with four other rectangular buildings connected to it by a ring that contained the central corridor. The cargo bay I’d exited was in one rectangle, along with two other bays. The women’s quarters and mess were in the central building, along with a whole lot of other things, including the massive hangar.

The base was much bigger than I’d thought, but it didn’t make any sense to me. Why waste time and energy to stabilize those corridors? Why not have everything in one building? But then, I wasn’t an architect. If I’d built it, I would’ve put in some windows, but I’d bet money that SpaceTech thought windows were a luxury that could melt in the heat without expensive treatments.

The elevator clanged as we finally reached the cargo bay. We stepped into the cooling chamber, and our suits were coated with cooling mist. The alarm was blaring loud enough to hear even over the hiss of the spray.

When the door finally opened to the cargo bay, the bots were going crazy, spraying their cooling mist into the air around the door. The alarm finally shut off when the doors slammed shut.

Thank God. I pressed the button on my suit to retract my helmet as I collapsed on the ground.

“Shit,” Tyler said. “Your face is redder than a tomato, but your suit held or else we would’ve gotten a warning.”

“No warning. All good.” I lay back against the lockers. I thought the room was warm before, but now it felt pleasantly cool. My cheek rested against the metal, and I closed my eyes. “This is nice.”

There was a bunch of rustling, and I figured Tyler was probably changing out of his suit.

“Here, honey.” I opened my eyes to find Tyler squatting in front of me, wearing a looser pair of shorts and nothing else.

I was envious. I wanted out of the suit so badly.

Tyler waved a tube of water in front of my face. “You need to drink all of this before you go back out there.”