“Yes,” Ahiga said as he walked down the row toward me. “This room is for IAF meetings, and therefore not monitored. We’ve found that people don’t speak up when they know everything is being recorded and could be used against them.”

Declan leaned closer to the camera, making his face take up the whole screen. “Why in the hell are you on mining runs?” He didn’t raise his voice, but he might as well have. He was really pissed.

“Declan—” Ahiga started, but I shut him up with a glance.

“You haven’t told him?” I asked Ahiga.

“No, and from this reaction, I don’t think he’s caught up on any of my messages either.” Ahiga leaned against the desk behind me. His matter-of-fact tone told me that he was waiting for me to drop the bomb on Declan. “He woke up, called me, and asked for you first thing. Barely even said hello to me.”

I closed my eyes, trying to calm down, but no. Declan didn’t get to be pissed about me switching to mining runs. Not after everything I’d been through.

I turned back to the vidscreen. “You told me to survive. This is me surviving.”

“Mining is dangerous, and—”

“No. It’s actually less dangerous than what I was doing before.” I huffed. “At least if I die now, it’ll be because of a choice I made.” My tone was vicious, but I was past giving a shit.

“Ahiga’s right. I just woke up from cryo.” His voice was barely a whisper now. “I left Earth two weeks after you did, meaning I went into cryo just as you were waking up. I ensured your job was set. Kitchen duty. I triple checked before I went to sleep. But the first alert I saw when I woke up was your transfer to mining this morning.”

“I wasn’t on kitchen duty.” I didn’t like sounding bitter, but I couldn’t hold it in. “Did you look at what I transferred from?”

“No…” He drew the word out and began swiping his finger in the air.

I relaxed back in my chair, crossing my arms as I waited. Declan was about to flip his lid.

“Your brother decommissioned all the bots that sprayed 320zpd on the surface around the base.”

Ahiga pulled out the chair next to me and sat. “She was out there on the surface six hours a day, and her suits kept failing. I don’t have to tell you how bad it got. I’m sure the videos are archived on the SpaceTech database.”

Declan’s face was pale as he swiped a hand across his forehead. “Jesus. I don’t think I can watch them. I don’t…” He met my gaze. “How are you alive?”

“Nanos.” My voice was heavy with every ounce of disgust I had for those parasites.