The questions repeated themselves over and over in her mind.

“You need to eat. Tomorrow is the first lab day, and you’re going to need your energy,” Emanuel said, noticing she had slipped into a daze.

Her deep brown eyes darted away from her tray and caught his gaze. Her expression reminded Emanuel of a defeated athlete after a long game.

“NTC has us by the balls. It’s just . . .” Sophie’s voice trailed off.

“This is our ticket to Mars,” he said, finishing her thought. He smiled. “I guess that’s more of a reason to do what we came here to do and get out,” he said.

Sophie dropped her fork on her tray, the clank of metal echoing through the mess hall. “I’m not hungry,” she said.

Emanuel looked down at his own meal. “Me neither.”

Sophie looked at her watch, yawning. The day had slipped by, and the sun would have already gone down outside. She turned to her team as she stood and picked up her tray.

“We’ll meet back here at 0600 hours. Update your tablets before bed with your work schedules. I want to be able to track everything first thing tomorrow. Work will start in your biomes after a short briefing,” Sophie said.

The turbulent journey of the day before had worn her down, but it wasn’t the helicopter ride that had drained her the most. Questions kept spinning through her brain—about Dr. Hoffman and about the mission. Her own team hadn’t helped. With Timothy’s snide comments and her argument with Alexia, the mission had started off shakily.

She sampled the filtered air as she entered her quarters, and nodded with satisfaction when she found no lingering smell of manure. Her eyes settled on the inviting bed. A good night’s rest was what she needed. It was the perfect remedy for her aching body and troubled mind.

Hastily, she pulled off her top and removed her white pants, pulling back the covers and climbing between the soft sheets. Surprisingly, she didn’t think of Emanuel. Instead, her mind diverted to a different fantasy—a fantasy of another world, a place she hoped she’d be visiting in a matter of months.

CHAPTER 4

THE air was thin. She took in a deep breath, sucked it deep into her lungs.

It wasn’t enough.

She tried again, her open mouth drinking the invisible air.

Still not enough.

Her heart began to race, her mind quickly following suit.

Another long breath, and again it was not enough to satisfy her hungry bloodstream.

She heard the quiet whistle of air escaping her helmet before she saw the microscopic crack. The whistle grew, her mind transforming it into a deafening roar.

How had her helmet cracked? The glass was supposed to be nearly indestructible. No time for questions. She had to find safety before her air supply was sucked into the atmosphere.

Her heart beat faster inside its protective cage of bone, pounding as if it, too, wanted to escape its prison.