Emanuel looked down at his wristwatch. “It’s getting late, guys. Maybe we should get some sleep. Discuss things in the morning,” he suggested.

Sophie nodded. “I want everyone to get at least six hours tonight. Meet back here at 0700. We’ll figure things out in the morning.”

Saafi yawned and stood, slapping Timothy on the back. “You heard her, time for bed,” he said. Holly followed them toward the personnel quarters, but Emanuel stayed behind with Sophie.

“You should take your own advice and get some rest,” he said.

Sophie let out a sarcastic laugh. “Like I’ll be able to sleep.”

“Remember the night we spent together during the solar storms of 2055? You slept pretty well then,” he said with a grin.

Sophie scowled; she wasn’t amused. “Reminiscence is the lowest form of conversation.”

“Don’t act like you don’t remember.”

“Oh, I do, but I can’t believe you’re thinking about sex at a time like this. Everything we’ve worked for, Emanuel. Everything we’ve dreamt of could be over.”

“I also remember how I felt the last time we were together, when we thought the world was going to end. Maybe the world has ended outside these walls,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “Maybe this is it.”

Sophie felt a moment of apprehension. It was a familiar feeling, one she had struggled with ever since she first met Emanuel. On the one hand, she was terribly attracted to him, both physically and emotionally. But they had never had an opportunity for a real relationship. Their careers had always interfered. If they weren’t working on a project together, they were typically on different continents. And when they were working together, she’d always put the science of the mission first.

The apprehension faded into something deeper. An emotion she had always been good at controlling: fear. With the likelihood of massive solar storms occurring outside the blast doors, she couldn’t help but let her guard down. She needed Emanuel. He was her Achilles’ heel—his dimples, his slight accent, his brilliance and sense of humor. She could forget everything around her for a few hours, couldn’t she?

Just one night, she promised herself.

Just one night.

Sophie glanced at one of the cameras hanging from the ceiling. She bit her lip and strolled over to Emanuel, fixing his disheveled hair. “I guess it’s not going to hurt anything,” she said with a smile.

Emanuel looked over his shoulder, scanning the room for Alexia’s image, but she was gone. When he turned back to Sophie, she was already strolling toward the personnel quarters. “Better hurry up; if this is the end of the world we don’t know how much time we have.”

“I can be quick,” Emanuel laughed, following her down the dark hall.

CHAPTER 8

A SHADOW crossed the dusty red surface of the trail. For a moment panic raced through her before she realized the shadow was her own. She was alone. Somewhere in the Wastelands.

“No way,” she whispered.

She’d only seen the Wastelands from the safety of a chopper. It was a place she had always wanted to visit, to feel with her own feet, but the radiation was just too pronounced in certain areas. Enter a pocket of it and you could be dead within hours.