“So what?”

“Nerdy!” Sophie laughed.

Emanuel strolled over to her, walking awkwardly in the suit. “And you look . . . hot,” he whispered in her ear. The words sent a chill down Sophie’s entire body. She pushed him away gently, eyeing Saafi to make sure he wasn’t paying attention.

“Did you both remember your nutrition?” she asked, ignoring Emanuel.

Saafi patted a small pack around his waist. “I brought several energy bars, some energy gels, and two bottles of water.”

“Me too,” Emanuel nodded.

“Good. Now comes the important question: How are we going to tell each other apart once we put our helmets on?” she asked.

“Do you mean besides the fact that I am six feet tall?” Saafi laughed.

“Well, just in case, your display will show a color for each of our suits,” Emanuel replied. “We can set them manually. Sophie, you’ll be green, Saafi blue, and I’ll be red. When you look through your display, my goggles will be glowing red.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Sophie replied, slipping her helmet over her hair. “Are you guys ready for this?”

She watched Saafi and Emanuel nod through her display, the goggles in their helmets glowing back at her. “Alexia, please open the blast doors.”

A loud crunch echoed through the bay as the mechanisms unlocked, hissing from the pressure. The metal groan of the doors shook the room, vibrating throughout the team’s suits. Sophie strained to see the opening, waiting anxiously for what lay behind the doors. Adrenaline raced through her veins as she peeked over Emanuel’s shoulder for a better look.

“Alexia, report on radiation,” Sophie commanded.

“Sensors are showing minimal traces.”

The groaning doors slowed before finally locking in place with a violent report. Emanuel stepped forward into the night, walking out onto the tarmac. Saafi and Sophie cautiously followed him. A carpet of darkness covered them as they stepped onto the concrete runway. The floodlights and antennae lining the landing strip were all dead, and in the distance Sophie couldn’t see a single light through her glass visor. The stars were of little help, hiding behind some kind of fog. To make things worse, they were all alone.

“Switching to night vision,” she said, blinking as the tarmac lit up like a night light, the green outlines of the blacktop filling her display.

“Looks like NTC abandoned ship,” Saafi said, pointing his rifle toward the empty concrete where the NTC choppers had once been.

“They weren’t the only ones,” Emanuel replied, heading toward the area where most of the support crew’s vehicles had been parked. Only two Humvees remained.

Saafi halted and dropped to one knee. “They were in a hurry, too—check out these tire marks.”

“What the hell is going on?” Sophie said under her breath.

“Where’s Colorado Springs?” Saafi asked. He stood and joined Emanuel at the edge of the tarmac.

“Should be right over there . . .” Emanuel trailed off. “What the hell?”

Sophie rushed over to join them, and together they looked into the valley below. The city was dark. If there had been a solar storm, then it made sense that the power would have been knocked out. What didn’t add up was the lack of fires. They couldn’t see a single one.