“It’s some sort of ship. Blue, just like the orbs,” Emanuel replied. “And it’s headed right for us!”

A flash of heat rushed through Sophie’s body. Her eyes darted to the rearview mirror, where she could see the shape of the craft tailing them.

“Sophie . . .” Emanuel paused. “It looks just like what you described from your dreams!”

She didn’t reply, instead opting to punch the gas even harder. If this thing was real, then she knew what it was capable of.

The truck ripped onto the gravel road, fishtailing and sending a cloud of dust into the sky. Sophie pushed down harder on the pedal, the vibration from the powerful engine mixing with the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

A little farther to go, then they would be back to the Biosphere.

Back to safety.

But the ship was fast and caught up with the truck in seconds, hovering over it. The hum of its anti-gravity engines once again overpowered the whine of the Humvee’s diesel. Saafi opened his window and craned his neck outside, studying the ship in awe.

“Its surface is just like the orb!” he yelled over the com.

“And that surface is starting to pulsate,” Emanuel pointed out.

Sophie trained her eyes back on the road, trying to ignore everything except getting them to safety. The truck began the climb up the winding path leading to the blast doors. If they were lucky, the trip would take only a couple minutes—minutes she knew they might not have.

“The surface is rippling!” Emanuel shouted again.

Sophie took a hard left as the road snaked around the mountain. The ship broke to the right, and for a second it looked to be moving away. But as the road straightened out, so did the ship, and it was hovering on top of them again before she could blink.

Saafi stuck his head out the window again, watching the surface of the blue ship transforming into a solid. He jerked his head back into the safety of the truck. “That thing is not human engineered!”

“You don’t know that,” Emanuel said, shooting him a glance over his shoulder. He gripped the pulse rifle tightly in his hands. The rational side of his brain told him that what Saafi had suggested was ludicrous, but his intuition told him maybe it wasn’t so far from the truth.

A blue beam shocked Emanuel back to reality. As soon as the light reached the truck, the diesel engine began to whine.

“It’s dying,” Sophie yelled, punching the pedal harder.

The truck eased to a stop, the gravel crunching under the weight of the tires. Sophie shot Emanuel a look through her display. “I’m sorry,” she said, reaching for his hand. He stared back at her, and even through his glass visor, she could see the fear in his eyes.

“We have to get out of here!” Saafi yelled frantically from the backseat. A flashback from his youth raced into his mind. The memory was vague, but he could still see the armed men cornering his parents’ car before peppering it with bullets. He had escaped by running away; in some ways he had never really stopped, always moving from one place to the next. As fear overwhelmed him, he unlocked the door and opened it, jumping out onto the gravel road.