Stepping onto solid ground prompted a rush of blood to her brain, which already ached from the flight. She could feel it pulsating inside her skull.

Deep breath. Ignore the pain. You have business to attend to.

Sophie shook her head, rubbing the trauma from her eyes. Through the darkness she could vaguely make out a set of glowing orange goggles approaching her. The color indicated a senior NTC staffer, more than likely her escort. She stiffened, anxious to get the introductions over with so she could get to her team, but the man walked right by her.

“God damn, Captain,” the man barked at her pilot. “You just ruined a multimillion dollar aircraft. How does it feel?”

“Sir . . . I’m sorry, but the storm.”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses. Turn around and look at your bird.”

The pilot nervously surveyed his chopper. The windshield was shattered in several places, and a rock was still lodged in one of the cracks. That wasn’t even the worst of it. The body of the chopper was peppered with dents. Not even the best body shop worker the NTC had on payroll could salvage it. The chopper needed to be stripped, its metal skin and windshield completely replaced.

“I asked you how it feels, Captain.”

The pilot looked at his feet. “Sir, I’m sorry, but—”

The senior staffer interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. “But you are being demoted, effective immediately.”

“Wait just a second!” Sophie stepped forward, her nostrils flaring. “Sir, this man saved me. If it weren’t for him, this chopper would be buried in the Wastelands and you would be wasting fuel and resources trying to find it.”

The senior staffer turned to face her. “Ah, you must be Dr. Winston,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you—”

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t have time for this. I need to see my team immediately.”

“Your team can wait. Let me introduce myself. My name is Dr. Hoffman, and I’m the entire reason you are here. I chose you. Did I choose wrong, Dr. Winston?”

Sophie hesitated. How could she not have recognized him? The CEO of NTC was one of the most powerful men on Earth—and on Mars, if their experiment succeeded. Her hand shook as she offered it to him. “Dr. Hoffman, sir, my apologies. I just wanted to voice my gratitude for this young man’s actions. He saved my life.”

A smile curled across Dr. Hoffman’s face. He took her hand, shaking it with a powerful grip. He cocked his head and nodded at the pilot, who cowered next to the chopper with the other two NTC soldiers. “You should thank Dr. Winston here. If it were up to me you’d never fly again.”

The pilot moved hesitantly, backing away and heading toward the massive concrete facility built into the mountainside at the edge of the tarmac. “Thank you, Dr. Winston!” he said once he’d reached a safe distance.