Running through the broken terminal was like something out of a nightmare. Chunks of masonry and shattered glass littered the floors, making even the easiest path an obstacle course. We followed the signs that pointed toward baggage claim, hoping they would guide us to the front of the airport, where we could presumably escape into the maze of parking garages. There might even be a car out there that Mandy could figure out how to hijack, especially with Jeff to help her. Modern vehicles relied way too much on computers to keep someone with his skill level out.

Behind us, far behind us for the moment, but they would catch up soon enough, we could hear the crunching and smashing sounds of Agent Brown’s team making their way into the airport. They had equipment. They had preparation. I could hope they also had some sort of report telling them the terminal was too damaged to search thoroughly: pulling the ceiling down on ourselves, while anticlimactic, seemed like a better fate than going back to an unmarked observation cell.

“This was your idea,” hissed Jeff, running past me.

I didn’t argue. I was the one who’d wanted to come back to Earth. I was the one who’d wanted to be here for the discussion with the planet’s leaders, to make them truly understand what was about to happen, and that it had been inevitable from the moment our seeds streaked across their sky. I was—

I was the one running when the representatives of those leaders were following after me. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the scout ship had touched down in my home state, tempting me with one last look at the mountains that had been my anchor for my entire life. And it couldn’t a coincidence that Agent Brown was here, either.

First was testing us. First was testing me. I was her daughter, and she needed to know how I would behave under pressure.

I stopped running.

It took a few seconds for the others to realize I was no longer alongside them. They stopped, staring at me, Mandy and Graham with concern, Jeff with disdain, and Toni with grudging respect.

“We came back because it’s time for our leaders to speak to the planetary government,” I said. “I came back to be part of that conversation. The rest of you can keep running if you want to. I would want to, if this hadn’t been my idea. But I have to stay. I have to talk to them.”