Mitzi’s heart was thundering. Her hands felt hot and sweaty, and she felt dizzy.

Focus. You’re a captain. A leader. Your team needs you to be functioning at your best. Compartmentalise it. Bottle it up. Save it for when you need courage, because you will need it before this day is over.

She squeezed her eyes shut, locking up the emotions, slowing her heart. When she opened her lids again, her head was clear. She saw the three doors leading out from the back of the room and remembered she was supposed to contact her pilot.

“Yo, Nic, we’re in the reception-looking place.”

There was a short silence, and Mitzi waited, knowing that he was probably busy helping Franc or Adam. She hated having her team split up. It made her feel helpless when she couldn’t see them, couldn’t make sure they were safe…

“Okay, doll. You’ll want to take the door closest to the left. You’ve got another long passage, then you’ll be in the reactor-monitoring sector. And you know what’s beyond that?”

“The reactor,” Mitzi said, feeling a shaky grin grow across her face.

“Bingo. Use your code, and keep me posted if you need help.”

The four-number code activated the door, and she climbed through, into another long hallway with doors leading off each side. The lights were dimmer, allowing shadows to encroach on the edge of the passageway and barely showing the dark stains across the wall and floor.

“Keep your eyes open,” Mitzi said to her team as she quickened her pace to a brisk jog. “Remember, the bodies in the reception room were only the scientists who died during the fight. There’ll be plenty more who were turned.”

Halfway down the hall, the doors to the right gave way to more windows overlooking some sort of control room. Green and red lights glittered in the low light. The area seemed to stretch on for a long way, and Mitzi guessed the hallway would open into it.

They reached the doors at the end, and once again, Mitzi typed in her code and stepped back, waiting for the doors to open. They didn’t. Instead, the panel turned red and gave a long, deep beep. Mitzi frowned and tried a second time, with exactly the same results.

“Nic? Can you give me the code again?”

“Nine-two-five-seven.”

“That’s what I typed. It won’t open.” Mitzi tried it again, just to be sure, but the panel only flashed the red light and beeped angrily.

She could hear Nic shifting papers. “That’s a top-clearance number. It should get you in to just about everywhere.”

“Sorry, it’s not. Do you have another number I can try?”

“Yeah, hang on… don’t go that way. There’s red lights everywhere! Jeeze, turn back!”

“Who’s that?” Mitzi asked, feeling her anxiety rise. “Franc or Adam?”

“Adam,” Nic said. “I didn’t want to tell you before, but I’ve lost contact with Franc. I don’t know if his suit malfunctioned or…”

He let the implication dangle, and Mitzi grimaced. She hoped, desperately, that it had only been a malfunction. Though even if it was, that meant there was no easy way to connect them for their escape or to warn Franc if he was walking into danger.