Romy stared at the foreign food in her hand and glanced away.

She ignored his question and asked her own. “How did you find me?”

He bit into his own food—whatever it was.

“You ask a lot of questions for a space soldier who shouldn’t possess curiosity.”

Romy blushed. “Can you blame me?”

He studied her, swallowing. “You know what kind of noise a battler makes when it enters Earth’s orbit and crashes to the ground?”

“Because I’ve spent so much time on Earth?” Romy rolled her eyes.

The man’s eyes flashed with laughter. “Neither did I until I saw your craft streaking through the sky yesterday.”

Her heart jumped into her throat, and she drew closer towards Atlas without thinking, gripping his hand. “Did you see where the rest of the ship landed?” She leaped to her feet, ready to go right then and there. “What luck that you found me! I had no idea where to start searching,” she babbled happily. Her knot! He could help her find them.

“No.”

“How long do you. . . ?” Romy trailed off as she looked into the man’s grey eyes again. They had the experiment look again.

“No,” he repeated.

Romy’s mouth dried, and as elated as she’d been seconds before, she now felt close to vomiting. Her head throbbed painfully. “No, what?” she managed to get out through the tightness in her throat.

“I only saw the one. I assumed they were with you. . . .”

He assumed that the rest of her knot was with her. And that she was the sole survivor.

How far could the eye see in the sky above? Thousands of kilometres. A gasp sounded in her ears and she knew it came from her mouth.

It could take her years of travelling to find her knot.

Despair built inside of her, overwhelming everything else. “I crash landed with my . . . my knot,” she said through numb lips, staring down at her hands in an attempt not to cry. “My part of the ship was torn off sometime during landing, I think. I lost consciousness partway down. I’m trying to find their part of the wreckage. But I haven’t found a clue yet. I, I was heading in the direction of the ocean next.” A tear leaked out and she dashed it away before Atlas noticed.

“It’s as good a place as any,” he said quietly.

Romy held up the dried meat—anything to change the subject. “What is this?” It seemed almost like chicken.

“Kangaroo.”

“We’re in Australia?” Romy’s mouth dropped in surprise.

“Queensland, Australia,” he clarified. He gave her a sideways look. “How do you know what a kangaroo is, but not a crocodile?”

Romy frantically reviewed what little she knew of Australia. Big and dry. Nothing that could help her find her friends.