The churning in her stomach worsened but the others accepted her lie without batting an eyelid.

A thought—a terrible thought—had occurred to Romy. One so twisted it couldn’t possibly be true. So perverse she felt ashamed to think it, let alone give it voice.

Something was going on. Knot 27 was out of their depth. Romy pressed her lips together in determination. Atlas promised he’d explain. There had to be a clear, concise, logical justification for why there was human life, for why the knot was still alive, and why they were sitting in a damn nuclear powered carbon-neutral vehicle.

“Where did they take Dei?” Phobos asked, pushing his head against the window.

She slowly inhaled and hoped Elara didn’t hear the shake in her breath. “They drove him off already. I think they needed to get him to help straightaway.”

“They have medical?” Thrym asked, just as Elara asked, “Will he be okay?”

Romy wrapped an arm around the slightly smaller woman. “I don’t know.” She had no idea what they were walking into. However, if they’d stayed on the beach, Deimos’s death would have been assured. “But this is Dei’s best chance.”

“It is my fault,” Elara whispered, so quietly Romy hardly caught the words.

Romy didn’t think she was meant to hear it, so she laid a gentle kiss on her sister’s head and held her tightly as the vehicle lurched forwards.

* * *

Romy’s head lolled to the side, startling her from sleep. She was in a small, dark box.

Heart racing, her eyes fell on the sleeping forms of Elara, Phobos, and Thrym, and she recalled where they were: a vehicle.

Romy tried to focus her blurred recollection of the last . . . few hours?

The vehicle had maintained a slow lurch through heavy sludge for most of the day as far as they’d been able to guess. They drove for so long, the rain finally stopped.

But they were no longer moving. So where were they? The twisted thought from earlier came back in force. It was clear that the situation on Earth was nothing like they’d been told. She could only think of so many excuses before she had to look the truth in the eye. During the drive she’d given it serious consideration. Now the questions were who, and why. Who was covering up the fact that there was still human life on Earth? Had these people survived through generations of global warming? Or were the Orbitos reintroducing the soldiers in secret?

Romy looked through the window beside her, trying to see out. They were parked in some kind of shelter. She had to crane her neck to see the ceiling. It appeared much sturdier than their beach shelter. The metal sides were smooth and bolted together.