Atlas must have read it in their faces. His expression contorted very slightly before his next stilted words. “If the orbitos collect you and you know too much. . . .” He stopped abruptly and clamped his lips shut, raking a hand through his dark hair. ”If you value your lives, you’ll do as I’ve said.”

The brief explanation didn’t appease Phobos in the slightest. “You make it sound like the Mandate could find us at any second.”

Romy frowned. It did sound that way, like Atlas himself wasn’t sure if he could help the knot. And what was the guarantee that Atlas was even helping in the first place? Only his words and the fact that he saved Deimos. He could be doing anything, telling anyone, and Knot 27 would have no idea.

He ignored Phobos’s question. “You will keep your heads down and you will keep your mouths shut. That is the only way to survive now.”

* * *

Atlas allowed them the rest of the day to become acquainted with the settlement. A tiny, fierce woman named Tina gave the knot a brief tour.

Romy’s initial impression of the rectangular space cleared in the midst of the bush was correct. Rows of neat bungalows were situated in the middle, large sheds down one end—where she’d woken up, and the three large buildings down the other end—where they’d learned of the betrayal. And now she knew what the three official buildings were for. One was the Hull—an area where the Earth humans congregated to eat. The knot ate lunch in there and people stared so much they vowed to eat in their bungalow afterward and never return.

Another of the buildings, the middle one, contained the tiny hospital space where Deimos lay unconscious and where their nanos had been updated, as well as the meeting room from yesterday. It also contained four offices where Atlas, Houston, and Tina worked from. Romy got the impression that Tina ran the whole settlement. And clearly, Houston was the resident doctor. Romy didn’t know who the fourth room was for, but she could surmise that only the important personnel of the camp got offices. Which begged the question of what exactly Atlas did. The question hovered on the tip of her tongue during Tina’s tour. But Atlas’s words echoed in her mind: Don’t trust anyone. And honestly, Tina scared her a little bit.

“What’s that screen for? Elara asked. She tilted her head at the hologram projection Romy watched the day before.

“Think of it as the Mandate’s noticeboard,” Tina replied. “It’s a way for them to broadcast their announcements.”

It seemed more like propaganda to Romy.