Atlas’s insinuation that the Mandate would simply wipe out all life from the face of the Earth and start again seemed like insanity.

But then, so did everything else that had happened since they crashed here.

“We stick to the plan.” Elara’s voice wavered. “Get our strength back, gather supplies. Get Dei back. And leave. It’s not our problem. We can’t do anything about it.”

Romy noticed Phobos standing off to one side. She approached him, bumping his shoulder with hers.

“You all right?”

Phobos didn’t take his eyes from the sky. “I miss him.”

Romy’s heart squeezed at his forlorn voice. “I know, Pho. We all miss Dei. But we’ll have him back soon. Did you see how much better he was?”

The young man took a shuddering breath. “We nearly lost him.”

Romy hugged Phobos around the waist as his shoulders began to shake.

Thrym and Elara walked a small distance away, knowing Phobos would hate the audience. Romy stroked his back gently as he’d done for Elara.

“This puberty thing sucks.” Phobos dragged an arm across his eyes.

Romy grinned up at him. “Weren’t the mood swings supposed to be a female thing?”

She laughed as he picked her up and tossed her over one shoulder.

“You shouldn’t insult my manliness, little Rosemary. It provokes me to Neanderthal behaviour.”

A few seconds passed, just a smidge too long. “How is that different from your normal behaviour?” she retorted.

Her short white hair swung as Romy stared at Phobos’s back from her upside-down position.

“Did you guys hear that?” Phobos called ahead to the others. “Romy insulted me!”

Romy heard Elara giggle. “Oh yeah? How long did it take?”

Thrym’s booming laugh joined the mix, and Romy grinned, heart lighter for hearing their amusement.

This is true strength, she thought. The ability to laugh when everything was crumbling to pieces around you.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Romy sighed as she polished scalpels and arranged medi-tech programmes. While Houston’s surgery had been in disarray when Atlas gave her this job, Romy had organised the whole room in half a day. For the last three days, she’d nearly gone out of her mind. Sure, there was a lot of downtime aboard the orbitos, but there were also her resources as well as four best friends to keep her company.

Deimos was just down the hall, but she could only spend so much time talking to him in his induced comatose state. And she felt like the others were working hard to earn their keep while she was twiddling her thumbs.

Houston sat at a white desk across the room, plugging notes from his latest patient into a nano. Romy estimated another two minutes would pass before he was out the door again.

“An open fracture of the femur which didn’t cause artery rupture,” he chuckled. “What are the odds?” Houston glanced up at Romy.