There was a small metal rod jammed between the hammer of the drill and the part that moved it, the extension lever or chuck or whatever it was. And the rod was not a rod from the Earthmover, Park thought, but something like the metal stakes the expedition members used to pin their tents to the ground. Probably from someone’s spare pack, she realized. She could feel the blood pulsing in her eyelids. Natalya couldn’t have put it there; the metal stake looked as if it had been balanced precariously within the coupling of the drill, waiting for the right movement to lean full-tilt against the hammer and jam it to a grinding halt. Half of the stake had been twisted and chewed by the explosive force of the drill’s pistons. Yes, someone had put this in the drill to damage it—and if it wasn’t Natalya, and it wasn’t Park . . .

“There’s some rocks caught between the coupling,” Park said. “It looks bad. Hard to remove. You might not be able to use it.”

“Remove them,” Natalya rapped from within the cab. Park turned to gawk at her: hadn’t these people ever heard of credentials? She wasn’t authorized to even look at the Earthmover, let alone touch any part of it. But when Natalya didn’t move—Park could see her busily examining some schematic—Park tentatively turned back to the drill and stretched her glove toward the scrap metal that had been caught in it. This was best, she told herself. She couldn’t let Natalya see evidence of the—she refused to call it sabotage—until Park could get back to camp and figure things out for herself. It wouldn’t do to jump to hasty conclusions, to reinforce the tensions that were already brewing within the dome . . . Best to get rid of the thing and put it out of sight.

But despite herself, she squeezed her eyes shut. She imagined the sudden whir of the drill, the sensation of her fingers catching—the screaming hot emptiness of pain. Then her hand wrapped around the warped piece of metal that was caught between the coupling, and she tugged it free. She was left standing there, blinking in the light, gripping the curled steel stake in her hand.