‘Wasting what they’ve got,’ she replies. ‘These are resource-rich areas, and we can extract a lot more value from them than these little operations. We’re looking at close-to-surface mining operations, and significant ice reserves.’ She raises her hands to indicate her own helplessness. ‘This is the argument we’ve been having about Mars since before Grandpa Michael’stime. Resources are scarce. Sites like that have to go to the ones who can make the most of them. If GravesUP is going to keep expanding, we need more to work with.’
‘And Mom knows you’re doing this?’ I ask, trying to keep the rasp out of my voice, dread curling through me now.
‘Of course,’ Marguerite replies. ‘Hunter, I’m not a monster. This has all been debated, debatedagain, looked at from all angles. It’s not a step to take lightly.’
‘Not going to make a lot of difference to the ones who get – Marguerite, you’re talking about killing people. A lot of people.’
‘Not as many as it could be,’ she counters. ‘We’re targeting smaller places, like I said. Nobody who would have the legal resources to fight us. Smaller corporations, some international alliances.’
‘And you’ll have Graves folks march in, roll the bodies to one side, and take over,’ I say slowly, trying to rally myself.
I thought I’d do anything to grab my mother’s attention. And I’ve done plenty – I’ve elbowed aside execs, I’ve fought for companies and takeovers in court. But this …?
My sister’s lost her mind.
And I have to be incredibly careful about what I do next, or I’ll lose more than that. ‘You don’t think people will think it was us, what with the Graves teams all ready to jump in and occupy these settlements?’
‘If they do think so, they won’t be able to prove it,’ she replies. ‘We’ll make it look like our teams scrambled when it happened, on rescue missions for survivors. All of them havebeen provided with legitimate reasons for being near the targeted bases. Unfortunately they won’t find any survivors, and then, well – we’ll claim what’s left behind, legally. Pax itself is going to blow at exactly the same time as the other six bases. That’ll take out any evidence we were here, or that Pax was hacked. We’ll argue that when Pax blew, a systems malfunction must have caused the other bases to go up.’
‘Clever,’ I make myself say, trying to keep my tone normal.
She sighs. ‘The scale GravesUP operates on – the scale wehaveto operate on – can’t afford to take individuals into account. Not unless they’re key personnel, like us. We have to be selective about who gets what, based on what they candowith it.’
My mouth is completely dry now, her words replaying in my head. How many times have I said some version of this to myself ? That we have to focus on who can make the most of this place.
Did I sound like my sister when I said it? Like a murderer?
‘I know,’ I manage, quietly amazed at how normal my voice sounds. ‘If we want to make Mars viable for all, we have to expand.’
‘For all?’ Marguerite shrugs. ‘Let’s focus on making it viable for us, right now. First on the hit list is the West African Union.’
I rub my hand across my mouth as my stomach flips over, trying to push down the sensation that I might throw up. ‘Man. They came all the way to another planet just to get screwed again.’
‘Mmm, sucks,’ she agrees. ‘But you know what we say. Rule-breaking has always been our thing.’
It feels like I’m stepping outside my body, watching myself struggle to stay neutral.Blank face, I coach myself.Keep breathing. Don’t give her anything. Your life depends on it. And so do a lot of others’.
‘What about your crew?’ I ask. ‘There are seven of them here. They’ll all keep quiet on what happened?’
‘Don’t worry about them,’ she says firmly. ‘So? You in?’
‘You’re about to be a busy girl,’ I say. ‘I can see why you could use an ally. I’ve got your back.’
‘Feels good,’ she replies. ‘You hungry?’
Before me, one version of Marguerite flickers and disappears. This isn’t the girl I played with as a kid. Maybe that girl never existed at all. This Marguerite is the one who installed herself as our mother’s right hand.
Is her relief at seeing me now genuine, or an act? I honestly don’t know. She’s clearly capable of deceiving herself.
What I do know is that she’s as cold and hard as our mother – maybe worse. And though I thought I wanted to be like our mother too, I’m realizing now that I never understood what that meant.
I’m utterly alone here, and I’m all that stands between my sister and six bases full of innocent people.
I told Cleo that this isn’t who we are. I knew we were ruthless, but I never thought we were supervillains. In this moment, I’m realizing I was as wrong as I could have been.
If I want to be able to say that – to tell her, to tellanyonethat GravesUP Industries fights hard, but fair – then it’s up to me to prove that this isn’t who we are. It’s up to me to stop this.
The question is, how the hell am I supposed to do that in two hours?
