‘So they can shoot at us,’ I whisper. Neither Sabrina nor I has a pressure suit on – if she puts a hole in the rover, that’s the end.
Sabrina hisses between her teeth. ‘The gloves are pretty slim, but I don’t know if she could get her finger through the trigger. Maybe—’
PANG!A bullet ricochets off the rover and we both scream.
‘She definitely can!’ I screech, slamming down in the seat beside Sabrina again and reaching for the radio one more time.
‘African Union, come in, repeat, African Union, come in. This is an emergency transmission, do you read?’
I twist my head to look back – the other rover is closer now. I can see Blue Braid taking aim.
‘African Union, comein!’ I shout down the radio, as if they’ll hear me with extra volume.
Then, suddenly, a voice fills the cabin.Emergency transmission, African Union reads you, but barely. Identify and proceed.
I hadn’t even thought about what I’d say at this point. I just plunge in.
‘We’re coming from Pax. Be advised, Pax Station has beentaken over by a hostile force. They’re going to use the keys from the UN registers to remotely breach your seals and take out your life support. They’re targeting multiple bases. You need to cut off all commands from the outside, shut down those pathways, and tell others to do the same. Quickly!’
There’s a silence so long, I think I’ve lost them again – or maybe they’ve just freaked out, and immediately flicked their comms to the off position. Then the voice finally crackles to life again.Rover, did you say our life support? You said Pax?
‘Confirm.’ I’m barely keeping myself from screaming into the radio. My whole body’s pins and needles, just waiting for the instant the rover breaches – because I’ll only know it for a few seconds and then I’ll be done. ‘Pax has been taken over by a hostile force. Do not hail them. Repeat, do not hail them.’
Rover …Again, a pause.Rover, Pax is gone.
Beside me, Sabrina lets out a groan. ‘We’re going to die catching these guys up,’ she mutters.
‘Not everyone,’ I reply. ‘The base evacuated, but there are still personnel on-site.’
They can’t be, the voice replies.Rover, I don’t mean the people are gone. I meanPaxitself is gone.
Time seems to slow down. A lifetime passes as I turn to look at Sabrina. Her lips part in shock, her eyes widening, and I swear I can feel my heart thumping against the inside of my ribs. ‘What do you mean,gone?’
We have no visuals due to the dust storm, but our satellites are picking up a massive heat signature, the voice from the Afro base replies.Best guess, the whole base has blown.
I can’t speak. I can’t breathe. A shudder goes through me.
Hunter, no.
Beside me, Sabrina swears softly, and the radio crackles again.
Rover, we’re sending a party out to meet you and escort you in. ETA, two minutes.
I lift my head, my eyes swimming with tears, and see Nico’s rover turn away to carve a new path across the red landscape, maybe to where Graves troops are waiting for an invasion that won’t happen. He’s missed his chance and he knows it.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sabrina whispers. ‘At least Marguerite went up before she had a chance to take anyone else with her.’
But I can’t speak, my throat is closed. Was it Hunter? Did he blow the base up to stop his sister? Did the systems overload early? We should have had another ten minutes before the charges went off.
We should have had ten more minutes.
But it doesn’t matter. He’s gone.
He’s gone.
34.
CLEO
