1 HOUR LATER
SABRINA’S SINGING LIKE Acanary, explaining exactly what the Graves crew were up to.
‘Listen,’ she’s saying to the assembled crowd of stressed-out West African Union staff, one of whom is carefully recording the whole thing. ‘I thought we were committing a small crime, I’ll own up to that. I thought we were yanking some data that would help Graves on the business front. Getting a few hitcher names on the register was part of my payment, and the rest was cash. I didnotknow we were committing wholesale murder. I want that on the record.’
She’s sitting on one of the two infirmary beds, and I’m on the other, everyone else crowded into the room. We’ve been stripped of all our tech and handed plain Afro U jumpsuits. The medic put a blanket around my shoulders because I can’t seem to stop shaking.
We’re under guard, I guess, because nobody has worked out yet if we’re heroes or villains. They sent a recon party to the ruins of Pax about an hour ago – the dust storm is finally clearing, and they reported that they can see debris everywhere.
‘Do you think you could drink something?’ asks a man with kind eyes, who I’m sure has told me his name at least twice already. ‘I’d like to get some supplements into you, for the shock.’
I just hold my hands out, because I know if I take it from him he’ll go away, at least for a little. Nearby, a harried man is speaking to the woman who I think is the head of the base. She has the most beautiful dark brown skin and her braids are coiled into spirals. If the world hadn’t ended, I think I’d find her absolute competency quite comforting.
‘—I’m not sure, Administrator. I do know there are messages flying in every direction. FreyaCo, India and Euro West are redeploying their satellites to get a look at the surrounding territory and see if there really are Graves troops positioned to move in. Seems like the big guys all finally found something they agree on.’
‘It’s over for Graves,’ she agrees, adjusting her braids as she takes a screen from him, prepping for some kind of video conference.
‘Hunter had nothing to do with it,’ I say, raising my voice so the administrator turns to listen. ‘Hunter Graves. He tried to stop them.’
‘That’s true,’ Sabrina calls out, breaking off her own narrative. ‘He didn’t know. He tried.’
‘Hunter Graves tried what?’ the administrator asks, frowning her confusion.
‘He tried,’ I repeat, because those words are all I have left to offer him now. I want everyone here to see him like I do. To understand who he was.
‘How did he – wait, Hunter Graves is on Mars?’ the administrator asks, her eyes widening.
‘He—’ But I choke, and as my voice gives out and my face crumples again, I see her understand.
Hunter Graveswason Mars.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter to them – Pax is gone, Hunter is gone. But I want them to know who he was.
Sabrina’s finally winding down, and I can see the energy leaching out of her as reality sinks in. We escaped Nico and Blue Braid, but whatever comes next won’t be good for either of us – and everyone on her team is gone.
It’ll be my turn for a debrief soon. I’ll tell them I’m a hitcher. Maybe they’ll deport me back to Earth. Somehow, I just don’t care.
‘Recon party’s back, ma’am,’ someone calls from the door, and everyone turns toward the voice. I can’t see anything through the sea of bodies, and suddenly, I don’t want to. I hug my mug against my chest, huddling inside my blanket, shrinking back.
They wouldn’t have retrieved bodies, would they? No, you’d need a big rover for that. But that would mean he’s still out there somewhere, on the surface, and that’s worse. He’d be so cold.
I’m so cold, despite my blanket.
There’s a fuss rising by the door, voices growing louder, and the people near me shuffle as if someone’s shoving their way through. Then individual protests start to make their way through the crowd.
‘Who’s—?’
‘I thought—’
‘But you can’t—’
And then …
And then …
And then.
And then Hunter’s ghost is standing in front of me. He’s covered in sweat and grime, his warm brown skin sallow with exhaustion, his hair disheveled, his eyes shadowed. You’d think a ghost would get to come back looking however they liked. Or do they have to look like they did when they died?
