Gemma stepped out of the shuttle to Oranos and glanced fervently across the docking bay.
A wave of dark brown sprinted at her, screaming her name.
Gemma’s heart neared explosion as bright-blue eyes—their father’s eyes—found hers. Unable to breathe, Gemma stumbled toward her sister, squeezing Nadine so hard the gods themselves couldn’t tear them apart.
Tears streamed down their faces. “I’ve missed you so much,” Gemma croaked.
“Me too,” Nadine replied. “I wrote you so many letters I couldn’t send, but it’s happening, Gemstone.” She pulled away from Gemma to look her in the eye. “We’re going to the City of Lights.”
“Get up, you milksop,” Imara said playfully, smacking the outside of Gemma’s shelter’s door.
Gemma squeezed her eyes closed, tears rolling down her actual cheeks.I’m coming, Nadine.
Choosing to start their hike at sunup had been a horrible idea.
They teetered on the side of a cliff, precariously high over Reva’s surface. There had been no place to rest for many kilometers, and the sun was at its highest point in the sky.
Gemma’s helmet had a lining that automatically enveloped her head the moment she put it on, but it had soaked through with sweat over an hour ago. The urge to whip off her helmet and wipe her face was as overwhelming as the burn in her thighs. But the moment she did, she’d let heat into her suit, and then she’d end up even more molten than she already was.
Gemma held on to the massive rocks in front of her, shaking her head when a drop of sweat rolled onto her brow. She pulled herself over boulders, her entire body pleading for one second of relief.
Hawk swore from behind her. Smaller stones tumbled down from where he stood.
“You good?” Christian called from the front of the line, his voice piping in through their helmets.
“Yeah, just can’t see a fucking thing with all this blasted sweat.”
“As soon as I see a place to stop, Ipromise we will.”
The loud breaths pouring into Gemma’s helmet from her teammates were the only things keeping her sane. As long as they kept going, she would push through too.
After what felt like another hour, they started their descent. Loose rocks shifted under their boots as they inched their way down the mountainside, their bodies angled dangerously to avoid a tumble.
Finally, they reached a plateau.
“Here,” Christian said, his own breathing heavy. “We stop here.”
Reva’s red surface called to Gemma like a bed. With a grunt of exertion, she slumped onto her back, the wound in her side from the Kaizen’s electroprod screaming at her and stared up at the bright sky filtering through the visor of her helmet.
Her body had never been so tired. If left here long enough, her muscles might melt into the dirt beneath her. They burned with so much lactic acid; she probably could’ve spewed the same neon-green bile as the slinger.
Silence stretched for several minutes as everyone relished in relaxation. Gemma closed her eyes, the heat a heavy blanket. If it weren’t so boiling hot, she may even have fallen asleep.
Christian piped in through the mics in their helmets. “Let’s get the shelters set up, so we can—”
His sudden silence stopped Gemma’s breaths. She snapped her head in his direction and found him slowly rising to his feet. He stared in the direction from where they’d come.
“Very,verycarefully, see if you can spot a place for us to take cover,” Christian whispered. He swung his rifle around his body at no more than an inch per second.
Gemma swiveled her head to look at where his gaze was pointed.
At least ten reptilian creatures clung to the mountainside, their crimson scales blending in with the red rock of Reva’s surface. Beady, yellow eyes stared unblinkingly at them.
If Gemma hadn’t been looking for something out of place, she may never have spotted them.
“What’s going on?” Imara asked, her voice barely louder than Christian’s had been.
“Just look for a place to run to, and quick,” Christian replied.
