The location of the signal wasn’t actually that far from Border Town. An hour’s journey, perhaps slightly more depending on the mountainous terrain. The temptation to go and see for herself was almost overwhelming. She’d told Cass truthfully that she wasn’t cut out for fieldwork.
But this isn’t really field work,she argued with herself.I just want to make sure the readings are accurate.
When Cass had left to pursue her own investigation, Alina had warned her that one of the powerful Martian dust storms wasapproaching. But the station which Cass had headed to was significantly further away than the location she wanted to check. She should have plenty of time for a quick trip there and back. More than likely the readings were faulty. But if they weren’t…
A shiver of excitement ran down her spine.
If there was even one chance in a million that it was real, she couldn’t ignore it.
“I just need to confirm it,” she murmured.
She was writing a note for Cass before she even consciously made the decision to leave.
Cass—
Had an unexpected breakthrough with those samples from the western quadrant. Gone to check personally. Back before dark. Data on server under “Project Bloom.” Don’t tell Reece.
—A
Before leaving the lab, she adjusted the parameters of the survey she’d been running to avoid the area where the reading had appeared. Then she added the correct area to her personal scanner, isolating the signal. After a quick peek down the corridor to make sure Martin wasn’t still around, she headed for the hangar where the rovers were stored, her pulse racing.
If it was real?—
If it was even remotely real?—
Everything was about to change.
CHAPTER TWO
He floated in the darkness, neither asleep nor awake but somewhere in between. Brief flashes of sensation washed over him—a familiar warmth followed by an icy chill. Fragments of what might have been memories or might have been dreams. Soaring into a clear blue sky. Wide stretches of once green land now turned dusty orange. Crouching behind a rock as explosions filled the air. A battle of some kind, although everything about it felt strange and unfamiliar, wrong in some way he couldn’t explain.
More sensations returned. Hands. Fingers. Fingers that didn’t feel right somehow. Something cradling his body, warm and protective. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t need to be protected.I am the protector.A sudden spike of pain shot through his head at the thought, and the flash of knowledge disappeared. His consciousness flickered, dimming once again as darkness swept over him.
CHAPTER THREE
Alina swore under her breath as another gust of wind rocked the rover.
She had seriously underestimated how quickly the storm would strike—and overestimated her ability to drive an unfamiliar vehicle.
“That’s what I get for staying in the lab all the time,” she muttered to herself as her hands clenched on the steering wheel.
What should have been a short trip had already taken far longer than expected. Her caution with the rover meant that it had taken longer than an hour to cross the valley. The wind had started picking up just before she reached the mountains, and her heart had sunk the moment she saw the dark clouds looming on the horizon.
There was no way to make it back to Border Town before the storm hit, and the rover would be completely exposed on the open valley floor. The mountains, at least, offered some protection. Or so she had told herself. But the wind was still shaking the rover and the visibility was steadily decreasing.
Based on the readings on her scanner, the unfamiliar signal came from within the rock ahead of her. Hopefully that meant a cavern, someplace to take refuge and wait out the storm.
I hope.
The wipers were useless against the constant barrage of sand and grit. All she could do was continue following that tantalizing signal. She winced as one side of the rover scraped against a rock wall she could barely see. She tried to correct her course, only to feel it scrape again on the other side. The wind howled, rattling the vehicle, drowning out every other sound.
The rover suddenly tilted to one side as it climbed over a hidden obstacle. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel, but a few minutes later the vehicle straightened back out and she gave a sigh of relief. For a moment she considered stopping right there, but then another gust of wind hit and the whole vehicle skidded sideways. The position was still too exposed.
She flexed her fingers, trying to release the strain, and kept going.
More scraping, this time on both sides of the rover, but then the noise of the wind abruptly dropped. Her previously useless wipers finally managed to clear some of the dust from the windshield, enough to reveal she’d entered a large cavern. A shudder of relief swept over her. She’d made it out of the storm.
Once again she considered stopping, but when she checked her scanner, the signal she’d been chasing was still straight ahead and she decided to keep going. There was nothing else she could do until the storm passed. She drove the rover carefully acrossthe cavern, the headlights cutting through the dust to illuminate a rough, uneven floor.
