She swiveled in her chair, her face arranged into careful boredom.
“Just finishing up some documentation. You know how it is.”
Martin stepped into the lab, and immediately the space felt smaller. He was dressed in his usual immaculate style—crisp lab coat over a tailored shirt, gold-rimmed spectacles catching the overhead lights, blond hair slicked back with precision. The cloud of cologne preceded him like an advance warning.
But it was his expression that made Alina’s pulse quicken.
He looked triumphant.
“Documentation.” He drew the word out, rolling it over his tongue like wine. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Of course you’re not.” Martin crossed to her workstation with deliberate steps, his pale blue eyes never leaving her face. In his right hand, he held a tablet. “That’s always been your problem, Alina. You’re brilliant—I’ve never denied that—but you lack vision. You see the trees and miss the forest entirely.”
Alina’s gaze flicked involuntarily to her screen. Seventy-two percent.
Don’t look. Don’t draw attention to it.
“Was there something you needed, Martin? I’m rather busy.”
“Oh, this won’t take long.” His smile widened, thin and sharp. “I just thought you might be interested in what GenCon’s new equipment has been finding.”
He turned the tablet towards her.
The image on the screen was grainy, rendered in false-color gradients that indicated density differentials in subsurface rock. Alina recognized the technique immediately—ground-penetrating radar, capable of mapping structures deep beneath the Martian surface.
And there, clearly visible despite the image noise, was the distinctive hollow shape of a cavern.
Her cavern.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Martin’s voice was silk over steel. “A subterranean void of significant size, located in the foothills. Almost exactly where you were conducting your unauthorized survey before that dust storm.”
Keep breathing. Keep your face neutral. Don’t give him anything.
Alina tilted her head, studying the image with what she hoped looked like detached professional curiosity.
“That’s what you wanted to show me? A grainy blob on a radar scan?”
Martin’s smile flickered.
“It’s a cavern system, Alina. A significant one. Possibly connected to others.”
“It’s a density anomaly that could indicate a void space.” She shrugged, the motion carefully casual despite the tension coiling in her shoulders. “It could also be an unusual rock formation. Differential mineral composition. Even an artifact from the scan itself—radar imaging isn’t exactly precise at those depths.”
“Don’t play stupid. It doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m not playing anything.” Alina met his gaze steadily. “I’m pointing out that you’re drawing conclusions from inconclusive data. That’s bad science, Martin. Even for you.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
“I know you found something out there. I know that’s why you changed your search parameters after you came back. You’re hiding something.”
“I found an interesting mineral deposit and realized my original survey area wasn’t optimal for geochemical analysis. That’s all.”
“Liar.”
