A knock at her door snapped her head upright. A visitor? She knew even before saying, “Enter,” who it would be.
Reece entered with a smile. “Morning, Queenie.”
Her brow arched. “Queenie?”
“If we’re going to be working closely together, figured we’d keep things casual, and friends usually have nicknames for each other.”
Friends? “I’m not sure what you think we can do.” She paused, before adding, “Reece.” Two could play his game.
His grin widened. “That’s the spirit. I thought we’d start the day off with you sharing what happened after the explosion.”
“I told you. The magnetic field got destroyed, which led to?—”
“I know that part. What I want to see, and I’m assuming you have it, is the data showing the progression. The measurements of the atmosphere and more before the blast, then what happened after.”
“I’m not sure how that’s supposed to help.”
“Me either,” his cheerful chirp. “But it’s a place to start if I’m going to figure out how to fix it.”
Since she couldn’t see the harm, and really had nothing else to do, she nodded. And so, after a breakfast—which Nimrod nicely brought to her room for her to share with Reece—theyheaded to his office. It wasn’t hard for her to link to the data. She kept copies of it in a few places on Earth and Mars, although the latter took a little longer to retrieve, given the distance.
They spent that morning poring over numbers and graphs, their direness familiar to her, but the more they delved, the grimmer Reece appeared.
“It happened fast,” he noted when they broke for a midday meal of sandwiches with kettle-fried chips.
“I’m aware,” her dry reply.
“Would a weaker blast have preserved the magnetic field while still destroying the Kukakk?” his next question.
“Preserved yes, obliterated, no.” She took a sip of her iced tea before saying, “I tried with a less powerful wave first. It caused the Kukakk caught in it to shed its body, and while it did wobble about as if injured, it swiftly recovered.” Left unsaid how in its rage it had taken over a new body and slaughtered the Martians in its pens. An aerial drone she’d dispatched had relayed the carnage.
“You said you ended up with four of them, right?”
She nodded. “Meaning four mega blasts.”
“Earth only has one. Would the damage be as extensive to our magnetic field?”
A good question. She drummed her fingers. “I don’t know. See our magnetic field was crustal in nature, meaning it emanated from the surface and the rocks, whereas the Earth’s is in its core. I don’t know what the effect would be.”
“And if the Earth’s core stops spinning, we’re screwed. Hmm.” He appeared in thought, and for some reason, she found herself studying him. As expected of a warrior, Reece had height and width, bulky with muscle, not fat. However, his face lacked some of the harsher lines of the others she’d seen but not met. Reece had offered her files on the current Zodiacs when she’d asked about them. To her surprise, she’d discovered they nownumbered thirteen, the Astraeus once imprisoned for its less-than-savory actions freed and once more a part of the group, Ophiuchus having chosen a female as its avatar. A first and about time. Mars had been long past its age of sexism when it fell, and it had been jarring upon their transition to Earth to be thrust back into a patriarchy system. Another reason why she’d kept herself apart.
“Earth to Queenie, come in.” Reece snapped his fingers, snapping her out of her reverie.
“What?” She almost barked the word.
“I was asking if it was possible to visit Mars in person so I could take some readings, maybe try a few things.”
“Try what?”
“Like re-magnetizing the surface.”
Her left brow arched. “And how exactly would you propose doing that?”
“No idea. I was hoping I might be inspired.”
She snorted. “Such a scientific method, and it was tried.” There’d been numerous attempts to try and bring back the magnetic field. None of it lasted. As soon as they succeeded with one section and started on the next, it began to fade.
“Okay, queen downer. What about water? Scientists have theorized Mars still has some but underground.”
