Chapter Eighteen

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Mahaha is alive.

I close my eyes, my mind whirring too fast to even catch the words and thoughts flying through it. The emotions at least are starkly clear. I'm too calm. I haven't been this calm since Yahvi and I brought a team through a magnitude-seven earthquake in the Himalayas. We sheltered in a cave, not knowing if our own roof could come down at any moment as a rockslide thundered past only meters away. I remember staring death in the face, knowing that I could do everything right and still not make it through those three horrible minutes.

Those minutes are replaying now, only this time, they don't end. There's no ending. There's no cave. We're out of communications range, trapped in a small shell on a big moon that doesn't want us here. Even our feeds to the world outside these walls is cut off. Our instruments are dead, and we have no more probes.

I'm vaguely aware of the other members of my team around me. Liu is shaking visibly. Kwon has wrapped a blanket around her, and is rubbing her back. Krüger is slumped back on a couch with one hand in his hair, giving the screens on the coffee table a completely blank look.

I need to pull myself together.

We're out of communications range, but we may or may not be back in it right about now if I take Monica's word. I stand. The room reels, but I can feel the floor beneath my feet and the chair beneath my hand. I fight the reel and win. I know what I have to do.

"Kwon, check the orbital map. Are we at closest pass right now?"

Without leaving Liu's side, she reaches out and removes the tablet from its makeshift stand. A fingerprint swipe logs Liu out, bringing up the station shared space with our calendar, station logs, and other general information. A few taps brings up a cartoon depiction of Qalupalik, and Mahaha's path around its rings. We're directly in the region last reached by the Hub's relay satellites.

"Call the Hub."

If the other two hear me, they don't respond. Liu has shrunk back into her blanket cocoon, and Krüger is still staring at the space where the tablet sat. His previously blank face now bears the slightest hint of a frown.

Kwon gives Liu's shoulder a last rub and gets up. "And if I get through to them?"

"Tell them to send an evacuation shuttle for the full team. We're getting off this moon."

This time, Krüger snaps out of his daze. He meets my eye, and I keep my expression set like stone.

"I agree," he says. That's a nice change of scenery. "This was supposed to be an atmospheric and terrestrial research mission. We're not prepared to handle this."

Liu wilts into her blankets. "I was hoping you would say that," she says in a small voice.

"Don't get your hopes up," I say. "We're likely out of range already, and we should prepare for the worst until we know otherwise."

It's not reassurance, but this is serious now. The silence from the comms room already tells me which way the chips are likely to fall. I can't sit anymore, so I walk to the nearest window and watch the gusting snow whirl across the night outside. Silence blankets the room. The Pod rocks again, making things creak in the walls. I try to read the motion. We're not stuck yet, but even if the Hub gets an evac shuttle in order for us, it'll be a few days coming. We'll have to move the station at least once.

"Cap'n? I can't get through."

"Liu, go help her," I say without turning around. "Kwon, I give you permission to jury-rig whatever you can to try to get a signal."

"Roger that."

I would normally bring a hard fist down on any kind of mucking with the Pod's comms equipment, but if that equipment doesn't serve us now, we have little other use for it. I get twitchy at the window, and start to wander the room instead. This quickly turns to pacing. Krüger is now staring into space with his elbows on his knees, looking even more intense than he did before. I'm suddenly very, very glad to have another experienced teammate along. This can't be the first time Krüger has been in a dangerous situation in the wilderness of some remote astronomical body, and he's handling it remarkably well. Potentially better than I am.

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