“I was trying to protect us!” Tegan’s voice cracked. “But that’s not all. I received intelligence this morning. Someone from Earth is coming. Soon. I don’t know if West betrayed us or if someone else intercepted our communication.”
I released him, my mind racing through implications and contingencies. “How much time do we have?”
“Days. Maybe less.”
I cursed, pacing the small area. Our colony sprawled across the jungle clearing—vulnerable and exposed. We’d implemented precautionary defensive measures after learning about Earth’s possible threat several days ago, but they weren’t complete.
“We need to accelerate our fortifications,” I said, already formulating a plan. “And Tegan? If anything happens to Olivia because of this...” I let the threat hang unfinished.
His eyes widened slightly. “You really do love her. Don’t you?”
The question coming from him surprised me, but I didn’t hesitate. “More than I thought possible.”
TWENTY-FIVE
OLIVIA
After I said goodbye to Aeon in the council chamber, I slipped behind the gnarled trunk of a native tree outside, my heart thumping in my chest. My plan worked—everyone thought I’d left when I’d actually circled back through the garden side entrance. Foolish? Definitely. But something in Aeon’s expression when Tegan requested a private word made my instincts scream.
“I reached out to Dr. Naomi West on Earth,” Tegan said. “It was a peace offering.”
“I knew it.” Aeon’s voice cut through the air, sharp as a scalpel.
“But that’s not all. I received intelligence this morning. Someone from Earth is coming soon,” Tegan further admitted.
I pressed my back against the cool stone wall, my breath catching in my throat. The pieces slotted together like a horrifying puzzle—Tegan contacting Naomi back on Earth and making deals behind everyone’s backs. And now someone was coming. Maybe Naomi, or maybe someone worse who’d intercepted their communications.
My stomach twisted into a knot as I processed the betrayal. Tegan was willing to trade me away like currency, back to Earth, away from... everything I had found here.
I didn’t wait to hear more. Pushing off from the wall, I forced my shaking legs to carry me out the side entrance and through the garden, past the colony’s hydroponics dome, and into the open air of the colony’s central plaza.
The plaza bustled with afternoon activity. A group of my medical trainees hurried past with food in hand, rushing to get back to the medical bay. I watched them, these beings I’d once feared, now my students, my colleagues, my...family.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” came a voice beside me.
I turned to find Sage, her blonde hair glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the canopy above us.
“Just thinking,” I managed, trying to mask my turmoil.
“About Earth?” Her perceptiveness was uncanny.
The word hung briefly between us. Earth. Home. Or was it?
“I made promises,” I whispered. “To Aeon. To all of you. To Ben’s memory.”
“Promises matter.” Sage nodded. “But so does choice. Real choice.”
I looked across the plaza where two of the council members were talking and laughing with Commander Helix, who was holding her newborn daughter, Helena, gently in her arms. I’d saved both mother and daughter. Not to mention, Helena was part of the first generation born here on Planet Alpha. It was truly the beginning of something extraordinary.
“I chose this,” I said, surprising myself with the conviction in my voice. “When I realized what we could build together—what Aeon and I could create—I chose to stay.”
But still, Earth tugged at me. My house with the window box full of lavender. The sound of rain on city streets. The simplicity of a world where I understood the rules.
“And now?” Sage asked quietly.
“Now I have to decide if I’m brave enough to keep that promise if and when rescue comes knocking.”
I was still talking with Sage when Aeon strode into the plaza. His presence always changed the atmosphere around me—like the air itself became charged with electricity. Right now was no different. His dark hair shone in the sunlight, and his eyes found mine immediately across the crowd.
