Five towns. So far, the outbreak had crept up in five towns. Detective Sloane stared at the halo map, still not seeing any pattern. In each location where the outbreak had cropped up, responders had only found unconscious citizens.

Engines rumbled as if the machines had grown impatient under the ledge where he sat, but still Hawne would not be moved. He happily munched his sandwich and ignored the chiming comm unit.

Hank dropped his bag loudly as he entered the data center on Inradus VI. He blinked at the central processor. Marv, their chief data analyst stood encased in the center’s glow, eyes closed, and face lifted toward the light.

Jasmine stood with her hand stretched out to catch raindrops. The endless city’s lights glared, blinding beneath the sheer number of them. She’d missed true dark since arriving on this forsaken planet.

“I used to have a brother, you know.” The casualness of Ian’s words caught my attention first. He sat with his hands folded behind his head and chair tilted back waiting for the device’s latest results.

He stared hard at the table, flat metal which had seen too many years’ use. Not, that Cody staring at it and not at Darlie would change much. Would change anything. “It’s a fool’s errand.” His scowl as the words escaped.

Milana clutched the loose handle on her bag as the train approached the platform. Passengers bolted in mad dash to grab belongings and disembark. She couldn’t fault their excitement. They’d reached Astraeus station, the final stop in the string of luxury stations between Earth and the edge of Saturn’s gravity.

The keys clacked beneath Devora’s fingers as she sat, half twisted, typing and watching the monitor. She cursed the engineers’ assumption that this station wouldn’t require long inputs.

“It doesn’t always have to be you.”

The words echoed inside Ahuva Strong. The equipment’s hum couldn’t drown out Rayan’s accusation. Ahuva stared at the metal wall, until the cycle completed and flash forced them closed.