“You all right?” he eventually asked, stroking her forearm.
She jerked to attention and shook her head as if to clear it. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”
“About?”
When she nibbled her thumbnail, her gaze flickered up and down, never holding his own.
“Talk to me,” he pressed, smoothing his palm over her hair.
“It’s just . . . We didn’t even discuss it. Why do I have to be the one to leave everyone behind? Why not set up the first colony here? It kind of makes sense.”
He dropped his hand, feeling a prickle of shame. It was selfish to assume she’d follow him to an alien planet and leave behind everything familiar. Most humans her age wouldn’t make a commitment of that magnitude for at least another five years. Cara was mature beyond her chronological age, but of course she would worry. However, the colony was already under construction. He couldn’t relocate to Earth, even if he wanted to. If Cara refused to leave her home, they couldn’t be together. The thought left him cold.
“Hey.” She squeezed his knee. “You’re almost as pale as I am, and that’s saying a lot.” Reaching up, she tapped one finger against his forehead. “What’s happening in there?”
“I’m sorry. I thought you understood.” The words sounded distant to his own ears. “I shouldn’t have—”
Two sharp knocks rattled the front door, and a stern-faced soldier rushed inside without waiting to be admitted. “Turn on the TV,” he ordered Cara. “Channel Five, and hurry.”
While she crawled to the coffee table for the remote control, the soldier, a middle-age male with cropped gray hair, began calling for the Sweeneys. In seconds, they ran into the living room, and then everyone turned their attention to the sixty-inch screen mounted on the wall, where a national news reel showed a HALO protest twice the size of what they’d seen in Midtown.
“. . . coming to you live from Lanzhou,” a woman’s voice reported, “where the Patriots of Earth have claimed responsibility for the murder of a L’eihr exchange student, an eighteen-year-old boy known only as Aaron . . .”
“Eron,” Aelyx whispered, standing from the sofa.
“. . . after he evaded military escorts and wandered from his home. According to unnamed sources, the boy was found contaminating the soil and taken by Patriots to an undisclosed location, where he confessed under torture to blighting the local wheat crop . . .”
Aelyx gravitated toward the television, his limbs heavy as if moving underwater.
“. . . when an armed militia stormed the boy’s home, they found scientific equipment and samples to indicate he’d tampered with the water supply . . .”
Oh, gods, Eron must’ve snuck away from his guards to uproot his sh’alear.
“. . . no news on the whereabouts of the female student in Bordeaux, who fled her home and disappeared after learning the news . . .”
Syrine had evacuated to her shuttle and Eron was dead.
“. . . the L’eihr ambassador has ended alliance negotiations and called for the immediate removal of the two remaining students . . .”
And without the alliance, mankind would perish. Aelyx’s stomach churned, and he bolted to the bathroom just in time to heave into the toilet.
Beads of sweat covered his forehead and upper lip while dry sobs racked his whole body. Every one of his muscles ached from holding the grief inside. Sacred Mother, what had he done? Turning to the sink, he splashed cool water on his face and rinsed his mouth of the sour taste of vomit, flinching when a fist pounded on the bathroom door.
“Aelyx!” Cara rushed inside, half hysterical, with tears streaking her cheeks, her parents following closely behind. “You have to take me with you! They’re getting ready to—” She sobbed, choking on the next words, and he grasped her upper arms to steady her.
“Getting ready to what?”
Bill leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb. “They’re taking you to the nearest post. Right now. Another mob’s on the way.”
If Aelyx listened over the pulse rushing in his ears, he could barely discern soldiers barking frenzied orders and the sound of armored vehicles roaring to life.
“The alliance will never happen now,” Cara said in a blubbering rush. “If you don’t take me, I’ll never see you again.”
Eileen wrapped one arm around Cara’s waist, but she pushed it away and threw herself at him, grabbing his shirt with both hands. “Please.” Her eyes brimmed with terror. “Take me with you.”
“Think about it,” he told her. “Everything’s changed. If you go with me, you might never come back.” He bent low until they were level, delivering a solemn look. “Is that really what you want?”
Tears leaked down her face, dripping from her chin in great turrets, but she didn’t hesitate to say, “Yes.”
“Pepper, you don’t mean that.” Bill’s imposing form lost six inches as he deflated and turned to his wife for support.
Cara spun around and buried her face in her father’s chest, her body quaking with sobs and apologies. “I want to go.”
“No,” Bill said, still in a stupor. “Just . . . no.”
“It wasn’t a question.” Cara’s voice hitched, but she met her father’s gaze. “I’m going, one way or another. At least I can make sure Troy’s okay.”
Aelyx couldn’t let the Sweeneys think there was any danger of retaliation. “He’s safe. I give you my word.”
“The sergeant wants to take us somewhere else,” Cara told him. “To a safe house.”
And Aelyx knew Stepha would never allow Cara to board an official transport. That left only one way to bring her to the main ship—his emergency shuttle. “Do you remember what I said a couple weeks ago? Where to meet if we ever got separated?”
She nodded vigorously.
“Go there now and wait for me. It might take a while, but I’ll get away and meet you.”
While Bill clutched his daughter tightly with one arm, he studied Aelyx in disbelief, scanning his face and surely calculating whether to trust him with her future. In the silence, Aelyx noticed the distant roar of frantic voices. The mob was approaching—they didn’t have much time.
“Let’s go!” shouted a voice from the hall. A soldier shoved Bill aside and threw an oversize camouflaged coat and a black ski mask at Aelyx. “Put that on and get outside!”
“Give us a minute to say good-bye,” Bill said as he ushered the whole family completely inside the bathroom.
“I’ll give you five seconds.”
Bill shut the door and held one hand out for Aelyx’s ski mask. “Gimme that. The coat, too.” He rummaged through the drawer beneath the sink until he found a pair of scissors and told Cara, “You’re not stuck there. If you change your mind—if there’s even one second of doubt—I want you to come home with your brother. Understand?”
Cara nodded while the din of the crowd drew nearer. “They’re coming,” she said in a surprisingly steady voice. “Just like in Lanzhou.”
“Sweeney family!” a soldier yelled from the hall. “Outside now, or we will take you by force!”
“Coming!” Bill called over his shoulder while shrugging into the heavy coat. He tugged the ski mask over his head and motioned for Aelyx to turn around. As soon as Aelyx faced the other direction, his head snapped back as Bill yanked at his ponytail. Then with a few quick tugs of the scissors, his head lurched forward, free from Bill’s grasp and lighter by six inches of hair.
Aelyx spun around in time to see Bill tuck what remained of Aelyx’s brown ponytail into the back of the ski mask so it dangled past his shoulder blades. Bill would easily pass for a L’eihr if he kept his freckled hands concealed.
“Love,” he said to Eileen while zipping his coat, “I’m gonna run for it. That’ll stall ’em while the kids slip out the window. Make sure they get out, then you stay with the soldiers.”