Anna and Ed Marsh finally relented and ended Zed’s grounding a day early so he could attend Jacob Ens’s funeral. Zed knew full well it was less out of some sense of grace and more out of the risk of embarrassment, considering the rest of the colony would be there.

  Despite having every safety precaution—and the amount of technology and genius that went into keeping the men and women of Naug alive was indeed heroic—Mars remained a dangerous and inhospitable place for humans. A death here shouldn’t be particularly shocking given the potential dangers, but with the luck they’d had so far, expectations had changed over the years.

  The fact that Jacob had fallen into a dark abyss added an extra layer of tragedy to the whole situation. It was the kind of death that wasn’t on the list of potential endings most colonists might have subconsciously prepared for.

  Against all odds, since the founding of Naug, no one had died on Mars since Fredrick Gorski’s death on the day Thabisa Jones had first set foot on the planet. While that historic day of the first lonely funeral had occurred before Zed was born, he’d grown up with that event ever present. When Thabisa buried Fredrick Gorski, the people of Earth were inspired by her courage. They were awed by her ability to carry on the mission in the face of such loss and loneliness. The imagery of her placing the final stone at the head of Gorski’s cairn had energized the generation that built Naug.

  The world would be watching on this day as well. As the images of Jacob Ens’s funeral procession traveled the millions of miles back to Earth, Zed wondered what message they would deliver.

  Most of the colonists watched a shared projection with their CIGS in the mess hall while a small funeral procession laid Jacob to rest on the surface, at least in spirit. In keeping with that first funeral years ago, a cairn would be built, but Zed wasn’t sure how much closure it would bring in the absence of a body.

  With the funeral procession all in turtle suits, Zed couldn’t quite tell who was who. He assumed the two building the cairn were Miranda and George. When one of them went to place the final stone at the head of the cairn, there was a quiet gasp among the mess hall viewers as whoever it was smashed the stone into place.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  Zed wondered if it had been George or Miranda. He thought he knew his friends pretty well, but he had a feeling that knowing someone and knowing them in grief were not the same thing.

  As the mourners started to make their way back, Zed exited the mess and headed for the nearest turtle suit airlock.

  After all the radio silence, he was nervous about talking to Miranda and George again in person. At the same time, he was desperate to see them after his week of isolation and helplessness in comforting them from afar.

  As people exited their suits, Zed waited for George and Miranda to appear. They must have taken their time on the walk back because they were the last to come out.

  Miranda was closest, so Zed made his way toward her, only to pull up short when he caught her eye. There was something there he'd never seen before. He started to take another step toward her, but she shook her head.

  “Miranda, I—"

  “No. No. Not from you.”

  George was getting himself out of the suit hatch. His eyes went wide when he saw Zed standing in front of Miranda.

  “You led him to his death, Zed!” Miranda half-screamed, half-sobbed.

  Zed felt like the moment was some kind of detached simulation. Just some dramatic scene from the Bubble in Time program. This couldn't be his life or his friend looking at him like that.

  “You made the map. You made the path, and you drove him into nothingness! Now, I've not only lost my father, but I don’t even have a body to bury. Do you know what that’s like?”

  George had come alongside his sister now. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she pushed him off.

  “It’s like he’s forever falling into that dark hole, and no matter what I tell myself, it feels like there’s a chance that he’s still somehow alive. Like if he’s still falling, he’s not dead, but he can’t be saved either. Do you know what a living nightmare that is? All because you said to go this way instead of that!”

  The dam burst, and Miranda gave herself fully to the tears before running out the door, with George following close behind. He shot a sad glance over his shoulder before leaving Zed alone with the echoes of Miranda’s sobbing.

  Zed felt a lot of loneliness in his life, but never had he felt so isolated as he did at that moment. He couldn’t even begin to take in what Miranda had said. He knew logically she was lashing out from her pain, but he couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth to her words.

  Even the thought made his stomach feel like someone had turned the gravity off.