Peyton knew it was a possibility, Sloan coming back. What she hadn't considered was Solomon coming back with her. What did Solomon want?

  "Did you follow them back to the portal?" she asked again.

  "Max did," Alex said. "He watched them roll back under."

  "What do you think he wanted?" she said.

  "He was preoccupied with sifting through the dirt. Kept saying there were feathers in the rocks."

  "He's insane! There are no feathers in the rocks," Peyton said. "How many slides have we looked at since we arrived? There's nothing in the rocks except for carbon, iron, and sulfur. All the same stuff we have back on Earth."

  "He said something about feathers. Particularly a Strength's feather. I couldn't really understand everything he said."

  "What does it matter if Solomon finds evidence of his existence in our soil. What would that mean to him? Surely he understands he is living in the past and we are living in the future?"

  "I don't know. I do think if enough of them made it through the portal, they could take over this base."

  "And do what?" Peyton said. "They've never seen electricity. They wouldn't know how to survive here."

  "Yeah. I wonder if Solomon noticed the rovers. He seemed way too fixated on the soil."

  "Well, all Sloan is interested in is getting home to her brother. They've got the singular focus thing down pat."

  "I feel bad for her," Alex said. "She killed somebody. I killed somebody. I wake up every day thinking about it."

  Peyton stopped what she was doing, which was measuring out powder for a soup she planned to rehydrate for dinner. Alex seemed to be distraught.

  "Sloan killing Trevor isn't the same as what happened to General Stone."

  "It actually is," Alex said.

  "Nigel was telling Stone to eliminate us. Lilly read it right off his computer screen. There were times that I thought he was going to kill me."

  "Stone was scared of Nigel. We were scared of Stone. Sloan is scared of never getting back to her brother. It's all the same thing," Alex said.

  "What's all the same thing?" Mia asked.

  Peyton straightened. She didn't want Mia to learn that Sloan had been back. She hadn't really processed it herself.

  "Our meals," Peyton said quickly. "After a while, it's all the same thing."

  Alex glanced at Peyton and rolled his eyes. "Smooth," he said under his breath.

  "Mary Jane won't stop crying," Mia said. She's locked herself in her room."

  "That's a pretty good trick since the rooms don't lock," Alex said.

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  "She's got something shoved under the door, so I can't get in."

  Peyton put down the powdered soup. Most days, being stranded on Mars wasn't as bad as she would have imagined. It was almost pleasant without Stone around to terrorize them. But today was kicking her ass.

  "What's going on?" Peyton asked, fatigue surfacing in her voice.

  "Edward broke up with her," Mia said.

  "Ok," Peyton said. "That seems survivable."

  "Well, there's more to it. He's dating Lilly," Mia said.

  "Lilly!" Alex said, his face turning red.

  Peyton sighed. She thought back to her mom questioning her about how she would keep the kids from dating each other. Back then, the mission had been about nothing more than space exploration and Nobel Prizes. Now she was slinging soup, charting oxygen reserves, and praying someone would come back to get them.

  "Can you finish this, Mia?" Peyton said, handing over the bag of soup.

  "Edward and Lilly?" Alex said, shaking his head. "That makes no sense. She's way too hot."

  Peyton glanced over at Mia, whose eyebrows were raised. "I'll be back in twenty. Alex, measure out the water? It's 250 mls per person."

  Alex nodded, and Peyton left them to it. It would take her five minutes to walk from the Hub to the Pod. She searched for her guidance counselor hat, which she kept in the back of her mind, behind the dozens of other hats she juggled daily. Why was Edward making life hard? He was usually such a joy.

  The Pod was dark except for slivers of light from a few of the kids' rooms. Most of them were out building the panel. Peyton thought the heliograph was a ridiculous idea, but the project was keeping them busy and upbeat.

  "Mary Jane, can we talk?" Peyton asked once she'd reached her room.

  Mary Jane didn't respond.

  "Mia told me you're having a rough day. I'm always here to talk."

  Mary Jane opened the door. Her face was red and swollen. Peyton's heart sank. This was going to take longer than twenty minutes.

  "Thank you," Peyton said, stepping into the room and taking a seat on the floor.

  "Did Mia send you?" MJ asked.

  Peyton nodded. What would lying about why she was here accomplish? "She said you and Edward broke up?"

  "More like Edward broke up with me and started a relationship with Lilly five minutes later."

  "That's gross," Peyton said. "I thought Edward was smarter than that."

  "Thank you," Mary Jane said. "Turns out he's an asshole."

  "Well, guys can be assholes. God knows my ex-boyfriend is. I mean, I guess he's my ex. We kind of just quit talking soon after I got here. He wasn't the right guy for me," Peyton said. "For a million reasons, really."

  "I thought Edward was right for me. I don't know what happened. Everything changed after they went to Merrick. He changed."

  "Change is one thing we can count on, Mary Jane. As much as we don't like it, if things aren't changing, we're not growing, and that's typically a bad thing. I'm sorry you're upset, but I promise this- if Edward doesn't want to be with you, he's not the one. And if you're wasting time with the wrong person, the right person won't be able to find you," Peyton said.

  Mary Jane nodded, then blew her nose so aggressively that Peyton worried she might pass out.

  "Who knows if they'll even stay together," Peyton said. "I wouldn't imagine they have much in common."

  "Well, they're planning to go to Merrick after the heliograph gets built," Mary Jane said.

  "Planning to go to Merrick?" Peyton repeated. "I explicitly told everyone not to go to Merrick.

  Mary Jane shrugged. "Lilly told Presley that Edward agreed to go with her."

  Peyton stood. She'd already lost Sloan to Merrick. Realistically, what could she do to stop the kids from going? Up until now, fear had driven their compliance. But things were stabilizing. She and the kids had routines, and there were still eight weeks until The Explorer landed without them. Once Edward's heliograph was complete, there would be nothing to occupy their time or minds.

  "We should all go to Merrick," Peyton said abruptly, not sure if she meant it, but aware it was inevitable. "At the very least, we won't have to worry about rationing oxygen. We can create some ground rules around staying together."

  "I'd like that," Mary Jane said. "Maybe I'll have a transformational experience, too."

  Peyton smiled and hugged Mary Jane before excusing herself to leave and finish dinner. Based on Edward's explanation of the device, the heliograph would take at least two more weeks to build. There was time to plan a trip to Merrick. She would need Hameel's assistance. He could find them housing.

  "Hameel is expecting you," a voice said, bringing Peyton to a direct halt. The voice was back. Mars wanted her to read its mind. And this time- she was ready.