Remove failed.
Elara smiled, blood on her teeth, and watched the stars spin. She had failed to remove. But she had not failed to save. remove failed
The device on Captain Elara Vane’s wrist blinked red. But she had not failed to save
She closed her eyes. Seventy-two hours became seventy-two minutes of oxygen. The asteroid was tumbling toward the sun. If she left without the relic, Earth burned. If she stayed, she burned with the asteroid, and Earth still burned. Seventy-two hours became seventy-two minutes of oxygen
She couldn’t bring the relic home. So she would bring home the thing it was attached to. The asteroid would enter the atmosphere as a fireball, but the monolith would survive the fall. It would land in the Pacific, and its energy—she prayed—would still dampen the flare.
On her wrist, the device flickered. Then, a new line:
Static hissed. Then, a voice she didn’t recognize, low and calm: “Captain, Control is gone. A pre-flare surge hit the orbital relay. You’re the last voice in the black.”