Alex hears the beating of a heart in the darkness, a soothing and slow lub-dub pulse. She is weightless. No ground beneath her feet. Is she upside down or right side up? Impossible to tell. The only thing around is the void. Yet she can see herself from the glowing trails of red fireflies racing along her legs, arms, and chest.

Warmth follows the subtle lights. The heat shifts around her body. The sensation is pleasing. She trembles each time one of the bolts grazes her skin and leaves behind a short-lived luminosity. She can almost picture someone touching her, their fingertips brushing her skin. A face begins to form in her thoughts as one of the lights passes over her inner thigh and evokes from her an involuntary moan.

Her hand goes to the beltline of her jeans and then beneath her shirt. The face resolves to reveal Shepherd’s features. Those familiar brown eyes. His confident grin. The lights continue their dance across her body. Now it is Shepherd’s hand beneath her shirt. Just four days ago, she was on top of him in the cramped bed and putting her lips to his. She has wanted more – needed more – but the opportunity had yet to present itself. She begins to unbuckle her jeans, wanting to throw off her clothes. Then she hesitates.

This isn’t right, she thinks and withdraws her hand from her shirt. Maybe back home. Maybe in my room, but this place… where am I? What are these lights?

As if responding to her thoughts, one of the bolts briefly touches the base of her neck and then slides across her left collarbone and down to her breast. She draws in a sharp breath. She wants to close her eyes and ignore everything but the warm, pleasant touches but she fights the desire, the heat, and clenches her hands until the pain of her nails digging into her skin causes her eyes to water. She swats at the lights, which lift away into the darkness and disappear.

Without warning, the temperature plummets to that of the Colorado winters. Someone is watching. She brings her knees to her chest and crosses her arms around her legs to keep warm.

A tiny red light appears overhead. She has no way of judging its distance but it is either growing or moving closer. The glow is a much different hue than the tiny bolts: darker, like deoxygenated blood. Where does the aura end and the surrounding darkness even begin?

Soon, a silhouette asserts itself within the glow. The shape resembles a cephalopod with six tentacles extending from a lozenge-shaped body. Is it alive? The appendages sway within the ruddy light. One of the tentacles is shorter than the others, severed halfway up its length. The constant lub-dub, lub-dub heartbeat coincides with a subtle pulsing of the creature’s luminescence.

The silhouette moves in a wide arc until it is hovering above. The thing is immense, larger than anything she has ever seen, dwarfing the V-22 Ospreys of the Directorate, the CH-53 in the hangar of the Independence, the ship itself, and perhaps the Reagan and even Cheyenne Mountain.

The creature extends one of its tentacles. The air is now so cold it hurts to move, hurts to keep her eyes open. Her body shakes, and she finds herself unable to retreat as the tip of the appendage stops in front of her face. The skin has no texture, only a smooth jet-black surface evoking oil.

“W-What do you want?” Alex says, barely able to speak through her freezing lips and the chattering of her teeth.

A bright and momentary flash of red. Shepherd is naked beside her in the warmth of her bed in Cheyenne Mountain. The glow surrounding the creature’s tentacle fades as the image vanishes.

The heart beats again.

She is standing on Liberty Island facing Manhattan. Nighttime. The city glows as a beacon against the darkness. There are new skyscrapers she has never seen. The towers reach a mile into the sky. Voices, honking horns, and sirens all float toward her from the metropolis. She looks up and behind her to see the radiant torch of the Statue of Liberty. The city fades into a blurry depiction of her swatting at the red bolts. The brief heat returns but then surrenders to the cold.

“I d-don’t unders-s-tand,” Alex says.

The tentacle hangs in place, pulsing with red light. Suddenly, the heartbeat stops. There is absolute silence. A feeling of annoyance comes, then recognition, then hunger. The feelings belong to the creature. Whispering voices grow within the darkness, unintelligible and alien, a chorus singing in some strange language.

The tentacle reaches out and engulfs her.

For a moment, there is only darkness but then she is racing down claustrophobic corridors. Flashing red emergency lights illuminate her path. The space reminds her of the Independence but the bulkheads and hallways are different. There are more of them, many more like some great labyrinth of rusting metal and flaking paint and pipes and technology. She is inside the USS Ronald Reagan, the Committee’s supercarrier, once a symbol of the United States’ military might. The carrier is full of death.

She enters a room where four men struggle to don their uniforms in the darkness. She is not alone, not in control although she suspects she has influence. The men scream. Their skin comes off in strips while blood pours from their wounds. But neither the blood nor the flesh touches the floor, instead dissolving into the air.

The hunger grows, becoming like the desire, the heat she felt while her lips pressed into Shepherd’s. The sailors writhe on the ground shrieking. Their skin is gone, leaving only red muscle, which now falls from their bones. Their eyes boil and pop like scrambled eggs, their brains cook, and their nails rip free from their cuticles, trailing pus and blood. She takes everything, the meat, the fluids, until only skeletons remain.

She departs the room. The emergency lights highlight the carnage. A man sits against the bulkhead tearing out his eyes while blood flows from his ears, mouth, and nose. Another flees down the hall screaming. An invisible force slams him onto his back. He brings a hand to his shattered nose. Then his face disappears as his skin rips from his skull. One man tries to crawl through an open door. His body is gone below the legs. With each death, she feels empowered, satisfied.

She passes through the floors and bulkheads. Now, she is deep below deck and alone. The entity sharing her mind is busy elsewhere, feeding, growing stronger. The screams from above penetrate the walls. She stands at the end of a corridor. A closed door stops her from going any further. She reaches out. The door opens with a metallic groan.

The strange voices are coming from inside the next room. This is no longer a chorus but a thousand urgent whispers all speaking at once. They want her to come forward, to enter the room, to go into the darkness. She cannot see beyond the door but she knows she must go forward. She steps through the entrance. Something is here with her now, a presence. The door slams shut. She stands still, breathing heavily. Sweat drips from her brow.

A space appears from the darkness. Not a room but a tunnel with subway tracks running down the middle. Bodies line the walls. The men and women are old, long dead. Their wrinkled and hard skin is white, similar to their platinum blond hair. Their eyes and tongues have rotted away, and deep incisions run the length of their necks below their jawlines. Dried blood stains their tattered clothing. Red symbols cover the walls. The symbols glow and come into focus. But before she can read them, a gentle breath caresses the back of her neck. The subway vanishes, and again there is darkness.

She hears her mother’s voice, Alex. She turns expecting to see the radiant smile, the brown corona of hair, and the bright grey-blue eyes, but standing there is a bald woman with waxy pale skin drawn tight over her skull and with faded blind eyes. She is skin and bones, little more than a walking skeleton in a hospital gown. Yet Alex recognizes this woman as her mother. The recognition comes from memories buried in her mind – hazy, fragmented memories from before the outbreaks, memories she has never desired to unearth.

She takes a step back. Her mother tries to smile but then her face contorts in an expression of pain. Blood leaks from the corner of her right eye like tears while the skin of her brow begins to dissolve. “Mom!” Alex shouts.

Listen to me, honey, Katherine Bedford says. Get out. Run. Don’t come here. She drops to her knees and cries in pain. Alex rushes forward but a sudden aura of cold has engulfed her mother. The decay accelerates. Blood fills her mother’s eyes and then leaks from her nose, which is beginning to dissolve with the rest of her face.

“Stop!” Alex shouts at the darkness.

Run, her mother repeats. Go to John. Tell him— Make him turn around. Don’t trust your—

Her mother’s wasted form explodes into blood, gore, and shattered bone.

Alex screams.

---

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Nicole’s voice yanked Alex from the darkness. Her mouth tasted of salt. The Independence’s powerful engines churned somewhere below. She was on the edge of the flight deck – the very edge beyond the guardrail. Her toes dangled over the side. Ocean spray touched her feet. The black waters stretched as far as she could see, merging indistinguishably with the starless night. Her eyes were full of tears. Bursts of light flickered along the horizon, preceding a distant roll of thunder.

“What…?” she said.

Someone grabbed her by the arms and lifted. Her feet left the deck. The rail smacked against her legs and spine and then she was over and on her back. Even through her watery vision, she recognized Colonel Webb standing above. Nicole rushed to his side. She looked scared, horrified. Nicole knelt and hugged Alex tightly. “W-What the hell were you doing?” Nicole was crying.

“What happened?” Alex felt disoriented and confused.

Is this a dream? Wasn’t I just dreaming? Am I awake? But where…?

“You were going to jump. Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t seen you? You would have drowned! What were you thinking? How could you drag me along on this shit and then try to kill yourself? You idiot.”

“Nicki—”

Nicole’s fist slammed into her back. Then she hugged Alex even tighter. “If something was wrong, you could have told me. Why would you just—” Her voice broke into a sob.

Alex looked at Webb. He appeared calm or at least much more composed than Nicole. She had never seen her friend cry or act so hysterically. She put her arms around Nicole.

“What’s going on?” she asked Webb.

“I was… doing rounds,” Webb said.

Cat and mouse, Alex thought.

Webb went on, “We saw you out here on the other side of the rail. What were you doing?”

“I… don’t know. I was having a dream. I didn’t even know I was out here.”

“You’re saying you came here and climbed over the rail while you were asleep?”

“How else do you explain it? I wasn’t trying to jump.”

“Go get Shepherd,” Nicole said to Webb.

“What?”

“Do it!” Webb retreated and disappeared into the hangar. Once he was gone, Nicole sniffled and said, “Tell me the truth. What were you doing out here?”

“I am telling the truth. Why would I jump?”

“You tell me. I wasn’t the one standing on the edge of the deck. You weren’t even holding onto anything!”

“Nicki, I wouldn’t kill myself,” Alex said but then her thoughts from the previous eight days came back: the voice urging her to step over the rail and jump from the flight deck into the ship’s wake and propellers. Nicole wiped away her tears. She was no longer crying but she was holding onto Alex like a child, her body trembling.

“What’s wrong?” Alex said gently.

“I thought you were going to jump.”

“I wasn’t. I promise.”

“You swear?”

“Yes.”

“You scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Nicole relaxed her grip around Alex as the trembling subsided. “You should be.”

“Nicki, is something wrong?” Alex said. “I’ve just never seen you so…”

“You’re my best friend,” Nicole said with surprising sincerity. “My only friend. You’re the only person that talks to me. What the hell would I do if you jumped? You think the NEA would keep me around? You think they’d send me out to do their dirty work? Hell no. They’d put a needle in my arm and I’d be back under. Or worse. After all the shit I’ve done…”

“It’s going to be okay.”

“Remember that first time we met? I was surprised your dad even let us talk. You were… really nice. After what happened… But I never told you.”

“What?”

Nicole leaned her head into Alex’s shoulder. Another branch of lightning illuminated the horizon. The thunder arrived soon after. Without looking up, Nicole said, “You know the Committee’s little experiment? Attaching you to a military unit? That wasn’t the first time they tried it. I had a team, too. There were eight of us. I even had my own Captain Shepherd just like you. He was a Lieutenant, though. Chris Young. He was handsome. I’d see him looking at me sometimes. I thought it was flattering. He’s the only guy who’s ever told me no. He said I was too young but he would wait until I got older if I was interested. I told him to screw off. I said if I was old enough to be on his team, then I was old enough for him. Guess he didn’t see it that way.

“Anyway, a few days after that, we got sent on our last exercise that would have qualified us for a real deployment. They set up this course east of Denver. Real high-speed shit. Live-fire from the OPFOR, real ordnance, everything. They weren’t supposed to shoot directly at us, you know, but still… Bullets going right over your head really gets the adrenaline pumping. We got through all right until the end of the course where a bunch of cars and dumpsters were blocking the street. We had to keep going forward. So Chris… he told me to clear the street. It went okay until we started taking fire. He said, ‘Just lift as much as you can and we’ll go under.’ I did. They sent me through first with one of the men so I could get cover. Then the main group started going. That’s when a bullet hit me. Some asshole must have shot a piece of steel because they figured out later it was a ricochet that buried itself in my side. I lost concentration and…”

“Oh, Nicki,” Alex whispered.

“Five of them were underneath. They cut the exercise right there. I tried to dig them out but I was bleeding everywhere. Someone grabbed me and threw me into the back of a Humvee. The next thing I knew I was on a stretcher and they had an oxygen mask over my face and they were flying me to Peterson. So that was the end of that little experiment.”

“What happened to your team?”

“Everyone underneath died. They said it was quick but I swear I heard them screaming when I was trying to dig. Chris and the guy with me were the only ones that made it. Chris wasn’t underneath because he stayed back to cover everyone. I see him around every now and then but we’ve never talked.”

“When we first met… that was six years ago. You were only—”

“Fifteen. Yeah. It’s not the age…”

“It’s the mileage.”

There was a long silence. The ocean breeze ruffled Alex’s hair and tugged at her baggy nightshirt.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” Nicole said at last.

“I won’t.”

“It’s classified. Higher than you’re cleared for, at least. Hell, I’m probably supposed to throw you off the ship now.”

Alex smiled. “I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”

Nicole gave Alex a tight hug and then broke away. She stood and helped Alex to her feet. “Your boyfriend’s coming.”

Alex looked and saw Shepherd and Webb jogging toward them from the hangar. Shepherd wore a pair of black athletic shorts and a grey t-shirt. “What’s going on?” His commanding voice, clear and alert as if he were asking for a situation report during a mission.

“False alarm,” Nicole said before Alex could answer. “Well… I guess that’s not exactly right. No idea what would have happened if we hit some waves or a gust came along. I’m going to have to watch you all night from now on.”

“It’s okay,” Alex said to Shepherd. “I was having a nightmare. When I woke up, I was standing on the other side of the railing.”

“Jesus,” Shepherd said. “You were sleepwalking?”

“I guess. I’ve never done it before.”

“What were you dreaming about?”

Alex shook her head. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Sure,” Shepherd said although she knew he wouldn’t let it rest at that. His eyes strayed from her face to the thin nightshirt and her bare legs. “Kind of cold out here, isn’t it?”

Nicole smirked. “Tell you what, Captain. Take her back to our room. I’m going to be out and about for a while. Like all night. Get what I’m saying?”

“Nicki!” Alex said.

Nicole’s grin widened. “That’s an order, Captain.”

Shepherd looked at a loss. Alex often forgot that Nicole was the equivalent of a major. Her orders carried weight. Moreover, she was not entirely sure her friend was joking. Alex took Shepherd by the arm and pulled him toward the hangar. He looked relieved to go.

“Ms. Bedford,” Webb said. Alex turned. “General Martin does not need to hear about this. Understand?”

She had seen Martin only a handful of times since the departure from Virginia, and she had spoken to him even less. He rarely left his quarters, and when he did, he moved like a ghost, showing up briefly at the odd meeting or in the mess hall and then disappearing just as quickly. His behavior added an air of mystery to his already mystic reputation among the crew. She often overheard the men talking about him and relating stories that sounded like tall tales. Yet a common thread linked those stories: they all saw Martin as a good leader, fair and just and compassionate and strong despite his battered body. They spoke of him like a proud son would speak of his father.

No one ever talked about Dad that way. Never once.

Webb held her gaze as if to underscore the importance of his request. She nodded. “I won’t say anything.” She understood Webb’s concern. Martin had enough to worry about. Something was troubling him. She has not been able to drag it out during their brief conversations but she suspected it had to do with her father.

The words from the nightmare came back. Go to John, Katherine Bedford’s wasted apparition had said. Tell him— Make him turn around. Don’t trust your—

The impression of her mother exploding into gore caused Alex to close her eyes. It was just a dream. A bad one, but just a dream. Except it felt real. The memories were there, existing in perfect clarity unlike the hazy recollections that often faded minutes after she woke from her other dreams.

“Alex?” Shepherd said.

She opened her eyes. “Let’s go.”

They went into the hangar. Behind them, Nicole leaned against the railings while gazing at the distant thunderstorm. Webb stood awkwardly alone in the middle of the deck. He watched Alex and Shepherd depart and then hesitantly approached Nicole. Alex saw no more of them as she stepped through the bulkhead into the ship.

They arrived quickly at her room. The door was open and the lights inside were off. Her comforter lay on the floor, thrown aside, she guessed, when she had gotten out of bed for her midnight walk. She flipped the light switch. Nothing else appeared out of the ordinary. She glanced back and saw Shepherd still in the hall. “You can come in.”

“Is that an order?” he said with a smile before joining her in the room. After closing the door, she went to the bed and sat. Shepherd remained standing. His smile had faded. “Mind telling me what that was all about?”

She reached to pick up the comforter. “I had a nightmare. I woke up and I was out there.”

“Some nightmare.”

She stood to spread the sheet over the bed and tuck the lower edges beneath the mattress. “Yeah, but… it didn’t feel like I was asleep. It seemed real. Remember when I told you about that dream I had where I was in Antarctica? It was like that. But this was worse.”

“Why?”

“I saw things. Something was killing all these people. I think I was on board the Reagan. Then I found this room and inside it was like that subway tunnel in New York where you found all those bodies. After that, I saw my mom, and…”

“And what?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“You’ve never told me about your mom.”

“I know.” Alex gestured to the tiny writing desk across the room and the picture she had brought from Colorado.

Shepherd examined the photo. “She’s very beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Alex said with a trace of sadness.

“I always wondered where you got your looks.” The compliment made her smile – a smile that she hoped reflected even a glimmer of her mother’s beauty and kindness.

“Could you turn off the lights?” He did and came to sit beside her on the bed. She took his hand.

“Want me to stay?”

“Yes.”

“It’s going to be pretty cramped.”

“I don’t care,” Alex said and got into the bed.

Shepherd slid in next to her. “I hope no one catches me leaving here in the morning.” It was cramped but she felt far more comfortable pressed against him than during any other night sleeping alone.

She put her arm around him and said, “Why? Are you embarrassed of me, Captain Shepherd?” Her other hand went to his leg and then down over his athletic shorts.

“You’re sure you want to do this? Here?”

“What if I go sleepwalking again and fall off? This might be our last chance.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Sorry,” she said and then slipped her hand into his shorts. He was warm, not as hard as she had expected, but firm. He lifted her shirt and moved his hands down her body. Within moments, their clothes were on the floor. She began to worry things were happening too fast. She had hoped this would take place in her comfortable bed back home, not in a tiny bunk with barely room to move. This might be our last chance. Shepherd kissed her and put his hand between her legs. The worry went away.

Alex wasn’t sure how long their lips stayed together. She felt his hands on her skin, bringing exciting warmth with each new touch. He smelled of sweat and body odor but it was not unpleasant. She listened to his breathing and to his groan when she closed her hand around him. All of the sensations told her this was real, that she was not dreaming, and that there would be no interruptions, not for anything. When she drew back to stop for air, her face and hair and body were wet with perspiration. She lay back against the mattress. Shepherd moved on top. She held his gaze, steel blue into deep brown.

“Go easy on me,” she said with an uncertain smile. Her body trembled slightly from nervousness or anticipation or both.

“You’ve never said that before.”

“Well… I’ve never…”

“Don’t worry.” He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. She put her arms around him. There was pain at first and then a strange sensation of being full. The enjoyment came soon after.

---

Alex almost crashed into Nicole as she left the room. Dark rings competed with the shadows beneath Nicole’s eyes. Alex took a step back. “Hey, Nicki.”

“About time you got up. I saw your boyfriend slink away a few minutes ago. I was going to ask how things went but I decided I’d rather hear from you.”

“We…”

“Yeah, I know. I was listening. You can tell me all the details later.”

“You were out here last night?”

“I meant this morning.”

“Oh.” Alex smiled at Nicole’s grin.

“Anyway, I need some goddam sleep. Tell me how this little meeting goes. I’m sure they won’t miss me.”

Alex hugged Nicole. Her friend seemed surprised but returned the hug before breaking away. “I love you, Nicki.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Nicole said although Alex caught faint gratitude in her friend’s eyes. “Try not to wake me up when you get back.”

Nicole went into the room and shut the door. Alex smiled and headed to the bridge. An announcement had come over the ship’s comm system an hour earlier: a meeting for mission essential personnel would take place at 1000 hours. The message had awakened her and Shepherd. She was pleased to find herself still in his embrace from the night before.

Looks like I better haul ass, he said and then sniffed the air. And I don’t know about you, but I sure need a shower.

Take one here. And together, they had – and more, although she didn’t recall being loud enough to reach into the hallway. Nicole’s hearing was superb, likely the best on the ship. She hoped her friend was the only one with ears sensitive enough to hear through the bulkheads. Afterward, Shepherd had left while Alex put on her clothes. Only a few minutes remained before the start of the meeting.

Cutting it close. But it was worth it.

The number of attendees for the meeting was much smaller than the previous briefing. Martin and Webb were there along with Morgan and Captain Shute. All of them sat around the rectangular table in the center of the room. They looked up at once when Alex entered. “The Directorate arrives,” Morgan said dryly while checking the wall clock.

Alex ignored him. “Captain Shepherd will be here in a minute. Nicole isn’t feeling well, so I’ll tell her anything important later.”

“That’s fine, Alexandra.” Martin sounded tired. He sat slumped in his chair as if too weak to support his own weight. But his eyes seemed to brighten as he looked at her. He smiled and gestured at one of the seats around the table. Webb gave her a long stare as she approached and sat down by Martin.

Don’t worry. My lips are sealed. Not a word about last night.

Shepherd entered the meeting room looking out of breath. He glanced at the clock and quickly took a seat beside Alex.

“Looks like everyone,” Captain Shute said. “General?”

“Go ahead,” Martin said.

“All right. We’re still working to gather information but given the nature of what we’re seeing, I thought it important to inform everyone as soon as possible. As most of you know, we’ve been tracking the Reagan with the Directorate’s satellites.” A sudden cold worked its way down Alex’s back at mention of the carrier. She sat up straight. Shute went on, “She was about three thousand miles ahead of us when we set sail from Virginia and moving on a course very similar to ours. Our analysts expected her to pull into McMurdo Sound or continue along the coast. Last night she diverted into an area known as the Weddell Sea below the Antarctic Peninsula. At the same time, we picked up a distress signal. That signal has been going nonstop since about 0030 hours. Our latest imagery shows the Reagan driving straight for the Flichner-Ronne Ice Shelf.”

Last night. The dream. You saw— Her body went cold as a high-pitched scream cut into her mind. She almost recoiled, putting her hands to the edge of the table to push away. Except then she realized no one else was reacting. That scream was the death wail of one of the Reagan’s crewmen but it sounded as if it had come from inside the room instead of originating in her head. She tried to settle into the chair and relax but the cold persisted.

Webb asked Captain Shute, “What’s the intelligence assessment of all this?”

“They’re baffled,” Shute said. “There’s no reason for the Reagan to go toward the ice shelf. Nothing’s in the vicinity, and those icebergs pose a serious hazard even to a ship that size. The distress signal is a mystery, too. Based on analysis of the imagery, the ship hasn’t sustained any damage.”

“Are they trying to set an ambush?” Morgan said. “Lure us in?”

Shute shook her head. “That wouldn’t make much sense. They must know we’re watching them with the Directorate’s assets, and we haven’t seen any signs they’re preparing an ambush; their drones and other aircraft are below deck. Plus…” Shute’s voice trailed off.

It took Alex a moment to realize Shute was looking at her and another few seconds to process the captain’s words. “They won’t attack while I’m on board,” Alex said.

“Exactly.”

“What would you suggest as our course of action?” Martin said to Shute.

“I recommend we stay on course and wait for Hannibal’s next pass to get some updated imagery. We’ll keep an eye on our sensors for anything out of the ordinary.”

“And we’re still tracking forty-eight hours out?” Morgan said.

“That is the plan,” Shute said with a hint of irritation. Morgan found a way to question their schedule at every meeting.

“Very well,” Martin said. “And one more thing, Captain. Have any attempts been made to contact the Reagan?”

“No, sir. It’s likely she already has us on radar but on the off chance she doesn’t…”

“Understood. Keep us informed. Captain Morgan?”

“Sir?”

“I expect your team will be ready in two days if the need arises?”

“Yes, sir. Absolutely.”

“Captain Shepherd. Do you agree with that assessment?”

Shepherd blinked. Then cautiously, he said, “We’re getting there. We’ll be ready.”

“Thank you. If there’s nothing else—”

Alex spoke up. “General, I need to tell you something.”

“Go ahead.”

She hesitated, noticing Webb’s sudden glare. A dim radiance glimmered behind the membrane as the firefly stalks coalesced into two solid points resembling dying stars against the blackness. His intense look made her regret speaking up. But it’s too late now.

“I saw something last night. I was hoping it was a dream, but now… I don’t know.”

“What did you see?” Martin said.

Alex looked down at her feet. She did not want to relive the dream. She did not even want to mention it. Except she had to tell Martin. She could spare him the details of her walk onto the deck of the Independence and over the rail but he had to know what she had seen. “I was on the Reagan. Something was with me. I saw the crew dying. They were being slaughtered. It was like Kansas City. And then I saw my mom.”

“Kate,” Martin whispered so softly she doubted anyone else heard.

Alex nodded. “She told me to go to you. She said I had to make you turn us around. She started to say something else: ‘Don’t trust your—’ But… then I woke up.”

“This meeting isn’t a forum for you to discuss your dreams,” Webb said. “We have much more serious things to—”

“We have to turn around,” Martin said.

“General!” Webb exclaimed. “All she had was a dream.”

Martin stood and pushed his chair back against the wall. “No.” His voice was suddenly fevered and alarmed. “This was wrong. This is all wrong. I promised Kate I would protect Alex. She trusted me, Aaron. I’m not— This isn’t…” He teetered and started to fall but both Alex and Webb shot up to support him. Captain Shute stood and retrieved the chair, and they set him gently back into it.

“Damn it,” Webb growled to Alex. “I told you!”

“I— I’m sorry.”

“Get out,” Webb ordered. “Everyone just get out!”

She started to turn away but then paused and shook her head. “No.” She went to Martin’s chair and knelt at his side.

Webb seemed about to drag her from the room but instead focused on Martin. “General, remember why we’re here. Bedford will launch unless we take her to Antarctica. The country is more important than she is. You know that.”

Martin looked at Alex. His eyes were red and bloodshot, polluting the brilliant steel blue, and she knew the truth from his expression: he would sacrifice the country to protect her, he would do anything if it meant keeping her safe. She spoke to him gently, “I’ll be okay. You don’t have to worry. It was just a dream. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. It’s just the stress of being cooped up on this boat. We should keep going.”

“Alexandra…”

“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry. I’ll be all right.”

Martin closed his eyes. Then slowly, he nodded. “We keep going.”