Tory wouldn’t stop craning to stare out the windshields of the rig, trying to catch a glimpse of the team the moment their rig showed in the canyon.

“They would have contacted us over the secure channel,” he reminded her the fourth time she said she spotted a light. “If it’s anything other than them, it’s Marsec and we’re probably dead, or worse.”

That finally shut her down, thankfully. She was getting on his nerves. Again.

Finally, after four hours of waiting, he decided it was time to give up.

“No!” Tory argued.

“We can’t do it,” he told her. “It’s going to be light soon. We wouldn’t be able to sneak in without the cover of night even on our own, even if the Chin did show up.”

“We still have time then,” she said.

“They haven’t even contacted us, one way or another,” Gurminder argued.

Had they changed their minds? Had they been caught? Killed? Jailed? Talking?

“If they’ve been captured, we could be blown,” he reasoned. “If we get moving now, we’ll be a hundred klicks from her by the time the sun is up.

Gurminder started up the transport’s engine.

“That’s it,” he told Tory. “It’s not happening.”

She had a shocked look on his face.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Head back to The Hole,” he told her. “Maybe they’ll have another plan.”

“No, no, no,” she started. “I’ve shown you how we can get in there and out. You have the codes! And you told me they are only good for one more day, and you said you didn’t want the Chin help anyways. We have to go in, if not tonight, then tomorrow night.”

“I’m alone and you’re a kid,” he told her. “We’ll get caught in five minutes or less.”

“Stop saying that!” Tory protested. “I got out of CU without anyone knowing, which is a lot harder than you think, and onto your transport, without you even knowing, twice! I’m not a kid, and I’m good at this. I used to do this all the time back on Earth. There’s like a big city under the New Angels. Me and my friends used to explore it. It was pretty freaky!”

“Stealing nukes? ”

“You know what I mean,” she told him. “I want to go back home. And if your people having a nuke will scare everyone, even my parents enough to go back, or maybe they’ll send me back for my own safety, I’ll steal that nuke with you! We can do it!”

Gurminder stared at the girl.

Tory didn’t stop there.

“You need to defend your people right?” she challenged. “Have you ever had a chance like this? When do you think you’ll get another chance? Marsec will figure out they’ve been hacked and plug the holes. That’s what happens, am I right?”

He suddenly felt himself nodding, then checked his gauges. Nope, the levels were fine, he wasn’t suffering oxygen deprivation.

“Okay,” he told her.

“I’ve got a condition, though,” she told him. “You don’t take me to The Hole after. You take me to Elysium Field when we’re done. I’m not going back to that filthy pit where I almost died from the smell.”

He shook his head.

“I’m not going to The Big Drop with a nuke in the back,” he protested. “But I could drop you off at a rest stop on the Planitia Route. Since you are so smart, you’ll should find a way to catch a ride with some other unsuspecting driver whose headed to the drop, or back to the CU where you can find yourself another ride.”

She let out a breath, gave him a smile that he could only describe as a bit creepy, and nodded three times.

“Close enough,” she agreed. “You’ve got a deal. any place on this planet would be better than The Hole.”