The Martian day was thirty-nine minutes longer than that of Earth. The time gap had played havoc with Geranium's sleeping patterns since she'd arrived. No matter how late she went to bed, or how tired, she always woke up sometime in the early morning well before her usual rising time. Unless of course she was drunk, but of course that wasn't a solution that could be adopted every night.

It was freezing in the cabin, so she lay huddled in the blankets for a few minutes trying to return to oblivion. The lights of the yard were on, so it was still dark outside. The white noise of the factory manufacturing water continued unabated.

What was the time? Her fone wasn't on her wrist—of course, it was still on the table where Maddy had connected it to that device they had looked at. Her nerves tingled at the thought of Maddy Hawthorn. Geranium wasn't sure whether to be scared of her or not.

It would be a cold dash to the table to fetch her fone to find out the time. For a moment Geranium almost decided against it, until she realised she needed to go to the toilet anyway. Now there was nothing for it. She pushed the covers back and slipped out of bed, ran on her toes so as not to wake Maddy in the next room, and into the toilet.

When she emerged she picked up her fone. 3:00 am. Enough time to go back to bed and try to forget the longer night on Mars. Except the fone contained a message. She touched the contact. Perhaps it was her mother, or maybe news about Sarti.

But it was Maddy. The woman's voice was low, almost a whisper, as if she'd recorded it without wanting to wake her.

'Geranium,' the message said. 'Please don't get mad. I know you probably hate my guts enough already, but what I'm doing now is for your own good. I've gone. I have things to do. Dangerous things. I want you to stay here. This factory has enough supplies to last you a long time, and in a week at most a routine maintenance crew will arrive to check on things. They'll take you back to town. Just tell them you were out walking and got lost or something. Please do as I say. You'll be safe here. I'm sorry for what I did to your mother, I truly am. I was caught up in a lot of bad shit at the time. But I'm doing the right thing now. You don't have to forgive me if you don't want to. I admired your mother's strength and belief in her own convictions, if that's worth anything to say.

'So, it was good to meet you and I'm hope the rest of your little adventure away from home is less exciting than your visit to Mars. Good bye. Good luck. Don't go wandering the desert by yourself. Stay here.'

The message ended.

Geranium put the fone back on her wrist, the sensors connecting automatically with her skin. So she was abandoned here. Maddy Hawthorn had left her mother in a desert and now she'd done the same to her. Different planet, but the same stupid disregard for who she was dealing with.

Well she wasn't going to stay here to be rescued. She could contact the Albany police by fone and probably be picked up that very day, of course, but there was no way that was going to happen. It would be better to show Maddy what the deForêt-Bassyngthwayghtes were capable of.

How long had the woman been gone?

'AI,' she said. 'At what time did Maddy Hawthorn leave the compound?'

'The last exit of the compound occurred forty minutes ago, at 2:25 am.'

Twenty or so kilometres back to town. It had taken them several hard hours to walk here. Maddy would not be back in town before daylight, if that's where she was headed. Of course, there was no guarantee of that. She could have contacted friends, might at this moment be flying somewhere far away.

Geranium scooted around the room to dress and gather her few belongings. Maddy's pack was gone, of course: there was no need to leave any essentials for Geranium as such things were already supplied for the maintenance workers. She went into the main office and tried to open various storage spaces. Most were locked. In one she found a water container and filled it at the tap. In another was a GPS. That was useful: her fone had a navigation program in it but it had been unreliable and was out of date for Mars. Pocketing the GPS, she pulled on her jacket.

She took three deep breaths and opened the door of the building. Outside Mars was bone-chilling. The wind had picked up in the night and the wind-chill factor rendered the ambient temperature well below freezing. She went back to the office to find a set of heated overalls and a pair of gloves, and stepped out into the night.

The metal bars of the gate were icy even through her gloves. It was only after the gate had closed and the AI secured the multiple locks Geranium realised that there was no way to get back inside. The AI would not let her in without the security code. And it was only after that realisation that the desire to stay made itself known.

Ring the police, she thought. But then, that would betray Maddy. Questions would be asked. Awkward questions. She pushed the feeling down and started walking.

Mother's right: I never think things through.

Forty minutes' lead. It was hard to move quickly in the cold, breath clouding in front of her, feet stumbling on rocks. The overalls had a built-in light but she was reluctant to use it too much because most of the power was dedicated to the heating tubes that ran through the garment. Every so often she would flash it ahead to check for major obstacles of sudden drops, but mostly she relied on the starlight. Jupiter was high in the sky as well and provided a bright beacon. Every minute or so a glance at the GPS would ensure her direction was still good for the city.

Every time she thought of Maddy Hawthorn her fists clenched. At one point she kicked a small stone as if it was her captor. What kind of people did the woman associate with that they wanted to kill her, and that Maddy was forced to kill them? And yet...Maddy was now Geranium's only protection. And the woman had saved her life, after all.

'You won't leave me behind!' she yelled into the wind.

The rocks seemed harder as the journey continued, and more numerous. The desert sand was icy cold. Soon after she'd begun walking, Jupiter set behind the water factory, which had dwindled to a small cluster of shapes on the horizon. The darkness deepened. Then a small gully opened up, with sharp ridges rising on either side. She hadn't remembered these on their outward journey, although the GPS told her she was still heading for Albany.

Mother did this for three days. I can do it for a few hours.

She halted for a couple of minutes and drank some water. Down in the gully there was no wind, but it continued to howl above and blew fine sand off the top of the ridges down onto her. It was 3:45 am. Dawn was still another two hours away.

It was far too cold to stay in one spot for long, but a few minutes after beginning to walk again a movement caught her eye. When she looked there was nothing to see. Maybe it was the shifting of sand in the wind. Maybe something else. There were animals out here, organisms manufactured by the Sapes as experiments. The Syndicate did that everywhere it went in the galaxy, trying to populate each world in one form or another. She'd heard that the things out in the Martian deserts were small reptilian organisms, lizards and the odd snake. But were they dangerous? She kept moving.

After another half an hour the gully fell behind, but the terrain became even more rugged. The GPS continued to show her the right direction, but of course it was giving her the most direct route, which was not necessarily the easiest.

It was her own stupid fault of course, insulting the Chancellor at the university and running away to Mars. She could be looking for a job now, even considering whether it might not be an idea to look for someone to love and marry. Maybe her mother and father were right, maybe...

No! Never! This was just a setback, a dangerous adventure but one that was almost over. She'd find some transport off Mars and go somewhere else. There was still lots of credit in her father's account, and although her parents could nag all they liked, there was no need to go home yet. All she had to do was find Sarti and...

Sarti.

She'd forgotten about Sarti. That's why she was going back to town now, to find her and take her away from danger. A sob rose in Geranium's throat at the memory of sending her into the hotel room, the look of fear on the woman's face, the accusation that Geranium had betrayed her, had sent a trusted servant into danger without a thought. Something had to be done about that. Perhaps she would call the police after all...

The ground fell away beneath her feet. She threw her hands out so the GPS skittered away and landed face down, arms and legs sprawled out, the ground sloping ahead.

'Fuck!'

She'd neglected for once to flash the overalls' light ahead of her, and in that minute of course she'd stumbled into a crater or something. Typical.

She pushed herself onto her knees, rubbing her hands together. A bit of skin was gone from her palms but it could have been worse.

It was a crater. Her feet had tripped over the sand that had accumulated around the top. The crater was large and deep; maybe it would be better to skirt around than try to clamber down and out the other side.

The GPS should have warned her it was in the way. The flashlight revealed the device a few metres farther down the crater, half-buried in soft sand.

'Fuck!'

She stepped down into the sand to retrieve the GPS. Just as she reached it there was sudden movement. A long shape slithered a few inches from her hand. Geranium cried out and fell backwards, landed on her butt on the sand and kicked her legs out in an effort to shoo the animal off. Her right foot connected with the GPS and sent it further down into the crater.

'Fuck!'

Why was she utterly useless at everything? A few deep breaths of raw Martian atmosphere to gather her thoughts. It was vital to calm down, to try and think despite the cold. The GPS was still visible part way down the slope; if she stood up and moved carefully, not trying to go too far too quickly, it might be possible to—

'I told you to stay at the factory.'

Geranium twisted to look behind her.

Maddy Hawthorn stood at the top of the crater, pack on her back, arms crossed. In the darkness the woman was almost invisible, and if she hadn't spoken Geranium might have thought there was no one there at all.

'Climb up,' Maddy said.

Geranium eased herself down the slope to pick up the GPS, still keeping an eye out for the snake or whatever it was. At the top of the crater Maddy reached out a hand to haul her the last metre.

'Your mother would have—'

'Shut up about my mother!'

Maddy nodded. 'All right. But I told you to stay put. What are you doing out here?'

'Going home.'

Without another word, Maddy turned and kept walking along the edge of the crater. She had her own GPS: Geranium could see the glow of it against the woman's face. Her hair was in two pigtails; Geranium's own hair was blown into a mess by the wind. Maddy wore stout walking shoes; all Geranium had were the light shoes she'd worn for the last two days. Maddy had a pack full of useful items, including a stun gun to protect her from the desert beasts. Geranium felt unprepared and foolish.

She caught up with Maddy but remained behind, trudging like the day before in the woman's steps.

'You left me,' she said after a long while. 'I don't like being left.'

'It was the safest thing for you. You should have stayed.'

'Don't ever do that again. And by the way: I'm a Lady. The Honourable Lady Geranium. And you haven't once addressed me properly, Maddy Hawthorn.'

The woman chuckled. Geranium raised her head at the sound.

'All right, my lady. I'll take you to town and see you safely to the spaceport or wherever you want to go. My advice is you get back to Earth and stay there. Apologise to your parents, laugh about your time here on Mars, do whatever you need to do.'

Sudden heat flushed through Geranium's face, but she restrained herself from making any one of a dozen retorts that came to mind. Instead, she said, 'Where are you going?'

Maddy halted and Geranium almost walked into her. For a moment the girl saw the woman's shoulders shake and thought she was laughing again. But then came a sob. Geranium put a hand out, touched the woman on the arm.

'What's wrong?'

Maddy turned. Tears dripped down her cheeks, red tears mixed with the russet dust of Mars.