Alice gave Marcos a puzzled look. "Space? I thought Lynch blew up all the rockets and launch pads."

"He blew up the ones he knew about. Our ship is classified. And it doesn't need a launch pad. It's a prototype modified hypersonic engine. It breathes air until it exits the atmosphere, then switches to rocket fuel for the last leg."

"That still doesn't make sense - how could Lynch have missed it? He owned a reconnaissance satellite constellation. If anything went to space, he'd have seen it."

"Well here's the thing Alice, this plane hasn't been to space yet." Marcos grinned from ear to ear.

"No..."

"C'mon, you've never wanted first crack at a new plane?"

"What was your nickname in your test pilot days? Oh right. Digger. Because every plane you took up plowed a trench on the way down."

"That's not fair. I landed them as well as they built them; not my fault they had mechanical issues."

"You're not exactly inspiring confidence. Isn't there some other pilot? Someone more experienced?"

"Nope, turns out I'm the most qualified man alive. I'm the only pilot who's both been to space and flown the plane the prototype is based on. And you're the only person who knows about Petbe. So it's gotta be you and me. I figured I'd fly the mission, but if you want to change seats..."

"Fine, fine. Try not to hit the ground on the way up. Do we have a mission plan? How is this supposed to work?"

"That's why you're here - we're going to figure it out." Marcos grabbed a pen an pad of paper to take notes, then continued.

"We need to run Robert's program on Petbe's systems, which at this point means going there in person. First problem is no one here knows where to plug the drive in."

"That one's easy enough," Alice replied. "There's a command pod anchored to Petbe for the mining operations. Unstaffed right now, but the idea was to have a crew up there to oversee resource extraction. A terminal in the pod that has full access to Petbe's network."

"Perfect. And we can just walk in?"

"Hmm. No, that part will be a challenge. Issuing the command to cycle the airlock is done through the same comms system we're locked out of."

"Got it, I'm just going to write down 'explosives.'"

Alice shook her head. "That airlock is not a swappable part. You blow that up and the whole command pod is ruined. It'd set back the mining timetable by years."

"Alice, I think it's safe to say the 'mining' plan is off the table. Besides, we don't have time for subtlety."

"When does the mission leave?"

"A little over an hour."

"Wait, what? That's insanity, there's no way to put together a comprehensive plan. Tell them to push it back. We need at least a week."

"I would Alice, but then there wouldn't be anybody left to do the planning. Petbe is going to impact in two days. And well before then its orbit will have changed too much to correct."

Alice felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "How much time is left?"

"Six hours. We got a lucky break for once - there's a launch window coming up that'll work. With flight time, we'll have about half an hour on Petbe to get it done.

"Anyhow this plan looks good to me." Marcos stood, waving a piece of yellow paper filled with unintelligible scrawl. "Let's get you suited up."

Alice was shepherded to yet another conference room. Inside was a lone woman holding a uniform similar to Marcos's.

"Hello Alice, my name's Gloria. I'll help you get into your space suit. Please undress now, I'm afraid we're short on time."

Alice did as asked and Gloria guided her into the strangely structured suit. The rigid back rose up over her head, anchoring the top of a circular opening where the helmet would attach.

Other than the awkwardness of wearing what was, for lack of a better word, a diaper, the suit was fairly pleasant. Sure, the fabric didn't breathe, and the life support systems made her look like a hunchback, but it was a far cry from the heavy rigid suits of the early astronauts. In places it was actually rather flattering. Alice turned in front of the mirror, viewing the suit from different angles.

Gloria cleared her throat. "If everything is to your satisfaction Miss Yang, I'd like to continue your briefing."

Alice blushed lightly. "Please continue."

Gloria held out a familiar USB drive. Robert's.

"This contains the Petbe reprogramming routine. Our engineers have updated the list of valid base stations and added logic to stabilize Petbe's orbit. Plug it in, run the script, and everything will be fine."

Gloria clipped the drive into a purpose-built holder on Alice's hip, then checked her watch. "Looks like we're right on schedule. Which means we need to hurry. Follow me."

A waiting jeep spirited Alice off to the airstrip, delivering her straight to Marcos. He looked up from his clipboard and waved. Behind him was a sleek craft resembling the jet Alice had seen him land in Portland.

"I thought we were going to space," Alice commented, nodding at the plane.

"I told you, it's a modified hypersonic engine. Flies up like a plane, comes down like a... well, kind of like a meteor. But that part happens later. They built it on the Canvasback platform."

Alice shrugged, a gesture which was mostly lost in the bulky shoulders of her space suit.

"Come on, let's get settled."

Marcos led the way up the stairs into the cockpit. It was a tight fit for the two of them, with much of the interior space having been cannibalized to make room for the hybrid engines and extra fuel storage.

"There's no air in the cockpit, you'll use your suit for life support. We each have an extra air tank strapped in down by our feet. You can swap them like so." Marcos demonstrated resupplying his suit oxygen. "We should only need one tank apiece, so that second is just a backup."

Alice practiced swapping out her own tank, and was happy to find it no more difficult than changing a light bulb.

"So when's this launch window?" Alice asked.

Marcos checked the chronograph on his suit wrist. "Fifteen minutes. We oughta get strapped in."

Alice hooked in her harness. A member of the ground crew climbed up and made some final suit adjustments before latching her helmet on. The noise of world damped out, muffled through the thick glass.

Being sealed in brought the situation home. Space! She was finally going. Not the circumstances she'd imagined, but it had always been a dream of hers. Wait until she told Julian...

"Hey," Alice broke in on Marcos's pre-flight checks, "did you tell Julian we're going?"

"No, why would I?"

Alice gave an exasperated sigh. "Can someone patch me through to him?"

Marcos said something over the radio. A few moments later she heard the sound of a call connecting.

"Hello, who's this?" Julian's voice.

"Julian, it's me, Mom."

"Nice of you to check in," Julian said with a hint of annoyance, "where've you been the last couple days?"

"Jail Julian. Or whatever the military equivalent is."

"Oh." Julian's tone changed to concern. "What happened? Do you need me to find a lawyer?"

"I don't have time to explain. It's okay now. I think. Listen Julian, I'm going to Petbe. With your dad."

"Huh? How? I don't–"

"The military has some skunkworks space plane Lynch missed. It... it's pretty new Julian. Like never flown new. I don't know what's going to happen, but I have to try this."

"The threat is over right? Everyone was locked out, it can't fire. Let someone else fly the death trap to Petbe, you two have done more than your share."

"Petbe is crashing Julian. All of it. A parting gift from Lynch."

"Shit."

"We're running out of time to stop it, but we've still got a chance. And I know more about Petbe than anyone alive. It has to be me."

"Mom, this is a suicide mission. Don't do it."

"If I stay here, we all die anyway Julian."

"Look, let's talk it over in person. When do you leave?"

Marcos was making 'wrap it up' hand signals from the seat in front of her.

"Right now Julian. I have to go. I just wanted you to know that I love you. And that I'm sorry. Sorry I wasn't always there for you. Sorry I wasn't a better mother." Alice was thankful the visor hid her tears.

"Mom," Julian's voice cracked. "Don't say that Mom. Sure, you weren't perfect. No one is. I know you always did your best."

"Thank you Julian."

"I love you Mom. Get back safe."

The engines beneath Alice sprang to life and the line went dead. A deep rumble shook the plane and Alice was smashed down into her seat. The canvasback raced skyward.

"Wahooo! I love this thing," Marcos hollered over the radio. "Better switch on your suit air, it's going to get thin up here real quick."

Alice found the valve and heard the hiss of gas rushing to fill her suit. It puffed out gently under pressure. She realized she should have checked for leaks back on the ground, but thankfully the pressure seemed stable.

Marcos clicked on the intercom again, hesitating before he spoke. "Uh, there's something else you should know Alice. This isn't America's first attempt to fly to Petbe."

"What went wrong with the first one? Mechanical error?"

"No, not exactly. It was shot down."

Alice coughed. "Excuse me? With what?"

"That part's not clear, but it was definitely Lynch. And since he's out of the picture, we should be okay. Right?"

Alice and Marcos sat in tense silence. The only view out was through a small porthole through the canopy. Alice watched the blue drain from the sky as it grew purple and dark.

The engines cut out, then came back on, humming at a different frequency. The sky turned full black. They were in space.