Everyone stood patiently at the base of the ship. Neither General Stone nor Commander Mitchell had escorted them to the landing site. Instead, General Thomas, a guy they’d barely spoken to since arriving on Mars, was in charge of the search party.

  “He’s younger than General Stone, right?” Presley whispered in Kai's direction.

  “Who knows,” said Kai. “I have an aunt who's fifty. Everyone thinks she’s thirty-nine. She's married to a twenty-three-year-old.”

  “So you’ve used up your turns to talk today, Kai,” said Sloan. “No more stories until after a good night’s sleep.”

  “Why isn’t Stone here?” asked Mia.

  "I'm glad he's not here," said Trevor.

  “Probably because he likes to do his dirty work while we’re gone. No witnesses,” said Camden.

  “Yeah, I can see that,” said Mary Jane.

  “Max is there,” said Presley.

  “I wouldn’t trust anything Max says he saw right now. Both his eyes are swollen shut.”

  No one responded to that, and the group fell silent again. Mia glanced up at the ship. I was dark, its portals like black glassy eyes keeping watch over the planet. General Thomas's voice rang out through the headpiece in her helmet.

  “M6, stand down as we prepare the ship. It takes time to power up everything outside of the emergency lights. We'll also need to adjust the pressure.”

  "Jesus, where did the man go?" Camden asked, turning in circles to locate General Thomas.

  "Right over there, dummy," Sloan said, stopping Camden mid-spin.

  “What will we do once they let us on?” Kai asked.

  “Look for them,” Presley said.

  “I meant, how will we look for them? Are we staying together or splitting up?”

  “I think we should make two groups,” Camden said.

  “Wait,” Trevor said. “Do you guys feel comfortable splitting up?”

  Each kid shook their head yes.

  “I'll stay back and wait,” Sloan said. “What if they're hiding outside the ship?”

  Mia nodded. It was a valid point. She hoped it wasn’t primarily because Sloan didn’t care if they were found.

  “So, two teams of three?” Camden asked. ?

  Trevor nodded. “Camden, take Kai and Presley. Mia, MJ, and I will be on the other team.”

  “MJ?” asked Mary Jane, suppressing a smile.

  “Yeah, today you’re MJ. Deal with it,” Trevor said, right before General Thomas's voice interrupted again.

  “The ship is seventy percent powered up and decompressed. You have thirty minutes to explore. Ground rules are that nothing comes off the ship unless I approve it. Don’t touch equipment you’re not authorized to touch, and don’t destroy Red Rock property.”

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  The kids stared back at Thomas blankly.

  “When did we become criminals?” Camden asked.

  But General Thomas ignored him, walking briskly past the group to the ladder they’d used to deboard.

  “Seven rungs apart, just like landing,” he said, motioning for them to board.

  Sloan stepped back and began walking toward the mounds that flanked both sides of the landing site.

  “She’s staying down here in case they come out of hiding,” Mia said

  General Thomas glanced at Sloan and then back at the ladder as if Sloan were of no significance. It was better this way, Mia thought, and she began to climb, keeping seven rungs apart, exactly as instructed.

  General Thomas was the last to enter the spaceship, his helmet bumping hard against the doorframe.

  “You have thirty minutes.”

  “We’re splitting into teams,” Trevor said.

  “Whatever. You have thirty minutes.”

  Camden motioned for Kai and Presley to follow, and they took off running through the walkways they’d once called home.

  Trevor watched them until they disappeared. “Where would they be hiding?” he said.

  “In their rooms,” Mia said

  “In the galley,” Mary Jane said, simultaneously.

  Trevor stared at the girls thoughtfully. “You two stay together and look through the rooms. I'll scope out the galley.”

  “I guess that would be fine,” Mary Jane said, looking at Mia, who remained silent.

  Mia watched Trevor walk away. Surely, he would be okay. If the others were on board, there was no reason they'd want to hurt them. They were still a team, even if part of the team was missing right now. The girls wandered through their old living quarters. Mia stood at the base of her room, looking up. Part of her wanted to go home tomorrow. Wasn’t going home best? Their parents would handle everything. They were kids. What could they really do if anything?

  “We need to check each loft,” Mary Jane said.

  “Why? They'd sleep in their own beds, don’t you think?”

  “I have no idea,” Mary Jane said.

  “Did Edward tell you he was doing this?”

  “Yes. I was in on the breakout room. I knew which questions to ask. We made pre-recorded responses."

  “You should have told him it was a dumb idea.”

  “Yeah,” Mary Jane answered.

  Meanwhile, Trevor was having no luck in the galley. There was nothing to see or hear. Clearly, his missing teammates were not aboard the ship. With nothing else to do, he returned to the ladder, running into Camden's team, who were also on their way back, having found something extraordinary, a letter written by Lilly, Edward, Alex, and Ms. Lawrence.

  “This is insane,” Presley said.

  “Not really. I knew Lilly felt like this,” Kai added.

  “They’re M7 now. I get it. I stand with them.”

  "They're what?" Trevor asked.

  "M7. No more M6. M6 is what they want us to be. M6 is dead."

  “I can’t believe Ms Lawrence would do this,” Kai said. "She's always told us to listen to them."

  “Everyone has a breaking point. Remember when she freaked out before landing,” Mary Jane said.

  “Why would she leave us, tho? I mean, she took three students. Why did she leave the rest of us?” Presley asked.

  “I don’t think they are gone for good. Maybe they’re setting up another base,” said Camden.

  “So we can keep living here? We'll never get home if we miss the launch. Is that what y'all want?” asked Presley.

  “I’m not going back. I say let the adults go. We can figure out how to use the shit they leave behind to let people back on Earth know we need help,” said Camden.

  “Let’s find the others. Thirty minutes is almost up,” Trevor said. "Bring the letter."

  Mia and Mary Jane were already waiting by the ladder sans General Thomas.

  “Any luck?” Mary Jane asked.

  “We found this,” Kai said, holding up the letter.

  Mia took the paper and read it carefully. “What the hell?” she said.

  “It’s a note explaining why they left. Basically, they’re breaking away from the group because they’ve decided to boycott the launch home. They want to stay here.”

  “Holy shit,” said Mary Jane. “Does it say where they are?”

  “No,” Kai said.

  "That’s fucked up. How could Ms. Lawrence do this?” Mia asked.

  “Yeah, I thought the same thing,” said Presley.

  “I think they’ll come back for us,” Camden said.

  “How can they come back if they’re dead? Edward told me they were going to the dig site.” Mary Jane said. "Nowhere else."

  Trevor stood listening. Mia moved closer to him. How the hell would they navigate this, she wondered? Boycotting the launch home was an all-or-nothing deal. Sloan would never stay here longer than planned. Had Ms. Lawrence planned an elaborate escape and then sprung it on Lilly, Edward, and Alex? Or had they agreed to leave with her? The letter was proof that none of them were planning to launch as expected.

  “This isn’t Edward’s handwriting,” Mary Jane said, fingering the letter and dropping it suddenly, "Someone forged his name."