Continue To Checkpoint - 1 [file]

Should Kael at the airlock, or should he discover he’s not alone at the checkpoint?

Kael took a breath, tasted the metallic tang of thinning air, and broke into a heavy, lung-burning run. Continue to Checkpoint 1 [file]

His HUD flickered, a dying amber light casting shadows against his face. Then, a sharp ping resonated in his ear—the first signal in three hours. Should Kael at the airlock, or should he

The hum of the environmental recyclers was the only thing keeping Kael from sliding into total panic. Through the cracked visor of his EVA suit, the Martian horizon was a blur of rust-red dust and jagged basalt. Should Kael at the airlock

But between him and the airlock lay a fifty-yard stretch of unstable permafrost, and the wind was picking up.