Chapter 5 CHAPTER FIVE: THE LANDER

The door hissed open, and the smell hit Lily first. Blood, sweat, fear, and something else, something metallic and wrong, like a mouthful of old coins and broken teeth. The interior of the lander was dark, lit only by emergency strips that flickered orange and red, casting long shadows that jumped and danced like living things. Commander Reyes stood at the front of the small cabin, her hand on her sidearm, her face a mask of exhaustion held together by nothing but stubbornness and duty. “Identify yourself,” Reyes said, and her voice was steady, but Lily saw the micro-tremor in her gun hand, the way her finger hovered just outside the trigger guard. “You have five seconds before I shoot.”