My heart kicked hard against my ribs. “What else do they know?”
She shook her head and slid the headphones back on. I listened to the exchange for another moment before she stood and walked over. “Not much,” she answered. “But they were in contact with her a few minutes ago.”
My pulse was racing now.
“Is it possible,” she added carefully, “to connect us through their signal? So we can hear her directly?”
“Yeah.” I dropped my boots to the floor. “That’s possible. SOL alert Commander Zhang she is needed in the control room.”
“Calling Commander Zhang,” SOL hummed beside me.
The translator glanced between us as she continued speaking into the radio, relaying instructions to the bunker as a few of her team worked around her.
“Tell them to leave their transmitter open,” I added. “Anything she sends will pass through their system. We’ll catch it on the relay.”
After a few moments, Commander Zhang burst through the doors and slid into the chair beside me. “Found it?”
“Think so. Can you do it?”
Commander Zhang was a small woman with a narrow frame, but could kill anyone with only a look. She was also the best,at literally everything.She had been in the Royal Navy in her previous life.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m offended.”
I smirked as the translator spoke rapidly into the microphone, and the voice on the other end cracked back, sharp bursts of syllables breaking through the static. The Commander adjusted dials on the board. “They need to leave the channel open,” she barked.
The translator relayed the message, and for a moment nothing happened. Just the low hum of the station and the faint hiss of the radio line stretching across the galaxy. My hands curled into fists on the edge of the console.
“Signal strength?” I asked.
“It’s fine.”
The translator lifted one finger towards us. “They are trying.”
A burst of interference screamed through the speakers and everyone in the room froze. Then, a sound slipped through the noise. It was faint, and it sounded like…
Music?
Commander Zhang frowned, leaning closer to the console. “I don’t hear anyone.”
But the melody grew clearer in my head, piano notes drifting through the fuzz like they were rising from underwater. My chest tightened.
“I know that song.”
She gave me a strange look, and reached for the dial, but I got there first. I held it tight. “No, Iknowthat song.” I turned the volume up, until I was certain of what I was hearing.
Everyone held their breath—the room fell silent, as did my heart. There was no way.No fucking way.I stood abruptly from the desk, chair toppling behind me. My hand dragged over my head before I pressed my face into the crook of my elbow, trying to stop the tears threatening to fall.
It wasn’t her.It couldn’t be.
“Captain?” Commander Zhang turned in her chair, watching me carefully. “What is it?”
And then the radio cut out. The room exploded back into motion. Technicians leaned over their consoles while the Commander barked out orders, scrambling to reestablish the connection.
“Signal loss!”
“Try the relay again!”
“Boost the antenna!”
