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“Yeah.”

He rolls his head toward me. “Goldie girl’s gonna be losing her shit over that feed going out.”

“I know.”

His mouth tightens because there’s nothing either of us can do about it from here.

I shift in the seat and roll my shoulders, forcing my attention back onto the airplane now that the air has smoothed out.

The last crossing has left every muscle in my upper body tight, and there’s a knot starting low in my back from staying braced through every hit. I flex my fingers a couple of times before putting my hands back on the controls.

“Brian, what’ve we got?”

There’s a pause while he works through the systems.

“Engines are good. Hydraulics and electrical look normal. Flight controls are responding.” He pauses again. “Mission link and tail Doppler are still down.”

“And the vibration?”

“Unknown.”

“What do you think?” I ask.

“Feels like it’s coming from aft. I’m still trying to isolate it.” Brian pauses. “Nothing critical is showing, but after a hit like that, I want to know what’s vibrating before we put her back through the wall.”

“Yeah.”

So do I.

The vibration gets stronger beneath my feet.

I glance at Colston, and his eyes drop toward the pedals before coming back to mine.

“Once we’re out, I’m not taking her through again,” I say.

“Yeah.” He nods. “I’m with you.”

Brian comes over the intercom. “Good plan.”

Des is already turning back toward the radar. “I’ll find us a way out.”

We came all the way out here to collect data, and with Ruth still changing this fast, cutting the mission short means leaving some of it behind.

I hate that.

But I’m sure as hell not taking this crew back through the eyewall with a vibration Brian can’t identify, the tail Doppler down, and an airplane that’s already gotten the shit kicked out of it.

“Abort the rest of the pattern,” I say. “Let’s get out of here.”

We start circling inside the eye while Des works through the radar with the rest of the team, looking for the best section to take us back into the wall.

He studies the radar a little longer, then shakes his head.

“The section we came through is worse now.”

I look at the mess on the radar.

“Then we’re not going back that way.”