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life-sized doll. He tried again to find a
heartbeat then announced through a lump in his throat, “Faith is
dead.”
    Kaz got as close as she dared. “Are you
sure? Try again. There’s no blood—nothing seems wrong.”
    “ She’s dead.”
    G.R. tried to get up. “I’m the doctor, I’ll
determine who’s dead and who’s not.” A bolt of pain held him in
place. “Oh, my back.”
    Bach scooted to G.R.’s side. “It doesn’t
take a doctor.”
    Deni yelled from the cockpit. “Kaz, find the
medical supplies. I need an ankle splint—have to get mobile. It’s
black as pitch outside, but I want to find out what’s out there.”
She mumbled to herself. “I can’t believe this.”
    Kaz searched the flotsam of cables,
insulation, and damaged equipment, and found the medical kit under
a sleep hammock. Carrying the kit in outstretched arms, she
grumbled in Spanish all the way to the cockpit, then pushed it to
Deni’s lap. “I can’t do it. I get sick seeing blood.” She turned
away and burned off frustration by clearing a pathway through the
debris.
    Deni opened the medical kit without a word.
After splinting her ankle and tending to Lynch’s fractured
forearms, she hoisted her tall frame onto one foot, pulled a piece
of plastic pipe from the debris to use as a walking stick, and
hobbled to aft cabin where Bach had just covered Faith’s body with
a blanket. Leaning over, she steadied herself with a hand on his
shoulder and spoke into his ear. “You positive she’s dead?”
    He lifted Faith’s hand and let it drop. “Not
a mark on her. It’s like she died for no reason.”
    Kaz spoke from behind Deni. “She can’t be
dead. She’s just unconscious—breathing shallow. Sometimes people
seem dead when they’re not.”
    “ Let it go, Kaz, she’s
dead,” Bach replied. He looked away and his eyes stopped on the
gilt-edged pages of Faith’s Bible sticking out of the rubble. He
pulled it free and dusted it off on his sleeve, choking on emotion
as he placed it at his fallen crewmate’s side.
    Kaz backed away, whispering, “Why is Faith
the only one dead? Something scary’s going on. What if we die one
at a time?”
    The copper-eyed face flashed through Bach’s
mind. “It’s okay, honey. You’re just in shock. We all are,” he
said, lying.
    “ Faith may be the lucky
one,” G.R. said. “The rest of us are lost in space.” He flagged
Kaz’s attention. “Please find the painkillers, and water. My
throat’s so dry, I’m dyin’.”
    Deni limped toward the cockpit to check on
Lynch, who hadn’t spoken or left his seat. On the way, something
outside a porthole caught her eye. “Oh, my gosh!” she yelped,
pressing her face to the window. “What’s going on? Look outside.
It’s like somebody turned on an underground light and the whole
planet’s glowing gold. The light’s coming from within—gold!”
    “ What kind of gold?
Whaddaya mean ‘gold’?” G.R. yelled.
    Bach rushed to a porthole. Speechless for a
second, he offered, “It’s hard to describe. The atmosphere’s dark,
but there’s a luminescence coming from the ground. Like it
originates from within the planet.”
    Kaz stood back, gnawing her thumbnail. “Is
anybody out there?”
    “ No. It’s desert-like with
mounds and gullies. We’re in sort of a basin, and off in the
distance are large craters filled with glowing gold dust. But no
small craters.”
    Fighting a wild rush of dread, Kaz peeked
over Bach’s shoulder. “Maybe we’re on the moon.”
    Deni shook her head and
looked around the cabin. “We’re way beyond Earth’s solar system. Let’s get organized
to ensure our survival.”
    “ Right,” Bach said. Another
peek outside brought an uneasy shrug. “Glowing gold. My mind’s
racing through all the studies we did, but a fluorescent glow
wasn’t anything I ever read about.”
    “ Might be radiation, or the
astral equivalent,” G.R. offered.
    Kaz grew jittery. “I don’t like this. Maybe
aliens know we’re